Time for....some tea and ice-cream!

Hello there!

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends.....it may be winter time in the UK and a bit chilly (read I've been wearing my big woolly hat!), but that doesn't stop me enjoying the odd ice cream!

Recently we paid a visit to Fortnum and Mason (I love a wander around the tea and china) and was tempted into The Parlour for a cup of tea and an ice cream! Based in the corner of the second floor of Fortnums, the ice cream display is on view to shoppers as they peruse the beautiful teacups on sale. It's a very tempting display!

The Parlour is home to award winning ice-cream creations, Fortnums tea and coffee and both sweet and savoury delights - the perfect place to spend an hour or two!

It's usually really busy, so imagine my delight when I realised we could get a table (probably something to do with the temperature outside!). Once seated we were left with the menu to decide on whether we wanted a piece of cake (perhaps a piece of carrot cake or a pear and orange marmalade tart), something savoury (amongst other items they have a spiced sausage roll and crab and prawn cocktails), one of the pre-designed sundaes (I'll tell you more about those later) or perhaps we wanted to create our own ice cream sundae - picking our favourite flavours and adding toppings such as whipped cream, fresh strawberries or chocolate sauce.

There are plenty of ice cream flavours to pick from, and if you fancy something lighter there are also sorbets as well. From salted caramel to banana split, from rum and raisin to mint chocolate chip - you'll be spoilt for choice! There are also three different vegan ice creams on offer, including a chocolate and cashew blend.

I opted to enjoy a two scoop ice cream with whipped cream, enjoying chocolate and cherrilossus flavours together. The chocolate flavour is smooth and probably one of the best chocolate ice creams I've had the pleasure of enjoying. The cherrilossus had a bitter dark chocolate base and featured cherry compote and nuts - although this was nice, the plain chocolate was better. I can also vouch for the honeycomb flavour which I had a sample of previously. 

The ice cream was served in a fun sundae dish and looked quite wonderful when it was served....it was also rather large.....

Just look at all that cream - they didn't skimp there! 

They also gave me the cutest heart shaped spoon to eat the ice cream with. 

The tea was served in a tea for one pot, with a really pretty bunting pattern. Each pot gave us about 2-3 cups, which was a really good serving.

Now I promised to tell you about the sundaes, although I didn't try one on this occasion I did drool over the descriptions in the menu for quite some time!

You can pick from five different sundaes, or alternatively there are two vegan sundaes on offer. The menu includes the traditional Knickerbocker Glory featuring strawberry and vanilla ice cream, with chunks of pineapple, raspberry coulis, Italian meringue and popping candy - designed to make you smile! The other one that caught my eye was "The Original Dusty Road" which included coffee and chocolate ice cream, butterscotch and chocolate Sauce, Chantilly cream, chocolate flakes and scrummy coffee beans! I think I'll need to revisit and try this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to The Parlour, the service was quick and friendly and the staff were knowledgeable about the different ice creams. The menu includes a good variety of food and drink....if you don't fancy ice cream there will be something else to enjoy!

To find out more about The Parlour, pop by their website

Whilst we were in Fortnums on this occasion, I also found a rather beautiful tea set that I thought I would share....

The set is by Richard Brendon and was designed especially for Fortnum and Masons. I just love the colours and pretty chevron pattern.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel