Restaurant Review: an old-school treat

The Eaglesham tearoom first opened its doors and offered a cuppa back in 1966, and today it’s run by born and bred southsider Siobhan Reilly.

Never one to pass down a finger sandwich, your reviewer left Glasgow behind for an afternoon in one of East Ren’s many leafier spots, taking my sister-in-law along to help scoff some homemade cakes.

The Wishing Well is exactly what you want from a village tearoom; quaint, cosy and welcoming, but more prim and proper than properly lived in — like stepping into a front room reserved for special occasions.

There’s a roaring fire for when the occasion calls — no doubt popular with the locals during our many colder months — and the place has expanded out back too, offering a bright conservatory and even outdoor seating.

With the weather dulling a bit during our visit, we opted for a cosy corner table inside — linen tablecloth and potted rose, naturally.

Having arrived just a bit too early for the afternoon tea (available from 2.30pm), we tucked into a great broccoli soup; rich, comforting and complete with a piping hot bread roll and butter.

But this visit was all about the tea and cakes so on we went to The Wishing Well’s afternoon tea — a reasonable £10 per person deal to rival Glasgow’s trendier, pricier alternatives.

Given a choice of sandwiches, we settled on tuna and egg mayo, each served in dainty rectangles with one slice of white and one brown. It’s hard to praise the humble finger sandwich, except to say that it can be done b

adly — these were tasty, trimmed neatly and perfectly moist.

The same could be said of the fairy cakes alongside — plump little sponges piped with whipped cream — while mini meringues really hit the spot (extra points for inventive grape decoration — the WI would be very proud).

But the biggest draw of The Wishing Well’s tea selection were sizeable fruit scones; hefty in size yet light and airy to taste, paired perfectly with sweet jam and lashings of cream.

Perhaps we’re daintier of appetite than we thought — we couldn’t finish it between us and were kindly offered a goody box to take home — but you wouldn’t have known it watching us roll out onto the streets of Eaglesham.

The village tearoom may (deceptively) give an aura closer to twilight years than hip and happening, but this afternoon tea as it should be — plentiful, pretty and all served with a welcoming smile.

Were I to dream of Eaglesham, those scones would no doubt feature.