Time for Tea....Mr Foggs

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea review from Tea With Me and Friends...this week we have a fab afternoon tea adventure for you from Mr Foggs in London.

Mr Foggs is an intriguing place.....the "home" of Phileas Fogg Esq. - guests are invited to enjoy evening cocktails in the Fogg Mayfair abode which is packed to the rafters with artifacts "discovered" by the explorer Mr Fogg. On Friday and Saturdays afternoon tea adventurers can also descend upon the Fogg household for a spot of tipsy afternoon tea. The perfect spot to celebrate a Tea With Me and Friends Birthday we thought!

Booking can be done online or via telephone, but for afternoon tea you will also be required to provide a credit card to guarantee your booking. Once you find this hidden gem you will be amazed at the styling of the drawing room/bar both inside and out.....

Mr Foggs from the outside

My photos really don't do the interior justice....there is just so much to marvel at once you are in your seats....

Mr Foggs from the inside

Mr Foggs

We were given our menus and asked to peruse them and soak in the surroundings. As the name suggests this is a tipsy tea and therefore the tea is of the alcoholic variety....namely gin or champagne cocktails. Guests can either pick one teapot from the seven cocktails on offer...or they can opt to have a bottomless teapot and work your way through either the three gin cocktails or the four champagne cocktails. It's worth noting that the bottomless teapots are limited to your two hour tipsy tea experience.

We opted for the bottomless gin teapot which included the following cocktails:

1840

Earl Grey infused Tanqueray No.TEN gin,

steeped in a teapot with Cointreau, crème de pêche

and orange marmalade.

Woburn Abbey

English Breakfast infused Tanqueray No.TEN gin,

steeped in a teapot with crème de bergamot, lemon

juice and bee pollen sugar with milk on the side.

Catherine of Braganza

Green Tea infused Tanqueray No.TEN gin,

steeped in a teapot with Cointreau, crème de apricot

and orange marmalade

Mr Foggs bottomless teapots

Once we had our first teapot the rest of the afternoon tea was served....

Afternoon tea - Mr Foggs

Now, the eagle eyed of you out there will notice something is missing from this wonderful spread.....yes, there are no scones (shock horror!) instead we had sandwiches, lots of different cakes and some macaroons. Now...... as you are reading this review just bear in mind that this is a tipsy tea.

Let's start with the sandwiches....

Afternoon tea sandwiches - Mr Foggs

I think it's safe to say that this was the low point of the whole experience....the sandwiches were of the finger variety and they were crustless and fresh....but the fillings were uninspiring and the bread was just white bread. 

The fillings included ham and cheese, cucumber (just cucumber - no butter nor cream cheese), salmon and tuna and sweetcorn. 

There was nothing wrong with the sandwiches as such....but they weren't exactly filling and to be honest I could make better sandwiches at home....here is a closer look....

Afternoon tea sandwiches - Mr Foggs

It's also worth noting that the teapots might be bottomless, but the food is limited....what you see on the stand is what you get.

Once we had consumed the rather flat sandwiches (we're still not sure how they were so flat) we moved up the cake stand to the sweet treats...which looked rather rustic but were all rather good.

Afternoon tea cakes - Mr Foggs

The middle tier included custard slices which were delicious and light and another sweet pastry with a nutty filling (I think this was from Germany, but my memory is a little blurred by the teapots we consumed). We enjoyed both of these a lot, but they were rather messy to eat.

Afternoon tea cakes - Mr Foggs

The top tier included some rather scrummy pistachio cake, three different macaroons and some chocolate truffles. The cake was moist and scrummy and we each enjoyed our macaroon.

As you can see the cakes were all rather rustic in appearance, but they were all fresh and tasty.

Afternoon tea at Mr Foggs

During our two hour experience we made our way through all three gin cocktails....all of which were very good and well made....they are definitely the main attraction in this afternoon tea adventure and outshone the food served. Once you have finished your afternoon tea you are welcome to stay in the bar and work your way through the extensive cocktail list (if you can still see straight after your teapots!).

The service was friendly and each cocktail is handmade at the bar, the waiters are happy to make recommendations if you can't pick which teapot you want to try.

The afternoon tea costs £38 per person for a single teapot or £58 per person for a bottomless gin teapot and £68 per person for a bottomless champagne teapot. I think we got approximately two and a half cups out of each gin teapot.

This is definitely a quirky afternoon tea experience - especially good for anyone who enjoys a cocktail or two! However, not so good if you are looking for a traditional afternoon tea experience.

For more information visit the Mr Foggs website.

So, over to you....have you enjoyed a quirky afternoon tea anywhere? Let us know by leaving a comment below....

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea...Sketch

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends, this time I wanted to share our latest afternoon tea adventure when we visited Sketch in London.

I have heard lots about the quirky tea on offer at Sketch and was keen to try it for myself, so recently Alex, Becca and myself headed into London for a spot of tea! Conceived by French master chef Pierre Gagnaire and restaurateur Mourad Mazouz, Sketch first opened in 2012 and has been offered quirky food, drink and entertainment ever since. Sketch is made up of several different rooms, all with a different feel and all full of amazing art installations. Its a feast for the eyes as well as the belly!

On the day we visited Sketch we enjoyed our afternoon tea in the glade, which is a magical woodland bar...think beautiful painted trees on the walls, lots of green and gorgeous 50s rattan furniture. It's a really relaxing environment to enjoy tea in. The crockery, cups and teapots used were all glass and very modern, but suited the environment - we particularly liked the cups.

Afternoon tea - Sketch 

Liquid refreshment came in the form of an optional Dubonnet & Gin cocktail, along with a good selection of black, white, green and oolong teas. I loved that the teapots were glass, this was especially pretty for Becca's tea choice which was a flowering tea. We were advised on the perfect brewing time for each tea by our waitress, which I think is always a good sign.

Afternoon tea stands - Sketch

When the stands are presented they were quite spectacular, with a great variety of items included. The waitress talks you through the whole stand, highlighting if something is warm and needs to be enjoyed first.

Despite my sweet tooth I really felt that the savoury selection was the highlight of this tea, offering a great selection of savouries featuring a range of flavours and textures

The afternoon tea savouries - Sketch

The savouries included a selection of rather scrummy finger sandwiches:

smoked salmon and Jacob’s cream

cucumber, ricotta and asparagus

mozzarella and pesto croque monsieur

egg and mayonnaise, quail egg, caviar

All the savouries were tasty, although the cucumber, ricotta and asparagus was a little too soggy for me.

The croque monsieur was served warm and wrapped in paper and ribbon, it was definitely my favourite savoury item. It was perfectly toasted, not too greasy and those slices of bread were so thin - it was divine and enjoyed by all of us.

The Sketch Croque Monsieur - a masterpiece!

There was one large fruited scone each, served with clotted cream and two jams - fig and strawberry. The jams were both very tasty - but those square scones caused great debate!

Square afternoon tea scones at Sketch

Finally we made it to the top tiers of the stands and the sweet selection.....

Sweet treats at Sketch

If I am honest although these were sweet treats nice, and perfectly sized they didn't really hit the spot and after such a quirky tea they were quite standard! The choice included a pistachio macaroon, an almond and berry tartlet, a coffee éclair, mini strawberry cheesecake in a glass, mousse malabar marshmallows, meringa tarta, raspberry meringue and sketch opera cake. 

They all looked wonderful and were perfectly created, but I was just a little disappointed that they weren't more unusual.

Sweet selection at Sketch Afternoon Tea

This tea costs £34 per person for the standard afternoon tea, or £40 each if you want to indulge in the scrummy gin cocktail. We were offered more of everything, but we didn't really need anything (other than extra cream) as there was so much included.

Everything was fresh and tasted good, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our quirky afternoon tea adventure - I just wish that they were a little more inventive with those sweet treats.

If you want to read more about Sketch and their afternoon tea, visit their website.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

PS - have you entered our fab champagne afternoon tea competition yet?

Time for Tea.....BB Bakery County Hall

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 my Twitter friend Alex who indulged in a spot of tea at BB Bakery County Hall.

Take a peek at her experience......

"I fancied afternoon tea with somewhere close by where we could walk off the calories afterwards. After much Internet perusing I found the website for BB Bakery County Hall. Situated right on the Southbank and just £26 for an afternoon tea, it seemed too good to be true.

Let me tell you, it was everything and more.

Such delights await you inside these doors!

When booking our reservation we requested a vegetarian tea and one normal tea, we also told them that we would have a baby with us.

The bakery was big and quirky chic with pictures and vintage tea decorations everywhere. There were lots of sweets in jars, and cakes on display that had you ready to dive in! Upon arrival they were friendly and welcoming and had reserved us an area with a sofa so the baby could lie on it if needed (we thought this was very thoughtful).

Such pretty displays!

Wouldn't you love this in your living room??

When asking us what we would like to drink, both of us said we were not huge tea drinkers to which we were informed we could have as many soft drinks we liked. The savoury part of tea was served on two different plates, so the vegetarian bits were separate. Then a plate of sweet treats was on top.

Afternoon tea at BB Bakery County Hall

The waitress informed us to ask when we were ready for scones as they serve fresh from the oven! You can imagine at this point I was thankful for the stretchy dress I had worn!

The sandwiches were fresh, tasty and with a mixture of fillings such as pesto and mozzarella and ham and Edam. We also had a miniature quiche which was light and well seasoned.

Then came the sweets..... 

Cake anyone??

Well they were good, a little too good! We had macaroons, chocolate brownies, cupcakes, lemon meringues and raspberry tartlets. Each one was so beautifully made and perfectly sized.

But the scones, the scones were the icing on the huge giant iced afternoon tea cake. Hot and fresh, the jam was home made and the clotted cream was light and delicious. All together we oohed and ahhed.

After Alex's description I think I need to try one of these scones!

Every mouthful of this tea was just wonderful and we felt so relaxed and welcomed. We even got goody boxes to take our leftovers home in. Yes we had leftovers!!!"

Well, I don't know about you....but I might be drooling just a little bit after reading that! It sounds like Alex had such a lovely tea, I had heard good things about this afternoon tea so I am glad it lived up to other people's experiences. At £26.00 each (or £33.00 each with a glass of bubbles) I think this is a great value tea, offering lovely service and a fab selection of goodies - definitely one for my wish list!

BB Bakery County Hall offers so many different sweet and savoury treats, take a peek at their menu here. If you fancy trying afternoon tea for yourself you need to give them at least 24 hours notice.

Thank you Alex for sharing your experience with us....and for taking so many lovely photos! 

If you've enjoyed afternoon tea anywhere recently, why not drop us a line and let us know about it. We'd love to see your photos too!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....Bea's of Bloomsbury, St Pauls

Hello there,

Happy Saturday! We hope you are well today and maybe have some afternoon tea plans this weekend!

One of our lovely friends recently visited Bea's of Bloomsbury in St Pauls for afternoon tea. St Pauls is one of four locations where Bea's of Bloomsbury currently serves hungry Londoners tea, coffee and most importantly cake! With quirky surroundings, great food and special events we've always fancied sampling the delights that Beas has to offer so we were eager to hear about Sophie's experience.

Here is what Sophie had to say.....

Bea's of Bloomsbury is a coffee shop just near St Pauls Cathedral that offers a good value, casual, no frills afternoon tea, featuring its popular cupcakes and mini brownies. We loved the vintage setting, décor and quirky teapot lights hanging from the ceiling.

 

Quirky teapot lights surround you at Beas of Bloomsbury St Pauls

There was a selection of teas to choose from, followed by a platter of mini baguettes and then a two tire selection of cakes. There was two of everything - scones, selection of mini brownies, cupcakes, fruity marshmallows, cake bites, macaroons and chocolate meringues.

 

Sophie's afternoon tea - lots of sweet treats!

The cakes were lovely and we enjoyed the variety although this was not a dainty afternoon tea - everything was quite big and despite going there for lunch we got full very quickly. Bea's happily provided us with little boxes to take our leftover cakes home.

 

Unfortunately Bea's has not quite perfected the niceties of attentive service that we expected from an afternoon tea experience, we found it more coffee shop than afternoon tea experience. However, it is the perfect place to enjoy a good catch up over a cuppa and plenty of cakes in a quirky environment. They also offer lots of themed events and movie nights - details can be found on their website

A great selection of cakes and sweet treats!

 I think Sophie's experience demonstrates again that afternoon tea isn't just about the food and drink you indulge in, or the surroundings you enjoy your afternoon tea in. Of course great company is an important factor....but the service you receive is also part of that afternoon tea experience.

Don't those cakes look amazing though....and such a great selection to tempt your taste buds! Here is another photo from the Bea's of Bloomsbury website which will leave you drooling....

Quirky afternoon tea!

At £19.00 a head for the full afternoon tea and £26.50 each if you fancy a glass of Moet & Chandon champagne, Bea's offers a great value afternoon tea that I think Tea With Me and Friends will need to sample soon!

Thank you to Sophie and Rosie for sharing their experience with us!

Have you enjoyed afternoon tea at one of the Bea's of Bloomsbury cafes? We'd love to hear from you if you have - just leave us a comment below!

 

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna