The Mock Turtle

A favorite tea shop of mine while studying abroad in Brighton. The perfect place to come for an afternoon tea break with a group of gals. They have a lovely selection of teas, and the best scones and cakes. I usually got a cream tea and a fruit scone heaped with clotted cream and fresh jam, all for less than six pounds. This was one of my absolute favorite places in Brighton and some of my fondest memories of English tea and scones were in this lovely little nook in the wall. Can’t wait to go back and visit!

Had a quick cuppa in here to rest the legs for a few reasons. One I liked the name, two the decorations with all the tea pots looked really nice and three which I think is the most important– the range of cakes in the window looked delicious.
The cakes turned out to be just as delicious as I thought but what got me was the range of teas available and the friendly service made you feel right at home
A nice place to stop for a coffee and cake

My friends and I decided to pit stop here while we wait for Day’s to open for lunch. We were welcomed by friendly staff and ushered us to a table. Straight away I felt the need of tea and a need of having some cake looking at what they have on display by the window. They all look yummy! I’m afraid I didn’t have cake but my friends did. We all had Japanese green tea and it was served English style and an extra pot of hot water. They have seating downstairs too so there’s plenty of room for busy times. The customers started to flood in just before we left and that just means people like the place. The price was quite reasonable and I will come back and try some of their cake.

If I’m looking for a place based on tea and atmosphere, I love to bring friends here. The china around the walls is so cute, and everyone likes to see the really old 1940s cash register, of course.
They always have lots of cakes and whatnot which look very good… unfortunately there isn’t a gluten free option, so I’ve never tried anything. And that’s the main reason I don’t come here very often.

Get for morning tea with fruit scones, jam and clotted cream — Yum! Charming little place close to the pier.

I was really excited to try The Mock Turtle. Unfortunately, the first time, our group of 3 ran late and didn’t make it in time before closing. But after catching a glimpse of the cute tea cups, delicious array of homemade cakes laid out, and Insta-​worthy wall décor, we knew we had to come back. The second time we came back, we had a larger party of ~6/​7 people. The girl in front seated us immediately, and we spent around 10 minutes deciding which teas and cakes to order.
I ordered the Mock Turtle tea blend, 1 white scone, 1 fruit scone, and the banana cake. I also sampled my friend’s hazelnut cake and almond cake/​bar. The tea was great! Tasted like mild black tea.
The scones were mediocre. They were a little too dry for my liking, and only tasty after topped with a good helping of cream and jam. I did like how they weren’t too sweet though.
The banana cake is also a must try for all banana bread lovers out there! Not too sweet, but SUPER moist with that subtle banana flavor in the background.
I could not taste the hazelnut at all in the hazelnut cake, and the frosting was WAY too sweet. It straight up tasted like there was granulated sugar mixed in… it was even kind of crunchy/​not smooth.
The almond bar was average; if someone ordered it again, I’d take another bite, but I definitely wouldn’t pay for it myself.
I was originally going to give Mock Turtle 3 stars (cute décor/​lighting, nice homemade cakes, best tea blend), but the service I experienced was terrible. First of all, the girl who came to take our order didn’t greet us. She didn’t even ask to take our order. She simply walked up, pulled out her notepad, and looked at us. Not a single word. After, when our scones were brought out, they messed up our order and gave us ONLY fruit scones. (We ordered half white, half fruit, aka 4 of each kind). We didn’t notice at first since they brought it all out already. Someone walked up to the front to ask — (the manager was super nice and offered to correct it immediately!)
No one came to bring the scones. 10 minutes later, the same rude girl who took our order came back and asked what was wrong. We told her she messed up our order. She looked at us with a frown (someone of us had already started eating the scones) and responded, «Well…it looks like you guys are eating it already… what do you want me to do…
Her unfriendly attitude and lack of customer service skills dampened the atmosphere of an otherwise really cute tea room.

Best cream tea around! And under 5 minutes from the pier — absolutely perfect if you need a shaded cool-​down after the heat and stress of the sea front.
We visited on a Sunday afternoon at around 3. It really is quite charming inside and the staff are nice — in fact not as hyper friendly as I’d imagined they’d be — but I kinda like some English reserve so that’s fine be me. I quite like being left to get on with things :)
My two friends had orange and lemon drizzle cake and enjoyed them. However I had a cream tea and that was streets ahead of the cake slices. The scones were perfect. And I’ve eaten a lot of scones — I used to work in a National Trust country garden, I know my cakes and tea.
You get far too much jam and cream and butter, which is how it aught to be I think!
We shared a big pot between three of us. I think maybe we could have done with more tea in truth.
But yes lovely. The café is nice, traditional but not run down in the least, clean and comfortable. And just off the sea front not 5 minutes from the pier.

Oh I would come here every other weekend for cream tea if I could! It was truly delicious, especially the fruit scones were great.
I’ll be back for more.

Great scones and prices! Nice espresso too! luv the traditional simple style of the cakes here, no fancy decos

Rocking English tea and everything. Al of it was amazing and had auger induced coma afterwards. Super cute place and staff are so Devine. Worth a wait if you can get in. A Brighton Must!

The number and variety of cakes I see on offer here always blows my mind, and I was so looking forward to trying it… until I walked past it one evening late at night and was admiring all the baked goods and realized… why were the baked goods out so late? Oh. I guess they leave them out overnight. I guess there’s no way to know how many nights they’ve been left out. I guess I probably don’t want to know the answer to that question. I guess putting them away in a fridge really does make the difference in my mind. I guess if it was my house I wouldn’t really mind as much, but I guess I expect some higher level of cakeitude from a teashop. I guess it’s up to you whether you go, now knowing what I know.

I couldn’t believe this place exist — where was it before?!
Mock turtle is a wonderful café, vintage and blue — the light décor, with many blue, porcelain dishes and wooden furniture creates a unique, cozy environment, and mirrors make it feel a little bit more spacious.
I ordered classics — cream tea. Folks, don’t get confused by the message on the menu — ‘one portion’ for 6 quid is definitely for two people — before you ask for another tea, just ask for the second cup! You get two massive, fresh and warm scones, with loads of thick cream, jam and butter. Tea was also nice, not the one ‘from the packet’. Gorgeous!
They also do some breakfasts and lunch, but I wouldn’t think it’s the best place for egg and toast. The surroundings just make you crave for a cake.
There is a quite wide choice of cakes — many of them you can see in the window, when passing by. They seem to be nicely soft and fresh, and also cheap — most of them were around £2.50 for a generous piece.
There were several things which I probably would regard as ‘didn’t like’ — there wasn’t too much space, so I felt slightly squeezed in the corner, but obviously the reason was that the café was madly busy; second was the menu design — why not to spend little bit on descriptions/​pictures of cakes — I’ve noticed that not only English, but many internationals come across this place — it would be so much less time consuming to have a picture on a menu than pointing finger to the name of each cake, trying to sort out, what each cake is. So thats could be the reason, why service was a little bit slow that day — it was so busy, and so hard to choose what to get!
Cash only.
By the way, waiting staff doesn’t wear any uniform, which is on the one hand chilled, but on the other hand quite hard to determine, who is working there, and who is not.
Apart from that, everything is lush!

I knew nothing about the Mock Turtle nor have I ever heard of it when I first came. This happened because the tea place we wanted to go to turned out to be close, and Mock Turtle was a short walk from here, according to one of my friends.
I was decently surprised as I walked into a dainty room and fresh aroma of cakes. After being offered a menu, I couldn’t make up my mind about which cake I wanted out of all their choices. There’s also the option of getting two large scones and a pot of tea for 6 pounds! I ended up getting coffee cake and jasmine tea, which was great, while the rest of our group did the scones/​tea offer, and they were delivered in large places with excessive amounts of jam and cream.
The only con would be that the service was terrible. We were about to ask if we could get a glass of water but the waiter stopped us midsentence and said «NO, HOLD ON» in a rude tone, went to serve another table, and actually did not come back.
The place is by the pier and amongst other thriving eateries/​entertainment, and I did enjoy my time here despite the service.
And for all you instagrammers, definitely instagram-​worthy.

Quaint is the first word that comes to mind when describing The Mock Turtle. I went with two friends for afternoon tea and we had a very pleasant meal. The portions were sensible considering the cost and the scones were flavorful.
Go for a walk along the pier and meander over to The Mock Turtle!

What a splendid place for vintage tea & cake.
For one, the customer service was just right. We weren’t waiting, we weren’t overly waited on and the staff were very happy to grab an extra run of soya milk and a few glasses of water for us. (Previously spent the day shopping in the south lanes, about a 2 min walk away, and it’s thirsty work.)
what makes The Mock Turtle less ‘commercialised’ as other tea shops, are their prices. They charge fairly — £6.00 for a tea for one and 2 scones, that are presented with excessive amounts of jam & cream to satisfy every sweet tooth. I polished all the jam in sight.
It’s one of the most wonderfully decorated places you’ll come across in Brighton, with original 1940s décor, willow pattern plates and tea sets dotted everywhere and the lines are walled with every colour of home made jam jar (available to purchase I think!)
if you’re paying a visit to the centre of Brighton any time soon, and you’re looking for a place to rest your weary legs, skip the touristy haunts and drop into this vintage tea parlour for a really unique (and well priced) experience :)

The amount of cake on offer is almost over whelming but what we sampled was very tasty. The savoury food was good too. All cooked in house by the friendly staff.
Only a little place upstairs but there is a downstairs which is used by tour groups every day — that is how good it is!
Bring plenty of cash as they don’t accept cards.

Right along the corner is the
coffee shop, which serves cakes and breakfast. And my favourite spot in this
place is seating besides the window when you can see the busy street and people
walking to and fro while having a cup of good and flavourful coffee.

This was a small cute little find while visiting Brighton. My friend who studied abroad in Sussex suggested us to come here. It’s very small, traditional, and hard to find.
The tea and scones were one of the best I ever had. The scones were quite huge so if you’re not up for a big appetite I suggest you share. They had a variety of scones (wheat, fruit, and plain). The food looked delicious from my observations.
The service was absolutely the worst. I don’t know if they were having an off day… but the workers were all rude. I gave this place 3 stars solely because of the service, not the food.

I was there with my friend. We had reserved 2 tea meal (4 giant scones served with jam, cream, butter) and 2 pieces of cake (chocolat and an other with banana). I think scones were a little dry but the tea is definitly perfect. Not just tea bag in a tea cup! real tea ! Cakes were very rich, yuuummmyyyy! You have to come over there if you come in Brighton!!!

Sigh… how does this tea shop change so much in only one month?!
After two more visits, I’ve found that the scones are not as large as before and unfortunately, Mock Turtle increased their prices.
My friends found the all-​day breakfast saltier and smaller; from £6.95 to £7.25. And, I was no longer given so much clotted cream or jam with my smaller scones; from £5.45 to £6.
Waitresses were not as kind– they were more rushed and frantic even when the shop wasn’t so busy.
Still love this place, just heartbroken and disappointed :[

This is one of the only places I remember from my time in England. One of the local shopkeepers recommended The Mock Turtle while we were out shopping. My friends and I came back weekly from then on. It’s a tiny two-​story tea place with really adorable décor. From what I can recall, there’s outside seating available if the weather is nice enough.
Most people in the states drink coffee out of paper cups from Starbucks (not that there’s anything wrong with that) so I was so excited to experience drinking tea in England. The first time I went here, I drank so many cups of tea that I couldn’t sleep at night! The baked goods are absolutely delicious and are displayed for customers when you first walk in.