Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! Today we have a very elegant afternoon tea experience to share with you, as recently Lorna and I enjoyed a wonderful champagne afternoon tea at The Connaught.
Afternoon tea at The Connaught is served in the bright and modern surroundings of Jean-Georges at The Connaught. The day we visited the sun was shining and we were seated in a window seat, with plenty of room for us to spread out and enjoy our afternoon. We began our afternoon tea adventure with a glass of perfectly chilled champagne and an amuse-bouche - these delicious Smoked Tomato Brioche bites, which were served warm and complimented the champagne....
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| Champagne and amuse-bouche at The Connaught |
Afternoon tea is served on elegant white china - no floral chintz here - which suits the surroundings of the modern lounge. The tea menu provides enough choice without being over complicated, allowing both the tea novice and tea connoisseur to pick a tea to enjoy. The menu includes six black teas, three green teas and five herbal blends to pick from.
Once we'd finished the scrummy smoked tomato brioche bites, the finger sandwiches were served.
First of all lets appreciate how beautiful the afternoon tea sandwiches look - perfectly cut with no crusts in sight. The sandwiches were everything you'd want them to be - with fresh, soft bread, plenty of fillings and well balanced flavours.
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| Afternoon tea sandwiches at The Connaught |
The flavours offer a combination of traditional English fillings with South East-Asian flavours:
Cucumber & lime, with Greek yogurt and mint
Truffle egg mayonnaise, with watercress
Chipotle smoked salmon, with coriander and spring onions
Miso mustard ham & aged cheese, with mayonnaise, honey and walnuts
Coriander coronation chicken, with spiced mayonnaise and chopped nuts
Next up were the scones, which were huge....
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| Afternoon tea scones at The Connaught |
The scones were served with homemade strawberry jam, Cornish clotted cream and my favourite lemon curd (I think lemon curd goes so well with clotted cream). The scones had a good flavour and texture, but I could only manage to eat one as they were rather large.
Finally we have the cake stand - the plain stand allows the cakes to really stand out. The pastries looked really exciting, plus we had cute shortbread dogs with a chocolate fondue to enjoy....
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| Afternoon tea at The Connaught |
The sweet treats from Executive Pastry Chef Nicolas Rouzaud include:
Green apple tart, with apple jelly and basil mousse
Carrot cake, with walnuts, cream cheese and cinnamon
Rhubarb, with rhubarb compote and fromage blanc
St Honoré - a caramel cream roll with vanilla whipped cream
Rocher - hazelnut praliné and milk chocolate
Each of these pastries is quite exquisite - they look beautiful and have well balanced flavours. The St Honore was so light with the cutest caramel roll on top and I really enjoyed the apple and basil flavours together in the mini tart. But the best piece for me was the carrot cake, which was moist and flavoursome - definitely the best carrot cake I've had the pleasure of enjoying!
As we were celebrating my birthday I was presented with an extra treat....more of that wonderful carrot cake! I love a personalised plate when you are celebrating something, there is something lovely about seeing your name written in chocolate!
Each of these pastries is quite exquisite - they look beautiful and have well balanced flavours. The St Honore was so light with the cutest caramel roll on top and I really enjoyed the apple and basil flavours together in the mini tart. But the best piece for me was the carrot cake, which was moist and flavoursome - definitely the best carrot cake I've had the pleasure of enjoying!
As we were celebrating my birthday I was presented with an extra treat....more of that wonderful carrot cake! I love a personalised plate when you are celebrating something, there is something lovely about seeing your name written in chocolate!
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| Celebration plate at The Connaught |
We had a wonderful afternoon at the Connaught, the service was warm and friendly and the food delicious. A great place to celebrate a birthday or another special occasion. To find out more about the afternoon tea at The Connaught please visit their website.
I will leave you with a warning tale today for anyone who enjoys taking photos of their food....be careful not to drop your camera on your food before you enjoy it.
This is what a very squashed Rocher looks like.....
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| Whoops! |
Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel and Lorna
