Biddie's Coach House

Located in quaint Old Dublin - or is it Olde Dublin?  Biddie's Coach House is almost too precious for words.  The building, an old house which was built in 1813, is covered with chintz, quilts, doll houses and mismatched china.  It is, after all, one of Columbus' only tea rooms (British Style).  Biddie's is the perfect place for you to take your  mother (er-if you're a woman) or your Anglophile teenage daughter (or was I the only one?)  It would make the perfect place for a proper bridesmaid party (I had mine at a similar venue - Persnickety, which is in an old church and is equally lovely.  Ooh.  Maybe I should have tea week. . .).  There are numerous nooks and crannies (and grannies) located throughout the space, and we were seated in the "Painted Porch," an area which, as the name suggests, has been hand painted with pastoral scenes throughout, and is pictured at left.

The food, as can be expected, is highly focused on salads and crustless sandwiches, and portions are very ladylike (read: small), so you'll certainly have room for a dainty little something for dessert.  I chose the Rainbow lunch, which is rather like a sandwich trio in the disguise of cake.  Pastel-hued, crustless bread is layered with a very fine ham salad (now that's a phrase I never thought I'd utter), pimento spread and good egg salad.  The entire bit is covered in herbed cream cheese "frosting" and sliced to look like a piece of cake, although the gherkin-olive toothpick on top is kind of a giveaway that there's not red velvet hidden within.  The rainbow cake came with a nice little spinach and carrot salad (the egg cup contains crumbled bleu cheese), and various bits of sliced fruits and vegetables.  You're supposed to feel healthy while eating it, even though you know there's half a pound of cream cheese on the plate.

Mum (come on, it's tea) chose the Chef's Whim, which today was a well-composed and tasty salad of ham, pineapple, almond slivers and other bits in a lite, slightly sweet dressing.  The salad was contained in a crepe which had been baked, tuile-style, to form a crispy bowl.  The effect was precious (of course) but well-conceived and executed.  She chose the creamy broccoli to accompany which I did not try.  Lemon bread and fruit slices where also along:

We skipped the tea (Twinnings - to whom, by the way, I am distantly related through Husband, just thought I'd throw that in) but settled on dessert.  I had cheesecake which was definitely of the homemade variety - nothing fancy here, this was cheesecake on a graham cracker crust which was made in a sheet pan (slices were square) and covered with a very good compote of kiwi and mango chunks:

Mom chose the creme caramel, being very nice because I was decided between the two and she thought she'd try the one I didn't try.  It was a very lightly textured custard with an equally light caramel sauce, topped with a few slivered almonds:

Biddie's is charming and fun; it does exactly what it claims to do and does it well.  It's a great place to go to lunch with the girls, although Mum and I were surprised to see two men dining with their wives while we were there.  I tried to imagine Tall Husband sitting there with dainty plateware, laughing at his tiny little sandwich, and decided I would only take him there if he requested to go, which would happen about the same time I ask to have date night at Tee Jaye's.  High tea is served on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and contains a variety of sweets, savories, scones and jam.  A party was to be in for high tea next to us, and here is a picture of the setup - notice the mismatched china and quilts on the table - it's really very charming:

Info:  Biddie's Coach House 76 South High Street (this is South High Street in Dublin, mind you; aka Dublin Road further south and north) Dublin 614.764.9359  Biddie's is about a 25 minute drive northwest of downtown Columbus.  Biddie's is open for lunch only Monday - Saturday, but will serve dinner for large private parties.  Reservations are highly recommended