Time for Tea....Edible Garden at the Intercontinental Westminster

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Last weekend Lorna and I were lucky enough to be invited back to the Intercontinental Westminster to sample their latest themed afternoon tea - the edible garden. The hotel has partnered with Laurent-Perrier, offering a unique afternoon tea experience which is inspired by the beautiful Laurent-Perrier garden at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

This particular afternoon tea experience includes free flowing Laurent-Perrier champagne during the service plus a wonderful selection of teas which included both traditional varieties plus garden inspired teas such as Lemon Verbena Herbal Tea, Blackcurrant and Hibiscus Herbal Tea, Whole Rose Buds, Flowering Osmanthus. I opted for the Blackcurrant and Hibiscus tea which had a lovely fruity flavour without being too overpowering.

We were particularly impressed by the visual impact that the savoury selection made once served - it was brought out on two plates and included an impressive selection of savouries....

Edible Garden afternoon tea - Intercontinental Westminster

 Among other items the plates included baby vegetable shots, garden pea and basil tarts, a miniature eggs Benedict and the only traditional sandwich - roast beef and horseradish on beetroot bread. The range of textures and flavours was quite amazing - definitely not your usual savoury selection!

Edible Garden afternoon tea - Intercontinental Westminster

When the plates are presented at the table, the waiter describes each item and suggests the preferred order to sample the delights. The beginning point for the savouries was the baby vegetable shots, which I have to say that both Lorna and I didn't like very much. But this was a personal aversion to avocado mousse rather than anything else (our waiter commented that the shots had received very mixed comments from diners so far)!

As you'll notice from the photos above there were a couple of items were there was only one piece (e.g the salmon on rye) but they were all large enough to share easily.

Once we had finished the savoury items we moved onto the traditional scone plate. We were served one lavender infused scone (served warm) and one mini Chelsea bun - these were served with both lemon and raspberry curd, clotted cream and also strawberry rose jam.

Scones and mini Chelsea buns -
afternoon tea treats Intercontinental Westminster

I thoroughly enjoyed the mini Chelsea bun...especially when I dolloped lemon curd on it! As you can probably tell from the photo there was no shortage of fruit in the buns!

Finally we were served the sweet treats....these were served on a beautiful slate encased in a glass greenhouse. Unfortunately our greenhouse was removed before I managed to take a photo, but I have this photo from the hotel's website as it was a rather impressive sight!

Edible Garden afternoon tea
Intercontinental Westminster

Amazing isn't it?

The sweet treats that are included in this tea include a Lemon box hedge, a Raspberry meringue pie and a Laurent-Perrier strawberry champagne bubble among other items. Again, there were lots of singular items, but all were large enough to share.

Let's take a closer look....

Sweet treats - Intercontinental Westminster

As well as the cakes and pastries, the slate also includes the most delicious chocolate "dirt" and pebbles! 

Lorna was particularly partial to the dirt.....

Edible Garden afternoon tea - even the dirt is edible!

The sweet selection included a wonderful variety of flavours and textures, all the items were very enjoyable. In fact it's quite hard to put my finger on my favourite part, but I think it might be the raspberry meringue pie which tasted amazing and those chocolate pebbles!

All in all this is a lovely afternoon tea experience - really quite unique in its look and flavours. Perfect for garden lovers, but also enjoyable for anyone wanting an unusual afternoon tea. As usual the service at the hotel was good, with our tea being refilled regularly.

The Edible Garden afternoon tea is available until the 26th May and costs £44 per person, for more information visit the Intercontinental Westminster website. We would like to thank the hotel for inviting us to sample their latest afternoon tea and for their hospitality.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel