Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends......we hope you're feeling tea-riffic today!
Last weekend we had the absolute pleasure of visiting 45 Park Lane to try their American inspired afternoon tea at CUT. The afternoon tea launched in Autumn of last year and I've seen lots of scrummy photos of the American inspired savouries and sweets....so we decided it was high time we tried out this indulgent afternoon tea adventure for ourselves.
CUTcakes and Tea is served in the hotel's lounge, which is modern and stylish. We were greeted by name on arrival and all the waiting staff very friendly and knowledgeable about the afternoon tea and also the hotel and it's large art collection.
After we picked our drinks (you can pick from a good selection of teas, coffees or hot chocolate), the savoury plate was brought out....
Now as you may have guessed, this isn't a traditional afternoon tea....and there isn't a single finger sandwich to be seen on the savoury plate. But I have to say it was a wonderful plate! The current savoury selection includes:
‘Guest Dog’ by restaurant Bubbledogs chef Sandia Chang Golden Corndog, Southern BBQ Sauce
Wagyu Beef Slider, Shallot Marmalade, Cheddar
Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Bisquets Coleslaw, Jalapeño Aioli
Tuna Tartare ‘Sandwich’, Avocado, Ginger
Crab Cake, Basil Aioli, Tomato Relish
Such a good selection of freshly prepared bites!
The aroma from the plate was mouth watering and it was hard to decide where to start first. Both fish dishes were fresh and the flavours within the mini dishes balanced well. I was pleased to discover that the crab cake was not stuffed full of potato like so many others.
The corndog was light and very tasty, I loved the Southern BBQ sauce which was sweet and spicy - my first ever corndog was a success! It's also very pretty to look at, with a golden tint to the batter!
The chicken in biscuit was also light....I've only had American biscuits once before and they were quite stodgy. These were fluffy in the middle and worked really well with the chicken. The piece of chicken was succulent and hot!
The mini slider was so cute....built exactly how a normal slider would be put together, complete with mini pickle! It took about three bites to eat and I loved every mouthful. We were asked how we wanted the slider cooking, which I thought was a nice touch.
I don't think I've ever taken so many photos of the savoury dishes!!
Next came a mini banana and toffee milkshake.....again extremely cute in appearance and big on flavour. I really enjoyed the milkshake, which was rich and creamy and had a wonderful banana flavour (which wasn't at all artificial).
Now came the nod to the traditional afternoon tea..... a scone, which clotted cream and strawberry preserve. The scones were served warm and we were given a mixed berry jam as well as the strawberry preserve, due to a strawberry allergy in the group.
Now this might look like all the other scones on our blog....but this is different....this was described as one of the best scones in London....and claim is actually true! Having eaten rather a lot of scones across London, we are often told that the scone we are about to enjoy is the best....but unfortunately it's often not! So often the scones are either under baked or over baked, with a claggy texture.
This scone was light as air, didn't fall apart when cut and made the perfect base for the cream and jam! It was well baked, not at all claggy and had a wonderful glaze.
Finally we made it to the sweet selection.... sorry for the awful photo....
As you can see there is a good selection, again all inspired by American favourites:
Peanut Butter Pie
Crème Brûlée Doughnut
Red Velvet Cupcake
Graham Cracker S’more
Crème Brûlée Doughnut
Red Velvet Cupcake
Graham Cracker S’more
There is also a Pink Lemonade Cake Pop, which I missed from the photos!
It was hard to decide which order to eat these in and by this point I was a little worried that I would get too full (I wanted to enjoy everything in the lounge rather than take it home on the train!).
As simple as it sounds - the crème brulee doughnut was so good, a fresh doughnut full of a crème brulee custard. I could have eaten several of them! I enjoyed the fresh raspberry with the red velvet cake. The peanut butter pie had a lovely berry jam in the middle, giving a sweetness to the peanut flavour. The S'more was messy, but very scrummy - with a layer of chocolate sauce.
This is a more expensive afternoon tea, perfect for a celebration. But it's worth every penny....the food is fresh and tasty, the service unpretentious but attentive and the setting relaxed yet refined. It's what I look for in an afternoon tea - the whole experience.
To find out more about this afternoon tea pop by the 45 Park Lane website. We'll definitely we back again when they refresh the menu.
Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel & Lorna
