Time for a festive tea......Playboy Club London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends.

Now we realise that we haven't done many proper afternoon tea review articles this month, so we thought it was high time that we indulged in a spot of afternoon tea (all in the name of research you see)! For our festive afternoon tea with our friends we decided to head back to the Playboy Club near Park Lane London for their festive offering. The Playboy Club was probably the venue we were most pleasantly surprised by this year - not only offering excellent service and food, but also good value too. With this in mind we were really looking forward to trying their festive afternoon tea feast.

As you'll remember from our last visit - accompanied by a pianist, the iconic Playboy Bunnies serve guests afternoon tea in Salvatore’s Bar. As well as a selection of homemade savouries, sandwiches and pastries you also get to pick your own choice of Te’Freddo Teapot Cocktail. For the festive season The Playboy Club has an Arctic theme and the bunny serving us was wearing icy blue and white to match the theme.

Afternoon tea - Playboy Club London

The afternoon tea itself is served on the usual black slate stands, which are beautiful and suit the surroundings. The china used is plain and simple, allowing the food to really shine.

Let's start on the bottom tier with the savouries....

Afternoon tea savouries - Playboy Club London

Now there are no scones on offer at this afternoon tea, but because of the variety and amount of savouries served I don't think you really miss them (unless you are a real traditionalist).

I'm pleased to report that the savouries were different this time to the ones we sampled before. We enjoyed fresh and tasty bruschetta served on griddled bread....

I have got some extra tomato on my plate here as Alexandra didn't want her portion....but the size of this alone is very generous and it tasted so fresh. I love the griddled flavour of the bread, which works really well with the fresh tomatoes.

We also enjoyed mini baguettes filled with roast beef and horseradish sauce....

Again, this is a generous portion with each guest getting two halves. The bread is fresh and crusty and the roast beef flavoursome. We also enjoyed smoked salmon blinis served on Olive oil croutons and egg mayonnaise sandwiches which were fresh and crustless.

All extremely enjoyable and filling. My favourite has to be that bruschetta!

Once we had finished with the savouries we moved up a tier to those marvellous sweets on the top.......

Afternoon tea sweets at the Playboy Club London

On the top tier you will find a wonderful selection of sweets, which includes: 

carrot cake,

chocolate & Guinness bunny ear cupcakes, 

cute little macaroons and 

a strawberry & clotted cream shot

A well balanced and tasty selection, which we think includes something for everyone.

Strawberries & cream and candy canes at the Playboy Club

We thoroughly enjoyed all elements of the sweet tier. The strawberries and cream were fresh and light and were topped with mint. Those mini macaroons were perfect - melting in the mouth as you enjoyed them.

An iconic bunny ears cupcake!

The carrot cake was full of nuts and was extremely tasty, topped with a light cream cheese frosting. The chocolate and Guinness cake left us all wanting more! The sponge was light, with just the right amount of icing on top....and those chocolate bunny ears were delicious!

We were also all treated to a candy cane....well it is Christmas time!

Although you are not offered any extra food, we all agreed that we had plenty and wouldn't have wanted anymore as the portions were generous.

In addition to the food we each chose a teapot cocktail to enjoy with our feast. There are four different tea based cocktails to pick from, and also a non-alcoholic version. You can pick from traditional, fruity, floral or spicy.

After we enjoyed our teapot cocktail, we also enjoyed in another cocktail each from the main menu (they are serving a wonderful selection of Christmas themed cocktails at the moment!).

Excluding the additional cocktails, the afternoon tea is just £30.00 per person, which we feel is an affordable treat. The tea is served Tuesday - Saturday between 5pm-7pm, for more details please see the Playboy Club website.

As for atmosphere and general thoughts about indulging in a spot of afternoon tea at The Playboy Club....well all we can say is keep an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised. A couple of people have questioned our choice, but as an all female group we found the bar to be welcoming and the service excellent. Although we were all a little envious of the fabulous Playboy Bunny outfits!

Please note that although we did pay for some of our afternoon tea, the Playboy Club also treated us. However, this has not affected opinions expressed in this article and we would like to thank the Playboy Club for their hospitality.

If you have tried the Playboy Club afternoon tea we'd love to hear what you thought....please drop us a line!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna