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

Time for Cupcakes.....Hummingbird Bakery, Guildford

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - this week I've been on a staycation, enjoying the glorious summer in the UK and eating the odd cake or two!

When Hummingbird Bakery opened a shop in Guildford earlier this year it was welcomed with queues along the street of hungry cupcake lovers! The photos of the queues on social media were quite amazing! For anyone not familiar with Hummingbird Bakery - they arrived in London in 2004 and are famous for their American style cakes and cupcakes. Fast forward a couple of months and its a random Tuesday lunchtime when I pop by, no queues great me....but I do find a wonderful selection of cakes and cupcakes to drool over!

Hummingbird Bakery Guildford - what to pick?

Hummingbird Bakery Guildford - lots of cupcakes!

The bakery itself is light and airy and very pretty, decorated in pinks and greys. 

There were two friendly servers working at the time, both were welcoming and very knowledgeable about the cakes on offer. Hummingbird Bakery prides themselves on serving delicious, fresh cakes, something they achieve by each branch having its own kitchen, with dedicated bakers and cake decorators.

Cupcakes include salted caramel, red velvet, carrot cake, chocolate and vanilla to name just a few. They also sell slices of large cakes, traybakes and whoopie pies. After asking the servers which were their favourites (something I always like to find out) I opted for a salted caramel cupcake and a cup of coffee.

Hummingbird Bakery Guildford - salted caramel cupcake

Please ignore Niffler in my photos - I'd just bought him and was having a bit of a geeky moment! 

The cupcake was light and moist and had a wonderful chocolate flavour. The frosting was super sweet and encased a dollop of dulce de leche, but sprinkled on the top was just the right amount of sea salt and this combination was wonderful as it balanced everything out. The cake tasted fresh and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I think part of the joy of eating at Hummingbird Bakery is definitely the surroundings, I loved the colours used and the general atmosphere which was relaxed and friendly.

I'll definitely be popping back to try the other cupcakes....it might take me a while to work through the menu though! For more information about Hummingbird Bakery please visit their website.

Do you have a favourite Hummingbird Bakery flavour - we'd love to hear about it!

Thank you 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

Time for something really different....all aboard The Murder Express!

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're having a tea-riffic week!

Recently Becca and I attended an immersive lunchtime experience in London that I wanted to share with you. There is not a drop of tea in sight nor a single cake nor scone (although there was some clotted cream with pudding!) .....but we enjoyed it so much that I had to share the experience with you.

All aboard The Murder Express!

Pedley Street Station - get ready to board the train!

This immersive experience takes you straight back to the glamorous train travel of the 1920s. Guests are invited to dress in 1920s fashions or come in modern clothes, as it was the middle of the day we opted to stay modern, but I imagine it would be great fun to dress up!

You arrive at "Pedley Street Station" at your allotted time and are immediately whisked into the story as you order a drink at "Seven Sins" bar and wait to board the train. The story starts to unfold before you board as you meet some of the characters in the bar area - remember this is an immersive experience!

 

Once on board you are seated in the elegant dining car, which is made up of plush booth seating with all the period fittings.  During our lunchtime visit the dining car wasn't full and so we enjoyed a booth to ourselves, but dining with other guests would be just as much fun as the story of the Murder Express unfolds around you. The theme is brilliant - the train looks authentic and is very comfortable. We loved the booth seating!

Watch the story unfold around you!

Along the journey you meet characters such as Frank, an East End Costermonger, Tilley, a music hall star, Vera, a widow in search of adventure and Cliff, a local antique dealer as you all journey to the town of Murder. There was plenty of interaction with the cast as the story is told, you really feel part of the events

The story is well paced with the three course meal being served throughout the experience. The menu is designed by BBC One’s MasterChef 2016 finalists, Billy and Jack, and cooked by the Funicular kitchen.

The meal begins which a rich Mulligatawny soup which is flavoured with Indian spices and served with an Indian spiced open cucumber sandwich. The soup was really tasty and I enjoyed the light and delicate open sandwich, which complimented the soup well.

The main dish was steak and buttery scalloped potatoes. We were really impressed with the portion size and enjoyed the steak a lot. Finally we enjoyed an apple tart with a dollop of clotted cream - which was divine!

Starters - rich, flavoursome soup

So much steak!

Throughout your meal you can order more drinks from the bar. 

As we were celebrating a Birthday we treated ourselves to a bottle of bubbles.....just look at the ice bucket that we were given.... (I got to carry the suitcase as luggage as we boarded the train!)

Bubbles on the Murder Express - that ice bucket!!

Towards the end of the experience the story comes to an end, I'm not going to ruin the ending for you, but we thoroughly enjoyed the whole story. During the two hour slot we laughed, we were shocked, we sang and we ate really good food!

If you are looking for something different to experience with a group of friends I would really recommend a trip on the Murder Express. The cast are friendly and entertaining, the theme and styling is great and we really enjoyed our meal.

To find out more pop by the Funicular Productions website. I hear there are going to be more experiences later in the year and I'll definitely be watching out for them!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel