Meet the Executive Pastry Chef.....Cherish Finden, The Langham London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today.

If you popped by the blog yesterday you'll know we featured the new afternoon tea being served at the Langham London. Today we are meeting the talented creator of this beautiful new afternoon tea feast....executive Pastry Chef Cherish Finden. You might recognise Cherish from the current BBC programme Great British Bake Off - Creme de la Creme where she appears as the firm but fair judge.

Executive Pastry Chef Cherish Finden

Recently Lorna and I had the pleasure of meeting Cherish and I can confirm that as well as being super talented and passionate about afternoon tea....she is also a really lovely person. We're so pleased that Cherish agreed to answer our slightly nosey afternoon tea questions - giving us an insight into the effort required to create such a tea-riffic afternoon tea spread!

Q How long does it usually take you to create new afternoon teas?

About 2- 3months for creating and another 2 months for food tasting and recipe development

Q. Where does your inspiration for new teas come from? 

Mostly I am inspired by the Wedgwood collection and everything I came across interest me for example:

1. the buttery Bloom – it is inspire by the Gerkin Building and Butterfly symbolise new life and to welcome spring
2. Hathaway Rose Victoria sponge – to bring in the classic Victorian feel

Afternoon tea - Langham London

Q. So, what is your favourite part of your latest afternoon tea?

Well I always like a new challenge. The most interesting part is to create - how to balance the flavour, texture, taste, appearance and WOW Bang effect!

Q. Do you enjoy a spot of afternoon tea yourself and have you tried tea anywhere else? 

Yes, I love to appreciate Afternoon Tea. Most of the Top 5 star hotel.

Q. What is your favourite filling in an afternoon tea sandwich? 

Classic-cucumber and cream cheese

Q. The all important question - do you put cream or jam on your scone first?

Jam and then cream - the Cornish way

Afternoon tea scones - Langham London

Q. If you could invite any guest to enjoy afternoon tea with you, who would it be and why? 

It will be a honour to invite the Queen.

The Queen has lead such an interesting life and been a tremendous ambassador for Britain. I would love to to an opportunity to share a cup of tea and a slice of humble cake with the Queen.

Executive Pastry Chef Cherish Finden with some of her tea-riffic
afternoon tea creations!

It was a real pleasure to listen to Cherish talk about her new afternoon tea at The Langham, her passion for creating perfectly balanced sweet treats is obvious as she talks. We'd like to thank Cherish for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer our afternoon tea questions.

For more information about the new afternoon tea at Langham London please visit their website.

Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel & Lorna

Meet the Head Chef......

Hello there,

Welcome back to another blog post from Tea With Me and Friends, this time we are meeting the Head Chef  Sergio Neale at the Reform Social & Grill in Marylebone London, creator of the Vintage themed afternoon tea currently on offer.

Vintage Afternoon Tea
Reform Social & Grill

We visited the Reform Social & Grill last weekend and loved the concept of the afternoon tea, and afterwards Chef Sergio kindly answered some questions for us.....

Q. Why did you decide to feature a themed afternoon tea at the Reform Social & Grill?
Many places have themed afternoon teas and to add a little something extra to the classic option. I just tried to find something that is very on trend at the moment.

Q. We love the idea of an afternoon tea inspired by the 1940s/50s - what made you pick this particular era?
It a time in Britain when things were hard, with rationing still in place for much of the time, Britain pulled together, people did the best with what they had. But even thought times were hard people really knew how to have a good time. Its an inspiring time and at tea time, people enjoyed themselves and this is exactly what we want people to do here. Indulge, dress up and enjoy. 

Q How long did it take you to create this new afternoon tea?
The creation of this afternoon tea took around 3 month from the idea to 

Q. Was it hard to pick which fancies to include in the afternoon tea?
Not really! I just think back to what my granddad used to cook for me. Plus I have his some of his recipes which are amazing.

Q. What is your favourite part of this afternoon tea?
Bananas and custard, it’s a classic mums quick dessert, it’s a brilliant combination  

Q. Do you enjoy a spot of afternoon tea yourself and have you tried tea anywhere else?
I do enjoy afternoon teas, I enjoy classic tea rooms were they serve big wedges of cakes and eccals cakes as big as dinner plates. But for something a little special I would recommend sketch.

Head Chef - Sergio Neale
Reform Social & Grill

Q. What is your favourite filling in an afternoon tea sandwich?
Coronation chicken. A classic but we worked hard on getting the right combination of spices so its unforgettable

Q. The all important question - do you put cream or jam on your scone first?
Cream, you can get more on if the cream goes on first, its harder to spread cream on top of jam

Q. If you could invite any guest to enjoy afternoon tea with you, who would it be and why?
Definitely tea with the Queen! 

