Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Recently a group of four of us visited Conrad St James (previously the Intercontinental Westminster) to celebrate Alex's Birthday. We have always loved Pastry Chef Zoe's creations and were looking forward to sampling her latest.
This time we enjoyed another of her edible gardens which we first tried in the summer of last year....this time there was no greenhouse to delve into....but instead a stretch of grass and edible soil! This afternoon tea adventure is called the St. James's Glorious Garden....
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| St James's Glorious Garden afternoon tea Conrad St James |
Tea is still served in Emmeline's Lounge and we were pleased to see we still had musical accompaniment for our afternoon tea adventure...
The harpist was wonderful, playing a selection of traditional and modern music - something for everything.
But back to the more important thing....that wonderful tea...let's begin with the savoury selection....
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| Afternoon tea salad - Conrad St James |
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| Afternoon tea savouries - Conrad St James |
To begin we were served a light and summery salad, full of fresh ingredients. This was served alongside the more traditional finger sandwiches and mini brioche rolls. The fillings included coronation chicken, egg mayonnaise (in the roll), salmon and cucumber. They were all fresh, tasty and there was not a crust in sight. If I am honest I enjoyed the sandwiches more than the salad, but that is just personal preference.
Once we were finished with the savouries the warm scones and mini Chelsea buns were served....
We had one decent sized scone and one mini Chelsea bun eat. They were warm and were served with clotted cream, raspberry preserve and a tangy lemon curd....of course I had to try both....
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| Scones dressed the "tea with me and friends" way! |
The scones were wonderful - perfect in texture and size. I loved the lemon curd too, which went well with the cream. I enjoyed the Chelsea bun, but I thought it might have been a little bit too small as it was a little dry.
After we had finished these the garden itself was served....let's take a closer look at the sweet treats....
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| Afternoon tea sweets - Conrad St James |
The sweets included....
Raspberry & orange macarons
Honey and earl grey chocolate bee cake pops
Carrot cake with candied carrot plant pot
Lavender shortbread sandwich
Mini rhubarb and spelt cake
There wasn't anything that I didn't like here....what a great selection of sweets! I particularly enjoyed the rhubarb cake and also these....
This was the Honey and earl grey chocolate bee cake pops complete with a cute little ladybird! The cakepop was lovely, full of flavour and not at all dry. I saved this to last and wasn't disappointed by my decision!
As it was a Birthday celebration the hotel also gave the Birthday girl a special treat....she was not impressed that I shared her age with the hotel....so I imagine I will not be very popular when she sees I've shared it with everyone else...but I couldn't not show you this....
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| Afternoon tea - Conrad St James |
This treat was smooth, chocolately and sweet - a lovely treat!
We had the unlimited bubbles afternoon tea which meant that as well as unlimited tea we also had our champagne flutes filled for the 90 minutes we were there. Afternoon teas are available at £49 per person with free flowing G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge Champagne or £35 per person without champagne.
All in all it was lovely afternoon tea adventure and lovely to be back at the Conrad St James. Zoe continues to please and amaze with her sweet creations and this version did not disappoint! This tea is only available until the 12th July however, but fear not there are plenty more creations to try...
Emmeline's Lawn Club
July 11th – July 12th 2015
Summer in the City
July 13th – August 30th 2015
Autumn Bramble Afternoon Tea
August 31st – November 22nd 2015
I'd like to thank the Conrad St James for their hospitality. Please note that although we did receive two complimentary teas on this occasion this has not affected my taste buds and all opinions expressed here are our own.
For more information about the afternoon teas on offer at Conrad St James please visit their website.
If you try any of the other teas during the year we'd love to hear from you...I'm especially keen to hear about the bramble tea!
Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel
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