Time for Tea....Paul Covent Garden

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea review blog post from Tea With Me and Friends. This weekend Lorna and I were invited to sample the new afternoon tea on offer at La Maison Paul in Covent Garden in the Le Restaurant de PAUL. 

We know Paul for their amazing macaroons and artisan breads that leave us drooling in their bakeries, but we didn't know that they offered an afternoon tea and so we were keen to find out more. Le Restaurant de PAUL is situated behind the Paul Covent Garden shop, and its a bustling but cute space full of chatter and hungry shoppers and tourists.

Now, this isn't the kind of afternoon tea you might want for a special occasion, but it's a great alternative to a spot of lunch when out shopping with friends....read on to find out more....

Afternoon tea Paul - Covent Garden

Now as you can see from this photo, the afternoon tea is served on a rather imposing iron stand. It's such a grand size that Lorna looks tiny sitting behind it! This did make conversation a little difficult as the table is very small, but we managed to situate the stand so we could gossip around it! The afternoon tea is either served with a hot drink from the main menu or for a little more money you can opt for a glass of bubbles. Lorna opted for a pot of green tea and I was rather controversial picking a cup of coffee over the teas on offer (yes I know...naughty afternoon tea person!!).

On the bottom tier we were presented with three rather rustic looking sandwiches, made with Paul's artisan breads....

Afternoon tea sandwiches - Paul

The sandwiches were fresh and the bread had a wonderful texture as you would expect from Paul. As you can see there are crusts galore on that plate and not a finger sandwich in sight, but to be honest this really suited Paul and the food they are well known for. It was good to see that they had taken the concept of a traditional afternoon tea, but not compromised their style of food when creating their offering. The fillings included a salmon and cream cheese, a chicken salad and a rather lovely brie and salad. The sandwiches were all filled well and a good size.

Once we had demolished the sandwiches we moved up a tier.....

Afternoon tea....without scones at Paul

Now I imagine the traditionalists of you out there are looking on rather confused....these are not scones I hear you cry! And you'd be right...there isn't a scone in sight at Paul...however in their place we had the most delicious light and buttery brioche. They were huge and served with whipped cream and strawberry jam. 

Again, this swerve from the traditional felt right in Paul, where artisan bread is their speciality. And most importantly.....they were good.....very good!

Finally we moved onto the top tier....now get ready to drool a little....

Afternoon tea cakes - Paul Covent Garden

I think Lorna's face says it all - these really were the jewel on the crown at this afternoon tea!

Let's get a closer look....

Sweet treats - afternoon tea - Paul

In the selection we each had a piece of carrot cake, a piece of strawberry and marzipan cake and a cute little macaroon. The menu states that the tea will consist of two pieces of cake, but doesn't specify which ones....surely that means we can keep going back until we have tried them all!

My favourite was the strawberry gateaux, which was light and filled with creme patisserie. The macaroons were also wonderful, with a crispy shell and soft chewy middle. I wasn't a fan of the carrot cake, which I found quite heavy and dense - however the flavours were wonderful.

Paul introduced this afternoon tea in their Le Restaurant de PAUL in September, and we think it gives visitors a wonderful alternative to the traditional lunch/snack experience. The cost of afternoon tea is £19.90 for tea people including a hot drink each - which is exceptional value for the amount of food served and the quality of it.

It might not be super posh here, but the service was friendly and efficient despite it being really busy. We think this makes a great everyday afternoon tea experience. 

Please note that although we were guests at Le Restaurant de PAUL in Covent Garden, this did not affect our thoughts on the afternoon tea experience and all thoughts here are our own.

We'd like to thank Le Restaurant de PAUL for their hospitality. If you would like to find out more about this afternoon tea please visit their website.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....W Hotel Singapore

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends - today we have something slightly different for you as we are showcasing an afternoon tea from slightly further afield! We are joined by Sarika, who is a Londoner currently living in Singapore who writes Pearlsbounce blog.

Sarika loves food, wine, stationary and trotting the globe.....and luckily for us she is rather partial to a spot of afternoon tea too.....

Sarika and the Birdcage afternoon tea
W Hotel Singapore

W Singapore housed on Sentosa hosts a modern afternoon tea with their Birdcage W T Time. Seated in the sparkly purple Woo Bar, Birdcages of sweet treats decent to each lounge @ $58 per cage (for 2 persons).

   

The Savoury beginnings were plentiful with staff continually topping up. 

Favourites were the Tikka Inspired Salmon, Mint & Spice Poppadum, Torched Double Brie, Pickled Cucumber Nigiri and the ultra favourite Chocolate Ganache Foie Gras Tarts - extremely tasty and well balanced, with a sparkling gold leaf topping!

Some of the Savouries
Birdcage Afternoon Tea - W Hotel, Singapore

Chocolate Ganache Foie Gras Tarts - W Hotel Singapore

       

Being a fan of Chilli Crab I was excited by the arrival of The Double Cooked Hen's Egg, Chilli Crab Mantou, tasty they were but slightly over done. 

Softer buns please!

The desserts were decent - but lacking in some scones! 

In replace were some sort of jam fruit filo tartlets which I didn't waste my time trying. The Chocolate tea cup and Fresh Berry Trifle Shot were far more appealing and tasty enough to leave appeased.

Birdcage Afternoon tea
W Hotel Singapore - photo from website

All in all a relatively reasonable Afternoon Tea overlooking some prettiness of Singapore with all the dazzle of the W Hotel.

A big thank you to Sarika for sharing her afternoon tea adventures with us - it's great to see what afternoon tea treats are on offer around the world. To find out more about Sarika's travels pop by her blog. And don't forget to watch out for more international posts from Sarika in the future....

If you are based outside of the UK and have an afternoon tea that you would like to share with us please get in touch - we'd love to feature your photos in future posts.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News....Jimmy Choo Prêt-à-Portea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, today we have a little afternoon tea news for all you fashionistas out there as Jimmy Choo is celebrated in the Prêt-à-Portea afternoon tea at the Berkeley in London...

Jimmy Choo Pret a Portea - The Berkeley
Photo from website

From the 13th October to the 26th October 2014 guests at the Berkeley can enjoy the beautiful and fashion forward afternoon tea featuring biscuits and cakes inspired by the shoes and accessories of Jimmy Choo......

Jimmy Choo Pret a Portea - The Berkeley
Photo from website

Served in the Caramel Room between 1pm - 6pm daily, this afternoon tea is priced at £41.00 per person. For more information about this afternoon tea please visit the Berkeley website.

If you enjoy this exclusive afternoon tea we'd love to hear about it!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Tried and Tested....More from Whittard

Hello there,

Welcome back to another tried and tested tea article from Tea With Me and Friends. Recently I was lucky enough to receive a lovely package of tea from Whittard, which included the Chelsea Garden loose tea and the Mango and Bergamot loose leaf.

I recently had the lovely Becca over at my house, so I decided some tea tasting was in order.....

Loose leaf teas from Whittard

We decided to start with the Chelsea Garden Blend which is a blended tea with white tea, rosebuds and flavouring, which was Whittard's tea of the month in May. White tea is the base for this blend, which is very delicate, light and sweet. 

Chelsea Garden Loose Leaf Tea  from Whittard

The tea is made from the youngest buds and softest leaves, which are then left to dry naturally in the mountain air. When we opened the package we found the leaves were quite large and did not fit in my infuser and so we made a pot of tea for this one...

This tea was a lovely amber colour when brewed. We found the tea to be light in flavour, not overly floral and something we could enjoy at different times in the day. We brewed the tea for about three minutes and drank it without milk.

We then moved onto the Mango and Bergamot blend, which has green tea as a base. The Green Sencha is combined with petals and the flavour of mango, lulo and a gentle hint of bergamot to make a really pretty blend....

Mango and Bergamot loose leaf tea from Whittard

This tea is sweet and fruity, yet light and not at all synthetic. Again we brewed it for about three minutes and did not use milk or sugar. ....

The tea was light in colour when brewed and very refreshing. I have since enjoyed this tea at different times of the day, but I particularly enjoy it as an afternoon beverage.

The Chelsea Garden tea is £6.00 for 50g and the Mango and Bergamot is £6.00 for 100g.

Although I was sent these teas from Whittard, all opinions and thoughts expressed in this post are my own. To find out more about the teas on offer from Whittard visit their website.

Do you have a favourite tea that you think we should try - let us know by leaving a comment, we'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....Playboy Club London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Today we want to share with you a recent afternoon tea experience which has a twist and a tail...when Lorna, Becca and I met some Playboy Bunnies at the Playboy Club in London and enjoyed a spot of afternoon tea. This afternoon tea launched in July this year, and we were invited as guests of the Playboy Club to try their offering.

Now, the traditionalists out there might already be shuddering slightly, exclaiming "what on earth does the Playboy Club know about afternoon teas??"....but bear with us on this one...

The tea is served in Salvatore's Bar which is a dark, but comfortable space where customer service is second to none and the cocktails flow! The bar staff and Playboy Bunnies could give some of the top hotels in London a run for their money when it comes to customer care.

We arrived slightly early, but were welcomed into the bar and found a seat straight await. We had the menu explained to us and then were left to choose our "tea".....

Time for Tea - Playboy Club style!

So, if you want a proper cup of a tea, then maybe this experience isn't for you. But if you fancy trying a rather wonderful tea based cocktail with your food, then you've come to the right place. The Playboy Club gives you four different varieties to pick from and there is something for everyone...with a traditional, a fruity, a floral and a spicy cocktail.

They cocktails are served in rather lovely iron teapots and cups.

As we began enjoying our drinks, listening to the piano player,  the sweet and savoury treats were brought out to us.....

Afternoon tea
Playboy Club, London

The food is served on slate tea stands, which fit the sophisticated surroundings of the bar. The bottom slate contains a good selection of generously sized savouries and on the top tier you will find a variety of sweets that will make your mouth water.

The afternoon tea has gone pink this month, supporting Breast Cancer Awareness, but the themeing is not at all tacky and I think the flavours all worked really well. For every tea sold in October, a donation will be made to Breast Cancer Awareness.

The savoury selection - Playboy Club

On the bottom tier we discovered beetroot and ricotta sourdough bruschetta, smoked trout on crouton, pastrami on a mini brown roll and generous finger sandwiches filled with prawn mayonnaise.

All the savouries were fresh and tasted wonderful. We all really enjoyed the beetroot bruschetta and I loved the luxurious prawn mayonnaise finger sandwiches, which had a mild kick to them. Each of the savouries was presented well, with lovely attention to detail.... 

More savouries - Playboy Club

Now, the eagle-eyed of you out there might be asking "but where are the scones" and this is the part where traditionalists might shudder again....there was only one token scone on the plate...cleverly incorporated into this blackberry and clotted cream shot....

Token scone at the Playboy Club

I really enjoyed this part of the tea, the jelly and clotted cream worked really well together. The mini scone was slightly claggy in texture, but that was soon forgotten when you piled some of the clotted cream onto it!

To be honest we didn't really miss the scone part of tea here - there was plenty of food and we all left feeling satisfied. There was a good selection of sweets to choose from and I am pleased to report there was one of each for everyone....

Afternoon tea sweets - Playboy Club London

This top tier included mini berry macaroons which were crisp on the outside and so wonderfully chewy in the middle. We also enjoyed perfectly spiced carrot cakes and iconic bunny cupcakes, although as Lorna found if you didn't eat your chocolate ears quickly they might fall off....

Lorna and the droppy bunny ears!

All the sweets were very tasty and I am hard pushed to pick a favourite...but possibly that carrot cake might just win! They sweets were all a good size....not too large that you couldn't enjoy them all, but not too small either. We really enjoyed this selection.

Afternoon tea is served between 5-7pm, Tuesday to Saturday at the Playboy Club. The tea, including the tea-based cocktail, costs just £30.00 per person. I think this is really good value as you get a brilliant choice of good quality food, plus a cocktail each. To find out more about afternoon tea at the Playboy Club visit their website.

Once we had finished our food we decided to stay a little bit longer and enjoy a cocktail from the extensive main menu...it took a while to pick from the menu as they all sounded so good, but we were all really pleased when our choices appeared....

Cocktails at the Playboy Club

Now, as well as taking photos of all the scrummy food and cocktails we enjoyed, there was one last photo that we needed....

Tea With Me and Friends and the Playboy Bunnies - I think we fit right in!

We would like to thank the Playboy Club and all the staff we encountered on our visit for their hospitality and great service. Please note that although we were guests at the Playboy Club, this has not affected our judgement and all thoughts in this post are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel