Mother's Day Afternoon Tea 2016 - Part 3

Hello there,

Welcome back to another Mother's Day afternoon tea round up from Tea With Me and Friends....today we're sharing with you the treats on offer at Lancaster London.....

Mothers Day afternoon tea
Lancaster London

Lancaster London’s Lounge Bar is offering a tea-riffic Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea created by Head Chef Ben Purton. The selection includes tasty miniature treats such as: Honey and Chocolate Lolly Pops; Pear & Ginger Cup Cakes; and White Chocolate & Passion Fruit Cheese Cakes.

The Afternoon Tea is served from 2pm until 5.30pm, priced at £30 per person, or £40.00 with a glass of Champagne. In addition, Lancaster London has created a cocktail especially for Mother's Day.....treat mum to a Pink Fizz...

Mother's Day cocktail - Pink Fizz
Lancaster London

To find out more about these afternoon tea treats pop by the Lancaster London website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea...The Langham

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends, now it was Mother's Day in the UK this weekend and as some of you may know that is where our love affair with afternoon tea first began. We have been taking mum for afternoon tea on Mothering Sunday for years and years now...enjoying some time together in beautiful surroundings, while sipping tea and eating cake. It's a tradition that we all love and look forward to each year.

This year we visited somewhere that I have wanted to try for a while now, The Palm Court at The Langham, in London. The Palm Court has been serving afternoon tea since the Victorian era and offers guests a beautiful lounge to enjoy tea in. As soon as you are ushered into the room you leave the hustle and bustle of Regents Street far behind, the air is sweet with roses and everyone smiles at you and makes you feel very welcome.

Everything about The Palm Court is elegant and under-stated, from the beautiful china to the fresh red roses on each table....

A beautiful setting awaits you at
Palm Court, The Langham

As it was Mother's Day we enjoyed The Mother's Day Langham Afternoon Tea With Wedgewood, which was served with a glass of Laurent Perrier Champagne.

There were thirty different tea blends to choose from, which included something for everyone. I decided to play it safe with the Langham Blend, which was a light black tea perfect with the cakes scones we were about to enjoy.

Lorna enjoyed the Exotic Blend which smelt like grannies (aka roses) and Mum tried both The Langham Blend and also the Peach tea, which was a black tea lightly flavoured with peaches (a very subtle blend). 

As we enjoyed our champagne (which was lovely!) we were served a wonderfully light lemon posset to begin our afternoon tea adventure...

Lemon Posset - the perfect start to
afternoon tea at The Langham

Once we had finished the posset, the sandwiches were brought out on silver trays. The waiters described each sandwich in turn and we could choose which ones we wanted to try....as you can imagine we opted to try all of them (well we had to make sure all the flavours were good - all in the name of research!). 

The sandwiches are served onto individual plates for guests to enjoy.....

Afternoon tea sandwiches
The Langham, London

These were perfect examples of finger sandwiches, small and crustless and made with the freshest bread. The two small rolls were also very fresh and easy to eat (although the ham was a little messy). 

The fillings in the sandwiches were as follows:

London cured smoked salmon with whipped brie and rocket

Corn-fed chicken with tarragon mustard and plum tomato

Cucumber with cream cheese and chives

And in the rolls we enjoyed:

Burford Brown free range egg and mustard cress

Smoked mountain ham with Comté cheese and white truffle oil

I enjoyed each of the sandwiches, although my favourite was the egg roll. 

Once we were finished we were offered more sandwiches, which on this occasion we declined as we wanted plenty of room for the delights that lay ahead. At this point we were told that scones and pastries can be taken home, but sandwiches cannot.

Next the sweets were brought to the table....let's start with the scones which were served warm, wrapped in a napkin....

Scones at The Langham

We had both plain and fruit scones to enjoy, with clotted cream and strawberry preserve. 

The scones were perfect (yes I just said perfect!)....probably the best scones I have enjoyed. They were small, fresh and light as air. The clotted cream was rich and the preserve sweet and full of flavour - the perfect scone experience. 

Scones dressed the Tea With Me and Friends way
 at Palm Court, The Langham

Lorna and I might have enjoyed extra scones....just to make sure they were as good as we first thought!

After we enjoyed the scones we moved onto the sweet plates....

Sweet afternoon tea treats
The Langham

Now, first of all I am pleased to confirm that each guest received one of these plates - so no fighting over these beautiful treats! Secondly.....they all tasted as good as they look.

Our waiter explained each item to us, then suggested an order to try them in:

First off it was the English rose and lychee log at the front - which had a light biscuit base and a beautiful rose and lychee filling, wrapped in thin white chocolate. Again, it was light as air, fragrant and delicious - the lychees burst in your mouth as you took a bite. 

Next we moved onto the beautiful miniature Victoria sponge which was flavoured with strawberries and white balsamic. The sponge was surprisingly light and the icing encasing the sponge, thin and sweet....

A tiny, but perfect Victoria Sponge
Afternoon Tea at The Langham

After the sponge we moved onto the cinnamon teapot cookie and then the raspberry and lime macaroon....

Raspberry & Lime macaroon
Palm Court at The Langham

The macaroon had a small square of raspberry jelly in the middle, while the lime came from the cream surrounding it. The macaroon itself was light and crisp - all in all a lovely treat.

Next we moved onto the lime pana cotta in the shot glass which acted as a palate cleanser before the final sweet....

Chocolate, raspberries and pistachios
at The Langham

This treat featured 64% chocolate, raspberry and toasted pistachio - making for a rich and indulgent end to this afternoon tea feast! Those tiny little hearts were made from creamy white chocolate.

This is definitely one afternoon tea adventure that you enjoy with your eyes as much as your taste buds, everything looked so pretty! But Pastry Chef Cherish Finden has ensured that as well as looking good, every element tasted wonderful too....

Afternoon tea
Palm Court - The Langham

At £59.00 per person, this is definitely a treat rather than an every day afternoon tea experience. 

However, every part of the tea is well thought out and well delivered. The service was friendly and attentive - our tea cups never ran dry - the surroundings comfortable and beautiful, and the food of a very high standard. It's no wonder that Cherish was named pastry chef of the year 2012 by the Craft Guild of Chefs.

I thought I would leave you with one last look at that beautiful sweet plate...

Afternoon tea sweet plate
The Langham, London

More information about the current afternoon tea on offer at The Langham can be found on their website. 

So, over to you - where has been your most favourite afternoon tea experience...we'd love to hear from you....

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea - Mother's Day Special.....The Stockwell Arms

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Today we have a wonderful guest post for you, written by Jess who I met on Twitter. I recently read on her blog about her early Mother's Day celebrations and as this is something we do with our mum every year I asked her to share her experience. Here is Jess' review of The Stockwell Arms.....

In the historical town of Colchester in Essex, sits a recently refurbished Medieval Restaurant and Real Ale Hall called The Stockwell Arms. It's one of Colchester's most historic buildings situated in the Dutch Quarter. Not only does The Stockwell Arms have the most incredible lunch and dinner menus, they also produce a beautiful Afternoon Tea. Which I experienced whilst celebrating Mothers Day early this year, due to my Mother's hectic social life and the fact she couldn't possibly fit us in on Sunday 30th March!

Right, let's get down to the nitty gritty! On the lowest tier of the three tier cake stand, sat a vast selection of Finger sandwiches which were offered on a choice of white and rye bread. The selection included beef with horseradish, salmon, egg with onion and ham with whole grain mustard. My favourite was probably the egg and onion.

Afternoon tea - The Stockwell Arms, Colchester

The second tier contained a medley of impressive looking cakes including a passionfruit cheesecake, an orange cake, an apple and cream horn and a choice of chocolate cake, Victoria sponge and a coffee and walnut cake. For me it was a tough choice between the apple and cream horn and the passionfruit cheesecake, both equally delicious in their own special way!

The Afternoon Tea was finished off with a choice of a plain or a fruit scone offered with an assortment of local Tiptree jams and clotted cream. I've always preferred a plain scone, but the fruit scone was flavoured beautifully.

The choice of tea was incredible. They had everything from a traditional English tea to Chinese flowering teas! I tried the Jasmine fairies tea, which was delicious and my favourite of the herbal teas, the classic peppermint tea. If tea isn't for you there is also the choice of speciality coffees. Best of all the tea was unlimited, meaning you could try every flavour on the menu!

Being a Mother's Day treat and therefore a special occasion we decided to splash out and treat ourselves to a class of Prosecco each.

Its alright, I can discuss the price as my Mum is nosey and looked at the receipt. We spent a little over £60.00. It worked out as £14.00 each for the Afternoon Tea itself and just over £5.00 for a glass of Prosecco each. Great value for money in my opinion.

My only criticism (if you can even call it that!) would be the size of the cakes, scones and finger sandwiches. There was enough food to comfortably feed more than three people. In fact, there was that much food we even took a goody bag home.

All in all The Stockwell Arms really impressed and I would highly recommend it for a Mother's Day treat. For more information take a look at The Stockwell Arms website. 

Written by Jess Abbott, check out her blog 

Wow - that cake stand looks and sounds very impressive! I don't know about you, but my tummy is rumbling a little after reading that wonderful description!

A big thank you to Jess for sharing her Mother's Day afternoon tea experience with us. If you'd like to appear in a future guest post please get in touch!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea......Mother's Day 2014

Hello there,

With Mother's Day less than a week away I thought it would be a nice idea to take a peek at some of the afternoon teas that have been specially created for Mother's Day 2014.

Firstly we have this scrumptious feast from the Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington, London......

Mother's Day afternoon tea - Ampersand Hotel

This tea includes classic Victoria sponge, carrot cake and raspberry macaroons and is served in the Drawing Room.

The following scummy looking tea has been created by Andaz hotel on Liverpool Street, London and is served in their 1901 Restaurant......

Mother's Day afternoon tea - Andaz Hotel

This can be served as a traditional afternoon tea, with a cocktail or with a glass of bubbles.

Next we move onto pretty Mother's Day afternoon tea created at the Langham hotel in London.....

Mother's Day afternoon tea - Langham Hotel

This scrummy looking tea includes candy floss, a white chocolate and raspberry done and mini pink and white cookies.

Or how about this wonderful looking afternoon tea created by St Ermins hotel in London....

Mother's Day afternoon tea - St Ermins

This tea features a peanut butter cake, a lemon meringue pie and free flowing Bellini's!

Don't they all look lovely!

We are treating our mum to her annual Mother's Day afternoon tea at The English Tea Rooms in Browns Hotel, London this year. Apparently this was a favourite place for Queen Victoria to indulge in a spot of afternoon tea and we are looking forward to indulging ourselves! Pop back next weekend to see the tea that we've enjoyed!

Don't forget that we'd also love to hear about your afternoon teas - if you are spoiling your mother this weekend tell us all about it!

Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel