Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, we hope you are having a tea-riffic weekend!
Last weekend Lorna and I enjoyed a rather wonderful afternoon tea adventure with our mum and the lovely Becca at Cafe Royal in London. Tea is served in the The Oscar Wilde Bar, which was formerly the iconic Grill Room, it has now been restored to its authentic Louis XVI detailing and is quite stunning.....just take a look....
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| Tea With Me and Friends enjoying a spot of afternoon tea! |
We decided to opt for the The Champagne London Royal Tea....after all, a glass of bubbles with your afternoon tea is always lovely!
The crockery was all plain white, but this was perfect in the very ornate and shiny Oscar Wilde Bar (be warned....there are mirrors everywhere!). Each table had a very beautiful red rose....
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| Afternoon tea - Cafe Royal |
Now, unfortunately we arrived slightly late for this particular afternoon tea adventure and so our amuse bouche was served with the rest of the savoury treats on a three tier stand....
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| Afternoon tea savouries Cafe Royal |
We couldn't believe how much food was provided as part of this afternoon tea - it's a real feast! As well as the amuse bouche there are another five different savouries on that little stand!
So, on our top tier we had the amuse bouche which was a Low Sidecar muffin with goat's cheese and tomato, plus a finger sandwich containing Cucumber, cream cheese and beetroot. I'm not a huge fan of goats cheese....and the muffin had rather a lot on it and so I didn't really enjoy it.....however Becca (our resident goats cheese lover) really enjoyed it!
The finger sandwich was fresh and well filled, and there wasn't a crust in sight!
The next tier down contained a Prawn brigade with spices and London honey and a Smoked "Wilde" salmon, quail's egg and cress round. Both of these were really tasty - I particularly enjoyed the prawns, with the slight sweet taste.
Finally on the bottom tier we found a Smoked wild boar roll with pickled apple, English mustard and crackling and the most amazing Chorizo, caramelised white onion and thyme "Wellington" - I could have eaten rather a lot of those! Again, the wild boar wasn't for me - but mum really enjoyed it.
We were offered a second helping of savouries.....but very wisely we declined.
Next we were served the pre-dessert....an iced fruit tea and a crown biscuit. The tea was indeed very fruity and super sweet and the crown biscuit was buttery and delicate - the perfect biscuit!
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| Afternoon tea pre-desserts Cafe Royal |
Once we'd enjoyed these treats the scones were brought to us.
They were served warm with strawberry preserve, lemon curd and of course clotted cream. The scones smelt wonderful when they arrived at the table, but unfortunately they were slightly claggy in texture. We all only ate one scone each.
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| Afternoon tea scones The Oscar Wilde Bar - Cafe Royal |
By this stage we were all rather full already...
...but just take a look at the six sweets that were served next.....
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| Afternoon tea sweets Cafe Royal |
So, in the name of afternoon tea adventures we pushed on.
On the top tier we discovered a Spitfire lollipop and a round of Victoria sponge. The lollipop had a rich chocolate centre and the Victoria sponge cake was light and filled with fresh cream and a little raspberry preserve....both were very enjoyable....
On the next tier there was a small piece of Battenberg and an Underground themed macaroon. The macaroon was particularly good - both crisp and chewy...
Finally on the bottom tier we found a Pearly King and Queen Opera and a Raspberry "Regent". The Opera cake was rich and chocolately with pretty pearly buttons on top....but it was the raspberry regent that stole the show....
The raspberry regent was the perfect size to be popped in your mouth in one go - I'm not sure whether this was good manners or not but the taste explosion in your mouth is worth the risk of offending fellow diners with your bad manners!
Just when we thought we were going to burst we were offered a slice of cake from the cake trolley! Yes, there was even more food to come! There were three different types on offer....I opted for the lemon drizzle...
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| Lemon drizzle cake - The Oscar Wilde Bar |
I didn't manage to eat the whole piece, but it was a lovely lemon cake!
This whole feast, including a glass of Veuve Clicquot and your choice of tea costs just £55 per person, which we think is exceptional value. The quality (and quantity) of the food is really good and the service was excellent.
As well as the serving staff there is also a toastmaster who speaks several times during the sitting, the toastmaster also pops around and talks to guests to ensure everyone is enjoying their experience.
For more information about this afternoon tea please visit the Cafe Royal website.
Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel & Lorna
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