Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea (Sanderson Hotel)

It’s afternoon tea epic at the moment! I’m going to share another unique afternoon tea – The Mad Hatters!

The Mad Hatters afternoon tea at the Sanderson hotel is like Alice going to wonderland. It brought us an afternoon of fun and laughter. We even had riddles to keep us entertained.

When we arrived a jewellery box was sitting on the table but unfortunately it did not have any hidden gems, instead it was filled with sugar cubes.

The menu is hidden in a red vintage book. I didn’t even know and thought it was just a book to read.

There are four unique selection of tea to choose (Strawberry and Cream, Mint choc chip, Apple Pie, Rhubarb and Cream). We were presented pretty mini pots of each one to help decide which one to select.

I decided on the mint choc chip which tasted as you expected – mint choc chip! It probably to as unusual compare to the others since you get mint tea and this had an additional hint of chocolate flavour.

The tea are served in a king or queen pot, which comes with their crown. It was definitely a mad hatters tea party.

There are a selection of savoury dishes including quiches, as well a good selection of sandwiches with different types of bread and fillings. We had four to choose, with my favourite being the sundried tomato bread and the dark rye bread.

• Smoked Cumbrian ham with whole grain mustard on sundried tomato bread.
• Cucumber and chive cream cheese on spinach bread
• Egg mayonnaise with watercress and smoked sea salt on lemon bread
• Smoked salmon and lemon butter on dark rye bread

We also got a selection of savoury and sweet scones which are served with butter, jam and clotted cream. The sweet scone was like chocolate brownies and I could eat it on its own or with some clotted cream.

Although the sandwiches was colourful so was the sweet selections, which included Matcha green tea and white chocolate mousse served in chocolate cup. The Melting Mango cheesecake was interesting as it had a melting mango centre which looked like runny yolk.

On the top-tier had ‘strawberries and cream’ homemade marshmallow mushrooms and carrot meringue that was served on a bed of uneatable pea shoots.

The ‘Tick Tock’ traditional Victoria Sponge was beautifully made and instantly reminded me of the rabbit.

My favourite was the ‘Drink Me’ Potion is another favourite which was like drinking a tropical flavoured foam.

We finished it all off by visiting the trolley of Jelly wonderland, where you can freely fill a glass of different flavoured jelly.

I loved the who afternoon tea experience which meet its name as The Mad Hatter’s afternoon tea. Not only was it just the food but the whole layout of the table went with the theme. It is an afternoon tea that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids.

The Mad Hatter’s afternoon tea cost £38 without the champagne and for kids (4-11) it would cost £30.

(Prices correct at the time do dining)

Sanderson Hotel
50 Berners Street,
London,
W1T 3NG

https://www.morganshotelgroup.com/originals/originals-sanderson-london/eat-drink/mad-hatters-afternoon-tea

Sex and the City Par-Tea (Hyatt Regency London The Churchill)

Whether you are a fan of the American sitcom ‘Sex and the City Par-Tea’ or just looking for an afternoon tea different to the tradition, then consider ‘Sex and The City’ afternoon tea.

You will wonder why the name and it’s probably easy to guess. The afternoon tea is inspired by the sitcoms and the characters.

The afternoon tea is served on a three tier stand, with a selection of both savoury and sweet dishes. The set also comes with a selection of tea to represent each character – The Winter White Tea (Carrie), Jasmine Pearls (Samantha), Traditional Sapphire Earl Grey (Charlotte) and Darjeeling 2nd Flush (Miranda).

To represent the the girls being a fan of cocktail, there is an option to include a Flirtini cocktail (champagne, vodka and pineapple).

The top tier of the afternoon tea was the prettiest with the selection of sweet pastries – stiletto biscuit, cupcake and appletini jelly in a mini martini glass.

My favourite has to be the mini cheesecake with plump red or pink lip. The red lip was the best which I found was too pretty to eat.

The main different about this afternoon tea has to be the mini burgers and New York hot dogs. It’s not often when you get served fast food for an afternoon tea. If you are not a fan of sauces in your burgers and hot dogs then make sure to let the restaurant know in advance. Some of us found the mustard on the hot dog quite strong, so beware!

I felt the bottom tier was the least excited of the afternoon tea, containing selection of bagels and sandwiches.

The ‘Sex and the City Par-Tea’ is only available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is also served at a later time then many afternoon tea (3-6pm with Sunday available from 3:30pm). The tea set would cost £47pp with the Flitini cocktail. But if you lucky you might find discounts.

‘Sex and The City Par-Tea’ (Hyatt Regency London The Churchill)
30 Portman Square,
London,
W1H 7BH,
United Kingdom

http://www.london.churchill.hyatt.co.uk/en/hotel/activities/hotel-activities/sexandthecitypar-tea.html

Floral Chocolate Afternoon Tea (Pearl Restaurant & Bar)

Are you a dessert person? Do you like your chocolate? Have you got a sweet tooth? If it is a “Yes!!!” then you just might like to hear that from 4th May till 16th June 2013 (3-6pm Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday) you can indulge in a Floral Chocolate Afternoon Tea (£27.50) at the Pearl restaurant & bar.

It is a great season to be inspired by flowers because it will be the Chelsea Flower Show in London. What better way to be part of the Spring season with an afternoon tea. The best thing about this edition of Pearl restaurant’s afternoon tea is that it comes with a help-youself chocolate buffet. You will be sugar overload after an afternoon indulging in the beautiful looking chocolate desserts.

The afternoon tea comes with a plate of warm plain and raisin scones, sandwiches and mini rolls. The sandwiches had traditional fillings including ham, beef and cream cheese. The mini rolls had either egg mayonnaise or smoked salmon.

Of course we were not there for the scones of sandwiches, but we started off with them and they did taste nice. However, we all left some room for the main stars, which are the chocolate desserts. But I do like to have some thing sweet and then follow with some savoury food, so purposely left some sandwiches for later.

We could help ourself to a range of chocolate desserts and each one is so pretty that I could have easily filled my plate with ever single one. But of course you do not want to do that as some are quite sweet if you do not have that sugary taste buds.

There was also a chocolate fountain to cover strawberries, pineapples, marshmallows and biscuits.

Many of the dessert had floral inspirations such as the Passionfruit and coconut flowerpot. It was almost too beautiful to eat but when I did it was a nice combination of flavours. Outside was  a chocolate flowerpot and inside was filled with nice soft creamy texture.

English rose and raspberry cake rock was as it described a rock. Outside is made of mazipan and inside is a sponge like cake. This to me was the sweetest and the most filling due to the mazipan.

The favourite with many people was the Raspberry and garden mint macaroon. Unfortunately, there was not enough to go round and it was this one that they never replenish back on the stand. I have to say that the macaroon was made beautifully in both taste and texture, it can compete with Laduree.

There were even these beautiful packaged chocolate.

After so many sweet desserts, it did get to the point when I decided that the fruits are nice without any chocolate.

(Price is correct at the time of dining)

Pearl Restaurant & Bar
252 High Holborn ,
London,
WC1V 7EN

http://www.pearl-restaurant.com

Fashionista’s Afternoon Tea (The Berkeley)

Ladies are you looking for a special afternoon with your group of girls? Then fashionista afternoon tea at The Berkeley hotel could be just what you will be after. This is not just the traditional afternoon tea with the usual sandwiches and scones. This is an afternoon tea that is inspired by the latest fashion, so the menu changes every six months to follow the changing season of the fashion world.

I was WOW by this beautiful and tasty afternoon tea, where you are presented by splash of colourful fashion. It is by so far the best afternoon tea I have experienced in London. This is definitely so far the afternoon tea I recommend for a ladies afternoon. But of course this afternoon tea does come at a price.

At the time we had the Autumn/inter 2012 Prêt-à-Portea collection and was given two Champagne afternoon tea menu options – with a glass of Laurent-Perrier (£49.00 per person) or with a glass of Laurent-Perrier Rosé (£55.00 per son). I am not fuss with the champagne as I was more there to enjoy the fashion inspired cakes, so I choice to have a glass of Laurent-Perrier.

The service from start to finish was super, we felt comfortable and was friendly. It was a well deserved 12.5% discrentionary service charge. The waiter explained the whole afternoon experience that we could order our glass of champagne any time, and it did not have to be served right away. He was also very patient in explaining to us the range of tea that was available.

That day I felt some thing from the herbal range and selected wild blossom and berries. To my surprise it was a beautiful light tea which still had the berries flavour but not too strong.

The afternoon tea is served with individual plates of sandwiches. We each got five different filling which includes many of the classic filling, such as egg mayo, salmon with cream cheese etc.

Shortly, after the sandwiches the it was catwalk time and out came the colourful three tiers stand. The top-tier had cookies and glasses of mousse. The second tier contained a range of petite cakes. Then the bottom tier contained different savoury canapés.

Although, the cakes seem sweet it was surprising not that sweet. If we found it sweet we had the savoury canapés to balance it out, and since they were canapés size it still leave you room to go back for more delicious cakes.

To our surprise even after our first round we were not full which you usually get with many afternoon tea. We had room and craving to get second round for the bottom and second tier. The cake was just so yummy that we asked to have some of them replenish.

My favourite for taste had to be the pink polka dot cake which is an inspiration from designers Manolo Blahnik.

My favourite for cutest design had to be the Yves Saint Laurent inspired green handbag. Inside the handbag contained a green victoria sponge cake.

Other collection we had, included Fendi ankle boot biscuit, Marc Jacobs blazer biscuit, Burberry Prorsum layered praline, chocolate mousse trench coat which was topped with an umbrella etc.

We did not go home empty-handed, as we each got a colourful cardboard handbag each containing two different cakes. We were able to carry on enjoying the tasty fashion inspired cakes at home.

Fashionista’s Afternoon Tea
The Berkeley Hotel
Wilton Place,
Knightsbridge,
London,
SW1X 7RL
UK

http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/fashion-afternoon-tea/