Harry Ten Shilling

One of our favorite places in the area. Try to frequent when in Stratford for the Festival. Wonderful high tea and light lunch. Love the raw rock sugar crystals and real Devon Cream. Try the cheddar and chutney sandwich with a small salad.

There’s nothing quite like Tea Time and the Devon Cream at Harry Ten Shilling.
Clearly an ‘Oh Yum’ kind of place — it features Devon Cream, Rich ‘Coffee’ Cakes or ‘Tea’ Breads made with fresh fruit, a rich strawberry compot, and at least 40 different teas to enjoy.
And ‘Oh Yum’ pretty much sums it up. The Harry Ten Shilling is utterly adorable — for women. It’s easily my favorite lunch spot in Stratford. Truly a teeny tiny place, it is conveniently located directly across from the Avon Theatre. Easy to enjoy, and truly easy to get to your matinée performance.
But my husband hated it. Cute sandwiches just won’t do it for him and the savory options — a overly peppered cold Gaspacho and an overly peppered Quiche were both better avoided.
But the Tea for Two at $ 48 was a delicous delight. Served on a double plate rack loaded with tea sandwiches (no crusts of course), tea bread, Devon cream, sweet treats and a pot de creame. I opted for a Roibos tea called Tusnany Pear. Oh dear — it was wonderful.
There are other less pricy options of course — a simplier tea just gives you Devon cream (I simply can’t get enough of that) and a sample of what they call scones — but I call tea bread.
From the fine porcelin cups and saucers to the rose decorated plates this is place that knows which side of the toast is buttered — and definitely does it right.

Glad to see that Harry Ten Shilling is now in Stratford. Both this restaurant and the original store in Shakespeare are excellent choices to stop in for afternoon tea (their tea menu is several pages long) or to stop in for lunch. We had the quiche and green salad which were both very good. The quiche was made with turkey and stuffing — a very interesting idea in the month of Thanksgiving. We also had the roasted cauliflower soup which is probably the best cauliflower soup that I’ve ever had. The staff are very friendly as well.