As you can imagine Lorna and I were pleased to hear that Chef Sergio dresses his scones in the correct way - cream first! We'll be enjoying a spot of afternoon tea at Sketch next month and so we were also pleased to see the recommendation here!

A big thank you to Chef Sergio for answering our questions and we hope you've enjoyed our latest instalment in the "meet the chef" blog articles.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Meet the Pastry Chef.....Ji Sun Shin

Welcome to a new type of post from Tea With Me and Friends, where we meet the people behind the wonderful afternoon teas that we enjoy and ask them the all important question....are you a jam first or cream first kinda person?

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Ji Sun Shin, the pastry chef behind the wonderful afternoon teas at The Ampersand hotel in South Kensington. Ji Sun didn't dream of being a pastry chef when she was little, in fact she hadn't even thought of it when she was growing up in Korea. Ji Sun wanted to be an artist and study for an art degree. When she came to London, she decided to get creative in the kitchen instead.

Ji Sun Shin - The Ampersand

Ji Sun started her career by spending three years at Marco Pierre White's Mirabelle, before going on to spend five years at Nobu Park Lane before joining Head Chef Chris Golding at The Ampersand Hotel. Prior to working at The Ampersand Ji Sun hadn't created any afternoon teas....but looking at her recent creations you couldn't tell!

There are two different afternoon teas on offer at The Ampersand - the classic afternoon tea, offering traditional sandwiches and cakes. And the Albertopolis afternoon tea....the chef's special, which changes regularly throughout the year and all look rather spectacular....

A spooky afternoon tea at Halloween, complete with pumpkins and dry-ice....

Halloween afternoon tea at
The Ampersand Hotel

Christmas got cute, with mini reindeer and snowmen.....

Christmas afternoon tea at
The Ampersand Hotel

 Ji Sun's favourite afternoon tea for 2013 was her London Fashion Week afternoon tea....

Afternoon tea dedicated to London Fashion Week at
The Ampersand Hotel

After chatting about Ji Sun's background for a while, I asked her some burning questions about life as a pastry chef....

What is the best bit about being a pastry chef?
When everything comes together - its important that an afternoon tea looks pretty, but it must taste good too.

Are there any bad bits?
The long and unsociable hours can be tiring.

What are your favourite kitchen tools?
My kitchen-aid and the Thermomix (I had to be educated about the Thermomix but apparently its a blender and processor that also weighs and cooks! Maybe the next big kitchen appliance?)

What are your favourite ingredients to use?
I love the texture and flavour of nuts and like to try to incorporate them

Do you bake at home when you're not working?
Not often, I do bake for special occasions though. 

Where do you get inspiration for your afternoon teas?
From everywhere and anything - it could be from a painting, or a colour. I research a lot.

How long does it take to create a new afternoon tea?
It depends really - I started creating the Valentines afternoon tea just after Christmas! 

From your own afternoon tea menu, what is your favourite sandwich filling?
The salmon and cream cheese - very English!

What is your favourite part of afternoon tea?
Definitely the scones! Either plain or fruit.

FACT - On an average weekend Ji Sun makes approximately 100 scones each day - that's a lot of rolling and baking!

If you could invite any guest to afternoon tea with you, who would it be?
Mary Berry

Finally the most important question.....on a scone do you spread cream or jam first?
Definitely cream first, as it acts a layer underneath the jam. If you do it the other way it makes a mess!

Ji Sun's next afternoon tea creation is her beautiful Valentine's afternoon tea, complete with heart shaped scones and macaroons. Take a peek at how wonderful it looks.....

Valentines Afternoon Tea at
The Ampersand Hotel

Doesn't that look scrummy? Shall we take a closer peek?

Heart shaped scones and macaroons at
The Ampersand Hotel

Are you drooling yet? Lets take a closer look.....

Sweet treats on offer at the Ampersand Hotel's
Valentines afternoon tea

If you'd like to indulge in this Valentine's Afternoon Tea, take a look at The Ampersand website for more information about booking....but be quick...the tea is only available from Friday 7th - Sunday 16th February 2014! 

It was a pleasure to spend time with Ji Sun, a very creative pastry chef who is also very humble about her beautiful creations. I am looking forward to seeing what other afternoon teas she creates this year at The Ampersand.

I hope you've enjoyed this post from Tea With Me and Friends, we will be meeting more pastry chefs during our afternoon tea adventures...asking them all sorts of important questions about tea!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel