Time for Tea....Mary Poppins at Aqua Shard

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

There is one afternoon tea that we'd love to try, but its hard to get a reservation on the weekend because it's so popular. With a certain film due out in December I'm sure it's going to get even more popular....

Yes, its the Mary Poppins inspired tea currently being served at Aqua Shard. 

How cute is that cake stand?

Inspired by the Mary Poppins books by P.L Travers, this afternoon tea was launched at the same time as the books were re-launched by Harper Collins. 

Luckily, fellow afternoon tea lover Rachel was treated to the Mary Poppins afternoon tea as part of her recent Birthday celebrations and has shared her experience with us.

Just take a look at the gorgeous crockery....those plates are lovely...

The afternoon tea kicks off with a selection of quintessentially British finger sandwiches:

Cackleberry egg & black truffle sandwich
Ms Kirkham's cheddar, Branston pickle & English mustard ploughman's sandwich
Dingley Dell honey roast ham, mustard mayonnaise & Norfolk rocket cress sandwich
Dressed Devon crab, cucumber & coriander served on a brioche roll
Mini crumpet served warm with Scottish smoked salmon & cream cheese

The crab brioche rolls sound divine!

After guests enjoy homemade scones with clotted cream and either cherry or plum jam they can enjoy the homemade cakes and sweet treats....
'Strike me pink' sponge
Fairground candy floss
Mrs Corry's gingerbread star
Mary's chocolate & cherry hat
The 'back to front zoo' golden syrup tart

Rachel said she enjoyed the experience, all the food was scrummy!

I'd still love to try this afternoon tea for myself - I love the sound of both the sweet and savoury elements. If you happen to enjoy the champagne afternoon tea, you are also offered "medicine" with your champagne in the form of three homemade liqueurs (rum punch, strawberry or lime) which sound scrummy!

To find out more about the Mary Poppins afternoon tea pop by the Aqua Shard website.

A big thank you to Rachel for sharing her afternoon tea photos with us. If you enjoy an afternoon tea we'd love to see your photos too - leave us a message on our Facebook page!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea.....remembering the Pret a Portea Spring Summer 2018 afternoon tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - earlier this summer when it was still very hot in the UK I spent a rather wonderful Saturday with a friend enjoying a Pret a Portea afternoon tea at the Berkeley. I didn't share it at the time, but it was such a pretty afternoon tea that I thought I would revisit it now.

We've enjoyed a Pret a Portea several times previously, but as they change the menu twice a year to reflect the latest styles and fashions its always good to visit again! The Berkeley is an elegant hotel located in Knightsbridge and their afternoon tea is just as beautiful as the surroundings you enjoy it in. Let's start this afternoon tea adventure by staring wistfully at one of their pretty teacups....

I know I'm biased because purple is my favourite colour (I'm typing this blog post on my purple laptop), but the Berkeley china is so pretty. The cups are big enough that you get a decent amount of tea without needing to refill your cup every two minutes, but pretty enough to still look dainty.

As tradition dictates the savouries are served first - a selection of finger sandwiches and bite sized treats which look as pretty as the crockery they are served on.

Each diner has a whole plate full of perfectly filled finger sandwiches - that's a total of six fingers each! Plus there are two mini bowls and another savoury. You will definitely not go hungry at this afternoon tea!

The sandwiches are freshly made, with a variety of fillings. Pleasingly there isn't a crust in sight and the sandwiches look fairly uniform. The chicken sandwich was probably my favourite, a roast corn fed chicken with spring onion and celery emulsion on onion bread....I might have enjoyed more than one of these!

The little bowls of savoury goodness were as pretty as they were tasty - both pleasing to the eye and the palate. Again, they were freshly made and the flavours were well balanced. The crab dish was my favourite, the flavours were delicate it was so pretty....

You are offered....encouraged even....to indulge in as many savouries as you can enjoy. But remember to leave room, there maybe no scones in this afternoon tea feast but there are plenty of sweets to be enjoyed.

How pretty is this stand.....

This is the Spring Summer 2018 Pret a Portea and it will be different to the one you would enjoy if you visited The Berkeley now, but the sweet treats will be just as pretty! There were a total of nine different sweets, including biscuits, patisserie, cakes and mousses. 

Each sweet treat is inspired by a fashion designer and looks amazing, you'll spend a long time trying to decide which one to try first! The waiting staff are extremely knowledgeable though and happy to help with flavour recommendations.

I really enjoyed the upside down black forest gateaux which consisted of a chocolate cone (far right in photo above), layered with chocolate and vanilla cream and cherries. This was recommended as a favourite by our waiter and it definitely didn't disappoint! 

I can also highly recommend the biscuits - beautifully decorated and flavoured.

The whole afternoon tea experience at The Berkeley is a delight from start to finish. The surroundings are elegant, the staff are professional but friendly and the food is both beautiful and tastes great too. Plus you'll have plenty of photos for your Instagram feed!

Slightly more expensive than the norm - this tea is a treat, but well worth it. For more details pop by The Berkeley website

Thank you for popping by today, we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Rachel & Lorna

Time for a spot of spooky afternoon tea!

Hello there!

Wow, it's been a long time! It's been a rather busy year for me personally, so I hope you excuse the lack of scrummy afternoon tea posts from me.

As some of you know, I love Halloween baking and always host a Halloween afternoon tea for my friends. So I thought I would break my silence by sharing with you this year's Halloween baking!

This year we had a selection of cakes and hand-iced biscuits, as well as a tower of egg mayonnaise finger sandwiches, mini coronation chicken rolls and handmade quiches to enjoy.

Over the years I have collected lots of Halloween themed table decorations and I love covering the table with skulls and handmade felt bats. I also love getting out my collection of vintage china to serve everything on and this year Becca made us cute little ghostly name tags for everyone.

Anika loves nothing better than a vanilla cupcake, so you will always find them as part of my afternoon tea spread. The monster cupcakes in my Halloween tea are vanilla sponge which I coloured green, topped with lashings of vanilla buttercream (with more food colouring) and some edibles eyes.....lots of edible eyes! 

Becca and I had great fun baking and icing the biscuits, we had pumpkins and bats with lime flavoured icing and tombstones and ghosts with lemon flavoured icing.

We used the flooding technique to ice the biscuits, outlining the biscuits first with a slightly thicker icing and then filling in the shape with a thinner icing. Finally details were added with the thicker icing. 

Among the other treats was a chocolate loaf cake which contained a cherry flavoured secret ghost in the middle! I love making cakes with hidden shapes in the middle, especially when the flavour isn't quite as expected! This cake went down especially well with a dollop of clotted cream!

Altogether we enjoyed a very spooky afternoon, watching movies as we enjoyed the treats! 

And the best thing about hosting an afternoon tea at your house.....you get to enjoy the leftovers the next day!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our afternoon tea spread and I promise to return soon with more scrummy posts! In the meantime if you enjoy a wonderful afternoon tea let us know all about it - we'd love to hear about your afternoon tea adventures.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

Afternoon Tea News - CUTcakes & Tea at CUT at 45 Park Lane

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we have some exciting news for you today. A brand new American style afternoon tea is coming to London from Wolfgang Puck's debut restaurant in Europe - CUT!

CUT is an American steak restaurant which is situated on Park Lane and this is an afternoon tea which differs from the norm as there is not a traditional finger sandwich in sight! Instead executive chef, David McIntyre, invites guests to enjoy delights such as Wagyu beef sliders and black truffle grilled cheese toasties. Just take a look at the savoury and sweet bites you can enjoy....

CUTcakes and Tea afternoon tea - CUT at 45 Park Lane

The savoury bites include...

Black Truffle Grilled Cheese
Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Bisquet, Honey-Jalapeño Jam
Tuna Tartare ‘Sandwich’, Avocado, Ginger
Lobster Po’Boy, Homemade Brioche, Herb Remoulade
Wagyu Beef Slider, Garlic Aioli, Sweet Pickle

Lobster Po Boy and mini Wagyu beef sliders at CUT

While those with a sweet tooth can enjoy....

Strawberry Milkshake
Graham Cracker S’mores
Peanut Butter & Jelly Twinkie
Cola Cake & Caramel Corn
‘Cheeseburger’ Macaron
Scones, Clotted Cream, Strawberry & Huckleberry Compote
Pink Lemonade Cake Pop
Cookies & Cream Cake Pop
New York Cheesecake Pop 

Look at those cake pops and milkshake! CUT at 45 Park Lane

I think it looks and sounds so scrummy! I'm not even sure where I would start with either the savoury bites or the sweet bites! I think this is definitely one I am adding to my wish list!

You can find out more about this afternoon tea on the CUT at 45 Park Lane website. If you enjoy this afternoon tea we'd love to hear all about it!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Valentines Day Afternoon Tea - Round Up 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends....are you feeling in the mood for love? Yes, it's that time of year again....time for hearts, red roses and Valentines themed afternoon teas!

With so many options available to treat your loved one to or even better to enjoy with your friends, we thought we'd share some of the Valentine themed afternoon teas being created in 2018!

The Langham have a rather beautiful looking afternoon tea available as a extra special treat on Valentine's day only....



The sweet treats on the menu include:
Where's Cupid? - Coffee and Orelys chocolate filled choux
Marry me- Pink almond praline tart
Love is all around- Hibiscus and red berry mousse
You melt me - Warm chocolate, vanilla ice cream to share
Say it with roses- Manjari mousse with passion fruit

If you fancy some bubbles with your afternoon tea adventure Scoff and Banter in London are running a special offer with the afternoon tea booking website afternoontea.co.uk which includes a complimentary bottle of Processco with their Valentines afternoon tea...



Pop by the website for more information.

Conrad London St James have introduced a special Valentine's themed pastry to their afternoon tea which is served in their lounge Emmeline...

The Rosewater & pomegranate dome is available between 10th - 14th February as an extra special Valentines treat!

Or maybe the Enchanted Rose Afternoon Tea at Kona at Taj 51 Buckingham Gate will melt your heart....



This rather pretty afternoon tea includes:

SWEET CRIMSON DELIGHT - Passion fruit meringue tart
VALENTINE BLUSH - Strawberry delice chocolate and hazelnut mille feuille
PINK PASSION - Pink Champagne jelly with minted foam
SCARLET DESIRE - Lavender macaroons
ROSE BLOSSOM - Red velvet pastry hearts

We hope you've enjoyed this first round up of romantic afternoon teas! Pop back soon when we'll have some more Valentine's themed inspiration for afternoon tea!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Halloween 2017 part 2

Hello there,

Welcome back to part 2 of the Tea With Me and Friends Halloween themed afternoon tea round up! Yes, today we have more spooky afternoon teas to share with you!

Let's begin with Tewin Bury Farm Hotel in Hertfordshire.....

This afternoon tea is available between 21st- 31st October and guests can enjoy the following sweet treats:

Cauldron mallow pop
Ghoulish white chocolate macaroon
'Dracula's Tomb' raspberry opera
Eerie sorbet filled 'chocolate eye'
Blackcurrant & 'Slime' pannacotta

Yes, you read that correctly.....you could be feasting on a chocolate eye!

The Milestone Hotel in London if offering a very limited Halloween afternoon tea, available on the 30th-31st October 2017.....and beware....it includes more eyeballs!

Sweet treats at this afternoon tea include:

Spooky coconut meringue
Bat praline millefeuille
Eye ball chocolate truffles
Poisonous pistachio cheesecake
R.I.P velvet cupcake

This menu made me giggle, calling the pistachio cheesecake "poisonous" - if I'm honest I'm not the greatest pistachio fan and so this name is very fitting!

Finally we found this super cute Halloween tea on offer at Lottie's Coffee Lounge at the Butterfly House in Sheffield:

And yes....there is another eyeball in this one too - clearly a theme in 2017! This afternoon tea is more rustic than the other teas, but I love the styling! This tea is available all of October from 1st October 2017 to 31st October 2017 between 12PM - 3:30PM.

We hope you've enjoyed part 2 of our Halloween round up. If you've enjoyed a Halloween themed afternoon tea this year we'd love to hear all about it!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Wizarding Afternoon Tea, Colwick Hall

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea news blog post from Tea With Me and Friends. We love discovering and sharing new afternoon tea experiences with our readers and we're very excited to share our latest find with you.....a Wizard themed afternoon tea!

This afternoon tea has been created by Colwick Hall Hotel in Nottingham and it looks amazing!

The tea includes savoury items like cheese wands and pumpkin pastries. Whilst those who love the sweet treats can enjoy Buttery beer Caramel, Chocolate Frog Cupcakes and Bleeding Victoria Sponge. 

Guests can also enjoy more traditional items such as savoury finger sandwiches and fruit scones topped with cream and raspberry jam.

But those sweet treats really steal the show....

I think this afternoon tea looks perfect for any Wizard fans and it's not the first themed afternoon tea from Colwick Hall. Previous teas have included an "at the movies" afternoon tea which featured popcorn and doughnut and a Beauty and the Beast themed afternoon tea.

For more information pop by the Colwick Hall Hotel website. 

All images in this blog post are taken from the Colwick Hall Facebook page.

If you sample this afternoon tea (or any other Colwic Park afternoon tea) we'd love to hear more about it - leave us a comment!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Halloween 2017 part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! We hope you're feeling tea-riffic today!

With Halloween just around the corner we thought we'd share with you some of the Halloween themed afternoon teas that are on offer this October - be warned....they're tea-riffying!

Let's start with Amba Hotel Marble Arch....

The spooky tea being serve at Amba includes:

Witches fingers cookies
Brownie with walnuts
Mini muffin with Ghost meringue
Chocolate milk shake with raspberry couli

Guests can also enjoy sandwiches, scones and a glass of Bloody Mary!

This afternoon tea can be enjoyed between 23rd - 31st October.

Or maybe you fancy enjoying your Halloween themed afternoon tea whilst travelling around London....

Yes, between 28th October - 5th November you can enjoy this colourful afternoon tea feast with a spooky twist on the B Afternoon Tea Bus Tour.

As well as scrummy savouries, there are cupcakes, macaroons and a pumpkin pie!

Finally we have the creepy afternoon tea on offer at BlueBird Chelsea....

Available between 26th-29th October, guests will enjoy sandwiches and scones, along with:

Ghoul cupcakes, liquorice icing
Brownie coffins
Blood orange tart
Pumpkin sponge roll

I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering just looking at these afternoon teas! Don't forget to pop back later this week to see more spooky afternoon teas!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel 

Afternoon Tea News - Discount Offer!

Hello there,

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

We have some very exciting news for you today as Chef Ben Purton and his team bring us two very special afternoon teas this month at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel.....plus he is offering us some rather tea-riffic discounts!

Chocolate Afternoon Tea

For one week in October, Royal Lancaster London will be the chocolatiest hotel in the capital for Divine Chocolate Week 2017. From today until Sunday 15 October 2017, every bite of chocolate will be fashioned from Divine Fairtrade Cocoa. 

The Chocolate Afternoon Tea (£35) is presented as a classic afternoon tea with a Divine twist. The intense dark chocolate and unexpected flavourings will put every chocolate aficionado’s taste buds to the test.

Confections include Chocolate Chip Scones; a bittersweet Dark Chocolate, Mango and Coconut Tart; a Chestnut Breton with rich 70% Dark Chocolate Cream; Elderflower Marbled Lollipops; and a White Chocolate Macaron with Ginger and Orange.

The Chocolate Afternoon Tea also features Royal Lancaster savoury favourites such as Home-Smoked Salmon Rye Pinwheel Sandwiches; Smoked Corn-Fed Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper on Cranberry Bread and a Duck Confit with Plum Sauce on a Sesame Seeded Choux Bun. 

Cult Horror Movies Halloween Afternoon Tea

Indulge in a truly spook-tacular experience with the Halloween Afternoon Tea, inspired by 1960s classic horror movies. A very cold welcome awaits you, with Alfred Hitchcock classics flickering from a projector and The Little Shop of Horrors’ Audrey sitting on your table. Don’t feed her meat!

Pull the curtains back on a scene of savoury classics; though not all is as it seems... are you brave enough to try the Axe-Carved Beef with Horseradish; the Ominous Crab Sushi and the Pitch Black Pudding Scotch Egg?

Sink your fangs into an array of sickly-sweet confections so good they could bring the dead to life. Things get grisly with a Cursed Blackbird Macaroon; Psycho Marbled Lollipops; Black Sunday Battenberg; Night of the Living Tart; and a Haunted Panna Cotta.

The final nails in the coffin are the Chocolate and Coconut Scones, served fresh from the oven with Homemade Blackberry Jam and Clotted-Blood Cream. This tea is on offer between 16th - 31st October.

Royal Lancaster London invites you to embrace your inner Hitchcock and capture a chilling photograph of the Halloween Afternoon Tea. To enter, all photos must be in black and white and use the hashtag #WeAlwaysScare to win a complimentary Christmas Afternoon Tea.

Now for the tea-riffic bit.....the offer!

For 25% off your total bill simple quote the following when making your reservation:

Chocolate Tea - #Choctober

Halloween Tea - #WeAlwaysScare

To find out more about the afternoon teas on offer pop by the Royal Lancaster London website.

Lorna and I are heading to the Royal Lancaster London to enjoy the spooky Halloween afternoon tea - maybe we'll see you there!

Thank you for popping by today!

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Wimbledon themed ARTea, Lancaster London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - today we're sharing some afternoon tea news with you. With the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament just around the corner Lancaster London has come up with a tea-riffic tennis themed afternoon tea!

Game, Set and Match! Lancaster London has once again ‘smashed’ another ARTea Afternoon Tea, this time in honour of the 131st Wimbledon Tennis Championships, which take place from 3 – 16 July 2017. The iconic hotel is renowned for its innovative afternoon teas, and for the Wimbledon ARTea, available from Wednesday 28 June until Sunday 16 July 2017, the pastry team have gone all ‘OUT’!

As the professionals take to the court to warm up their first and second serves, chefs at Lancaster London will be doing the same! The first round commences with savoury bites of Lancaster London Smoked Salmon and Citrus Cream Cheese Granary Pinwheels; a Warm Tartlet of Goat’s Cheese and Red Onion; and a Sesame Seed Choux Bun filled with Confit Duck, Sun Blushed Tomato and Hoisin Sauce. 

The second round promises to be an exciting one with a tie-break between the Summer Berry and Traditional Scones, served with Homemade Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cornish Cream. 

For the grand final, a tangy Lemon Tennis Ball Tart will be landing on the grass next to a Mini ‘Murray’ Mess and a Centre Court Strawberry Macaron. Wimbledon wouldn’t be Wimbledon without a glass of Pimms, so the Tipsy Pimms Cupcake and Pink Champagne Teacake are the sure favourites to win the crowd’s favour. 

Served in the classic Park Room, which boasts beautiful views of Hyde Park, the Wimbledon ARTea Afternoon Tea is priced at £35 per person, or can be enjoyed with Champagne for £45, and Rose Champagne for £50

I don't know about you, but I think Chef Ben Purton and his team have created an amazing looking afternoon tea feast to celebrate Wimbledon. The Tipsy Pimms cupcake and Pink Champagne teacake sound very tempting!

If you try this afternoon tea during July we'd love to hear all about it!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - High Chai Afternoon Tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're feeling tea-riffic today!

Wow - it's been a while since we last posted anything - sorry! Never fear though.....we've been busy sampling tea and cakes and have lots more blog posts up our sleeves!

Today we wanted to share some afternoon tea news with you, highlighting a special event that is taking place this coming weekend at Chit Chaat Chai, an Indian street-eats restaurant in Wandsworth, London. As part of London Evening Standard’s Food Month, Chit Chaat Chai are hosting a High Chai: Afternoon Tea with an Indian Street-Food Twist - how exciting!

Taking place on 17th and 18th June, the High Chai menu brings you the best of Indian street eats. The High Chai includes signature favourites alongside new surprises, such as the Bombay bhel, the iconic beach treat of puffed rice, potatoes, onions and chickpeas married in house-made chaatneys; samosa chaat, a party of tangy tamarind, crunchy samosa and crispy sev; sloppy keema joes served with soft, buttery brioche buns; tandoor-fired spiced chicken bites wrapped in delicious flatbread; and vada pau burgers, spiced potato patties, loaded up with house made chaatneys, to name a few.

Finish off the meal with coconut samosas drizzled in Himalayan salted chocolate, and chai-spiced chocolate brownies served alongside a revitalising vanilla pod ice cream.

Plus you can opt to wash down your feast with bottomless Indian Masala Chai or bottomless Badmaash Bellinis! How good does that all sound?

This is a special event, taking place only on Saturday 17th June and Sunday 18th June between 1-5pm. High Chai is £25 per person and includes bottomless masala chai. If you’d like to indulge in Bottomless Mango Bellinis as well, enjoy the High Chai at £35 per person. Advanced booking on hello@chitchaatchai.com is required. For more information pop by the Chit Chaat Chai website.

If you take part in this afternoon tea event with a difference we'd love to hear all about your adventure! Send us your photos on Twitter!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Flower Afternoon Tea, Lancaster London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - today we have some afternoon tea news to share with you as Lancaster London is launching their new floral afternoon tea!

As London starts to bloom with summer flowers and the annual Chelsea Flower Show amazes guests, the chefs of Lancaster London will be switching bags of flour for flowers and the butter for buttercups as they present the ‘blooming marvellous’ Flower Afternoon Tea. 

Lancaster London Blooming Afternoon Tea

A beautifully botanical arrangement of sweet delights includes:

a creamy Lavender chocolate mousse cake;

White chocolate macaroons topped with crystallised violets;

a tangy Lime and elderflower trifle with edible flowers.

The Flower Afternoon Tea features both traditional and raisin scones with classic toppings of strawberry jam and clotted cream, plus a delectably nectar-sweet orange blossom jam.

The savoury treats also have a wild theme with:
Lancaster London home-smoked salmon roses on rye bread,

Coronation chicken served on sweet cranberry bread,

a warm tartlet of English asparagus, with saffron and sun-blushed tomatoes

Sunflower seeded choux buns with wild mushroom, truffle oil and cream cheese are full of wild British woodland flavours. 

Lancaster London Blooming Afternoon Tea

The blossoming tea is served in the hotel’s Lounge Bar from 2pm until 5.30pm, Wednesday 3 May until Wednesday 31 May 2017. The tea is priced at £30 per person and £45 with a glass of Pommery Champagne included. The Flower Afternoon Tea is also available as a Flower ARTea, priced from £35 per person. For more information pop by the Lancaster London website.

This certainly looks like a beautiful afternoon tea experience - if you give it a try during May we would love to know what you think!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea - German Gymnasium, London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're having a lovely day!

Last weekend it was a Birthday at Tea With Me and Friends Towers - so we did what we do best and celebrated with a spot of afternoon tea! I've eaten at German Gymnasium in Kings Cross before, enjoying their savoury menu, but I knew they also did an afternoon tea menu that took my fancy. I've spent quite a lot of time in the Rhine area of Germany and love the food and drink there.

So I rounded up my friends and headed on a new afternoon tea adventure!

German Gymnasium - Afternoon Tea

At German Gymnasium you need to decide whether you want an Austrian themed afternoon tea or a German themed one. Both have savoury and sweet options.....but for the traditionalists amongst you watch out as there are no scones! The options are made up of foods from the region, the staff were happy to swap some of the savoury items around (Anika had three egg rolls instead of the selection of three different rolls).

As you can see from the menus below, this is a great value afternoon tea....

Within the group some of us wanted the German and some the Austrian, so we got to see both cake stands. I'll be the first to admit that we had to Google some items to find out what they were (not sure why we didn't just ask the waiters!), it definitely was an afternoon tea adventure!

When the stands were served I was a little disappointed initially as they looked a little sparse, but in fact I found the portion sizes just right.

German Gymnasium - Afternoon Tea

The rolls were fresh and soft, with just the right amount of fillings. I'm not overly keen on fennel, so one of the rolls was a bit too "fennelly" for me, but otherwise the fillings were well balanced.

The sweets were all really different, again they were all fresh and a good size. I was a tad bit disappointed that my black forest gateaux was in macaroon form, but it was well made and I could taste both chocolate and cherry.

However, the Opera cake was probably the stand out sweet treat....

The restaurant knew we were celebrating a Birthday and so at the end of the meal they sang Happy Birthday and brought out a piece of scrummy cake....

.....but they obviously don't know me very well because look how many forks they also brought us - "just in case everyone wanted a taste"....

German Gymnasium is well located, opposite Kings Cross station, and is a lovely space to enjoy a meal in. The building was designed by Edward Gruning and was England’s first purpose-built gymnasium, with funding coming solely from London's German community. It was built in 1865 for the German Gymnastics Society (established in 1861 by Ernst Ravenstein) and hosted the indoor events London's first Olympic Games, back in 1866.

This is definitely a great value afternoon tea at only £18.50 per person, you can also add a glass (or two) of SchlossVaux Sekt sparkling wine for £4.50 a glass. For more information about German Gymnasium pop by their website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel