Tea for Tea....Hamiltons Tea House

Hello there, welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

Recently a new tea room has opened in my home town, Farnham, it's called Hamiltons Tea House and of course as soon as I saw it was opening I was intrigued. Farnham, like lots of towns, is packed full of coffee shops, both independent and commercial, but we are sadly lacking in proper tea rooms. I discovered that Hamiltons is a family run business, with a passion for great service and making afternoon tea accessible. So accessible that you don't need to book! 

Hamiltons bakes their own scones daily and uses local suppliers (including the lovely Ellie from Bakehouse) to offer a menu that includes breakfast, lunches, cream teas and of course afternoon tea. They have an extensive tea menu, a great range of coffee and hot chocolate and a martini menu....so you can enjoy a cocktail with their afternoon tea! Sounds perfect doesn't it! 

I've now had the pleasure of visiting Hamiltons on two occasions, once for a cream tea and once for the full afternoon tea experience. The cream tea was my first visit and we were pleasantly surprised by the size of the tea menu, the knowledge of the staff and the general wonderfulness of the scones, which were served warm, with clotted cream and strawberry preserve.....

You can pick a plain or sultana scone and a pot of tea from the menu. The tables have tea timers on them and the staff suggest how long your tea should brew for. The crockery, like the tea room, is modern and simple. 

This Saturday, my sister Lorna was visiting and we didn't have any plans for lunch. So on impulse we popped into Hamiltons to see if a table was available, as it was a busy Saturday lunchtime we had a 20 minute wait, but it was worth it! We decided to try the afternoon tea, to discover what a non-booked tea experience would be like. It's a set menu with savouries, scones, cakes and unlimited tea all for £17.50 per person. I wondered whether offering the tea as an walk-in option would effect the quality of what was being offered, would everything be pre-made and a bit stale? After ordering our teas we had a short wait, but when the food came out we were very happy....

Two fabulous stands full of fresh food were brought to our table! Just look at Lorna looking loving at the scones (she's actually scowling at me because she's hungry and I was taking photos!). The bottom plate housed the savouries and a vol au vent, the middle plate has the sweet treats on and the top has the cream and scones.

The sandwiches were so fresh and the bread to filling ratio was perfect. We enjoyed Cucumber, dill and cream cheese, egg mayonnaise, Ham and wholegrain mustard and rare roast beef and horseradish cream finger sandwiches on white and brown breads. There wasn't a crust to be seen, which always makes me smile. Then there was a huge vol au vent, packed full of coronation chicken. The pastry was flaky and the chicken creamy and mildly spiced. A real highlight for me!

The scone plate includes two scones per person, one plain and one sultana - both were generous in size. The scones are served with butter, clotted cream and strawberry preserve. I only ate the fruit scone on this occasion...but it was fresh, baked the whole way though and not at all claggy - perfect for getting cream and jam into my mouth! I can also confirm that the sultanas in the scone were plentiful. 

Sorry this is an awful photo (I was too excited by the cake)...but each afternoon tea stand included three sweet treats. I think the selection changes, on this occasion we had a mini apple crumble concoction in the shot glass (a crumbly base, topped with apples and cream). We also had a piece of chocolate brownie and a mini lemon slice (which I know is delicious as it comes from Bakehouse). Neither of us could finish the whole stand, but we were given boxes to take the extras home in (which always makes a lovely treat the next day!) 

Our tea pots were filled up regularly throughout the afternoon tea and we were encouraged to try more than one tea. Hamiltons had just launched their Christmas tea, which we decided to try. The Christmas tea was fruity and warming, full of cinnamon and clove - really Christmassy! 

The service we experienced on both visits was brilliant, everyone is friendly and knowledgeable about the products. Even though it was busy, no one was rushed and everyone got the same warm welcome. This is the perfect tea room in my humble opinion....simple, not fussy, serving great produce and with friendly staff. I'd definitely recommend popping by Hamiltons if you happen to be in Farnham, if you want to guarantee a table you can book ahead. More information about the menus can be found on their website. 

Thank you for popping by today, I hope you've enjoyed reading about our latest afternoon tea adventure!

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Mary Poppins at Aqua Shard

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

There is one afternoon tea that we'd love to try, but its hard to get a reservation on the weekend because it's so popular. With a certain film due out in December I'm sure it's going to get even more popular....

Yes, its the Mary Poppins inspired tea currently being served at Aqua Shard. 

How cute is that cake stand?

Inspired by the Mary Poppins books by P.L Travers, this afternoon tea was launched at the same time as the books were re-launched by Harper Collins. 

Luckily, fellow afternoon tea lover Rachel was treated to the Mary Poppins afternoon tea as part of her recent Birthday celebrations and has shared her experience with us.

Just take a look at the gorgeous crockery....those plates are lovely...

The afternoon tea kicks off with a selection of quintessentially British finger sandwiches:

Cackleberry egg & black truffle sandwich
Ms Kirkham's cheddar, Branston pickle & English mustard ploughman's sandwich
Dingley Dell honey roast ham, mustard mayonnaise & Norfolk rocket cress sandwich
Dressed Devon crab, cucumber & coriander served on a brioche roll
Mini crumpet served warm with Scottish smoked salmon & cream cheese

The crab brioche rolls sound divine!

After guests enjoy homemade scones with clotted cream and either cherry or plum jam they can enjoy the homemade cakes and sweet treats....
'Strike me pink' sponge
Fairground candy floss
Mrs Corry's gingerbread star
Mary's chocolate & cherry hat
The 'back to front zoo' golden syrup tart

Rachel said she enjoyed the experience, all the food was scrummy!

I'd still love to try this afternoon tea for myself - I love the sound of both the sweet and savoury elements. If you happen to enjoy the champagne afternoon tea, you are also offered "medicine" with your champagne in the form of three homemade liqueurs (rum punch, strawberry or lime) which sound scrummy!

To find out more about the Mary Poppins afternoon tea pop by the Aqua Shard website.

A big thank you to Rachel for sharing her afternoon tea photos with us. If you enjoy an afternoon tea we'd love to see your photos too - leave us a message on our Facebook page!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea.....remembering the Pret a Portea Spring Summer 2018 afternoon tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - earlier this summer when it was still very hot in the UK I spent a rather wonderful Saturday with a friend enjoying a Pret a Portea afternoon tea at the Berkeley. I didn't share it at the time, but it was such a pretty afternoon tea that I thought I would revisit it now.

We've enjoyed a Pret a Portea several times previously, but as they change the menu twice a year to reflect the latest styles and fashions its always good to visit again! The Berkeley is an elegant hotel located in Knightsbridge and their afternoon tea is just as beautiful as the surroundings you enjoy it in. Let's start this afternoon tea adventure by staring wistfully at one of their pretty teacups....

I know I'm biased because purple is my favourite colour (I'm typing this blog post on my purple laptop), but the Berkeley china is so pretty. The cups are big enough that you get a decent amount of tea without needing to refill your cup every two minutes, but pretty enough to still look dainty.

As tradition dictates the savouries are served first - a selection of finger sandwiches and bite sized treats which look as pretty as the crockery they are served on.

Each diner has a whole plate full of perfectly filled finger sandwiches - that's a total of six fingers each! Plus there are two mini bowls and another savoury. You will definitely not go hungry at this afternoon tea!

The sandwiches are freshly made, with a variety of fillings. Pleasingly there isn't a crust in sight and the sandwiches look fairly uniform. The chicken sandwich was probably my favourite, a roast corn fed chicken with spring onion and celery emulsion on onion bread....I might have enjoyed more than one of these!

The little bowls of savoury goodness were as pretty as they were tasty - both pleasing to the eye and the palate. Again, they were freshly made and the flavours were well balanced. The crab dish was my favourite, the flavours were delicate it was so pretty....

You are offered....encouraged even....to indulge in as many savouries as you can enjoy. But remember to leave room, there maybe no scones in this afternoon tea feast but there are plenty of sweets to be enjoyed.

How pretty is this stand.....

This is the Spring Summer 2018 Pret a Portea and it will be different to the one you would enjoy if you visited The Berkeley now, but the sweet treats will be just as pretty! There were a total of nine different sweets, including biscuits, patisserie, cakes and mousses. 

Each sweet treat is inspired by a fashion designer and looks amazing, you'll spend a long time trying to decide which one to try first! The waiting staff are extremely knowledgeable though and happy to help with flavour recommendations.

I really enjoyed the upside down black forest gateaux which consisted of a chocolate cone (far right in photo above), layered with chocolate and vanilla cream and cherries. This was recommended as a favourite by our waiter and it definitely didn't disappoint! 

I can also highly recommend the biscuits - beautifully decorated and flavoured.

The whole afternoon tea experience at The Berkeley is a delight from start to finish. The surroundings are elegant, the staff are professional but friendly and the food is both beautiful and tastes great too. Plus you'll have plenty of photos for your Instagram feed!

Slightly more expensive than the norm - this tea is a treat, but well worth it. For more details pop by The Berkeley website

Thank you for popping by today, we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Rachel & Lorna

Time for a spot of spooky afternoon tea!

Hello there!

Wow, it's been a long time! It's been a rather busy year for me personally, so I hope you excuse the lack of scrummy afternoon tea posts from me.

As some of you know, I love Halloween baking and always host a Halloween afternoon tea for my friends. So I thought I would break my silence by sharing with you this year's Halloween baking!

This year we had a selection of cakes and hand-iced biscuits, as well as a tower of egg mayonnaise finger sandwiches, mini coronation chicken rolls and handmade quiches to enjoy.

Over the years I have collected lots of Halloween themed table decorations and I love covering the table with skulls and handmade felt bats. I also love getting out my collection of vintage china to serve everything on and this year Becca made us cute little ghostly name tags for everyone.

Anika loves nothing better than a vanilla cupcake, so you will always find them as part of my afternoon tea spread. The monster cupcakes in my Halloween tea are vanilla sponge which I coloured green, topped with lashings of vanilla buttercream (with more food colouring) and some edibles eyes.....lots of edible eyes! 

Becca and I had great fun baking and icing the biscuits, we had pumpkins and bats with lime flavoured icing and tombstones and ghosts with lemon flavoured icing.

We used the flooding technique to ice the biscuits, outlining the biscuits first with a slightly thicker icing and then filling in the shape with a thinner icing. Finally details were added with the thicker icing. 

Among the other treats was a chocolate loaf cake which contained a cherry flavoured secret ghost in the middle! I love making cakes with hidden shapes in the middle, especially when the flavour isn't quite as expected! This cake went down especially well with a dollop of clotted cream!

Altogether we enjoyed a very spooky afternoon, watching movies as we enjoyed the treats! 

And the best thing about hosting an afternoon tea at your house.....you get to enjoy the leftovers the next day!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our afternoon tea spread and I promise to return soon with more scrummy posts! In the meantime if you enjoy a wonderful afternoon tea let us know all about it - we'd love to hear about your afternoon tea adventures.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....The Connaught

Hello there,

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....

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.

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....

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....

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!

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.....

Whoops!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel and Lorna

Time for Tea....London at Ten Trinity Square

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today.

Last weekend Sheree and I visited London at Ten Trinity Square, a Four Seasons hotel, for a spot of afternoon tea. Situated near the Tower of London, this hotel is impressive from the outside and has a glamorous interior. Afternoon tea is served in the Rotunda Lounge, which has a 1920s feel to it with a beautiful art deco domed ceiling - a nod towards the buildings history (it was the 1922 headquarters of the Port of London Authority).

The afternoon tea is also a glamorous affair with a 1920s theme - the menu is called The Bright Young Things and is served on elegant china and a rather unusual stand...

If I am honest I'm not sure I like this presentation, although it's not tall and imposing it does create a wall between you and your fellow tea friends....just look at Sheree over the other side of the food! However, as you can see all the food was easily accessible and we had enough room on the table.

The savouries were served on individual slates and included five different items....

On first inspection I liked the variety on offer, it's always nice to see more than just a finger sandwich on the menu. The fillings were all very different too:

Chicken coronation Curry mayonnaise & allysum flowers

Heritage beetroot Hazelnut, chives & goat cheese mousse

Salmon rillettes Lime mayonnaise, egg roe & lemon balm leaves

Roasted beef Pink peppercorn sauce, rocket & parmesan

Egg & truffle Watercress & soft cooked quail egg

There were two items that I was really looking forward to trying on the menu....the coronation chicken (my guilty pleasure) and the egg sandwich. Unfortunately, although the flavours were good and there were no crusts, the bread itself had started to go a bit crusty.

The rest of the savouries tasted fresh, but these two sandwiches had the air of a crustless sandwich which had been waiting for us to arrive rather than one that was freshly made. It was a real shame as I really enjoyed the coronation chicken filling, probably one of the best I have enjoyed.

Moving on, we turned our attention to the scones....

Do not adjust your screen.......there are two very pink scones there! 

The scones included two plain and two cranberry scones, served with clotted cream, apricot preserve and strawberry preserve.

As you can see there was fruit in the cranberry scones, but I couldn't really taste the flavour. The scones themselves had a great texture though and were served warm.

Finally we moved onto the 1920s themed sweet treats, which included hats, lips and an ashtray complete with cigar!

As well as being some of the most unusual looking afternoon tea treats that I've seen in a while, the sweets were also diverse in flavour and we couldn't wait to tuck in!

Rubi grapefruit cheese cake Cream cheese mousse, pink grapefruit confit

Mango, coconut & ginger Citrus mousse, mango jelly, coconut & ginger dacquoise

Pistachio, blackcurrant & violet Pistachio chantilly, blackcurrant & violet jelly

Chocolate & salted caramel Salted butterscotch, Guanaja chocolate mousse

Lime & raspberry pannacotta Lime pannacotta, raspberry jelly

We both thoroughly enjoyed the sweets that accompanied this tea. It's not often that a menu contains so many flavours that all appeal to me....I'll usually really like one or two and the rest are just ok. These however, were nearly all wonderful ....I wasn't a fan of the pistachio and violet, but that was purely a flavour preference (Sheree really enjoyed it).

All the rest were delicious!

I think my favourite was the ashtray....

Don't let the blue colour put you off....the chocolate and salted caramel were very well balanced and the biscuit base was amazing! 

We also both loved the raspberry and lime pannacotta - again, really well balanced, fresh flavours and a beautiful consistency. I'm not usually a pannacotta fan and so this really surprised me.

Although our tea was topped up throughout our afternoon we weren't offered anymore food. I probably couldn't have eaten anymore, but as this is a more expensive afternoon tea it would be preferably to have the option if we wanted seconds of anything. 

This afternoon tea costs £45 each or if you fancy a glass of champagne with your tea it costs £55. For more information pop by the London at Ten Trinity Square website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....Amba Charing Cross

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're having a tea-riffic day!

I am pleased to share with you our first afternoon tea of 2018 - recently Lorna and I went on an afternoon tea adventure in London with Alex and Becca, visiting Amba Hotel Charing Cross for some tea and cakes!

Afternoon tea at Amba Charing Cross is served in an area called The Terrace, which is a light and airy space at the front of the hotel, above The Strand. The Terrace has high ceilings and lots of natural daylight, it is a lovely spot for a catch up over afternoon tea.

The afternoon tea was served on a traditional stand, with pretty floral china plates and teacups. It's modern, but very floral!

As there were four of us we had two stands for the group and we were told we could have more items if we wanted them - so no fighting over the cakes on the top tier! It was a very traditional afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, scones served with clotted cream and strawberry jam and then a selection of cakes.

There were four different finger sandwiches to enjoy...

The varieties included:
Free range egg & watercress on white bread (v)

Oak smoked salmon & cream cheese on granary bread

English ham & sweet mustard on brown bloomer bread

Aged Keens farmhouse Cheddar & onion chutney (v)

The sandwiches were fresh, and cut into easy to eat finger sandwiches. I particularly enjoyed the cheese and chutney sandwich although there could have been a bit more filling. I was a bit disappointed with the egg sandwich as it had an extra filling....

Yep....that's quite chunky cucumber in with my egg! I've encountered this once before and I'm still not sure I'm convinced that this is a good conversation. I love an egg sandwich and I feel the cucumber compromises both the flavour and the texture!

Moving up the cake stand we next turned our attention to the scones, we had two scones each....but not enough cream and jam (a pet hate when you need to ask for more scone dressings!).

The scones were a generous size - probably a little two big as one was enough to enjoy with a full afternoon tea. I also found the texture a little claggy, but not claggy enough not to enjoy the scone.

The jam that was served with the scone was ok - bog standard strawberry jam!

Finally we made our way to the top tier and the selection of cakes, which were rather appealing to look at because of the different colours...

The cakes were small and there were six different varieties to try, which was nice to see. We had already established that we could have additional cakes if we wanted which was nice to know (nothing worse than having to share the cakes so everyone tries everything!).

This selection wasn't to everyone's taste, and they weren't the most delicate sweets I have tried. But the flavours were at least interesting - there is a dense Brownie in there, a mango cheesecake (with a strong emphasis on the cheese), a red velvet cake, a green tea cake and another piece of brownie which was spiked with raspberry and peach . We liked the addition of peach pipette, which meant you could add as much or little peach as you liked. 

Overall it was a good tea, the service was friendly and the food was all fresh. There was a good selection of teas, which catered for most tastes from black and green to herbal and fruit. The Terrace is also a lovely space to be in - you wouldn't think you were so close to a train station!

The afternoon tea starts at £29.95 for a standard tea, which for central London I think represents a good price. 

For more information pop by the Amba Hotel Charing Cross' website

Have you enjoyed an afternoon tea recently? We'd love to hear all about it, leave us a comment or send us a photo on Twitter!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna