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

Time for....an afternoon tea launch, The Capital Hotel

Hello there,

Well I hope you've been enjoying Afternoon Tea Week.

We were very excited to be invited to a little afternoon tea launch that took place at The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge this week. The Capital is a family-owned and family-run hotel in the heart of Knightsbridge, and they are taking afternoon tea back to its roots with a very traditional English experience.

Afternoon tea
The Capital Hotel

Launching on Wednesday September 9th The Capital Afternoon Tea features those traditional British favourites: Victoria sponge, Bakewell tart and crumpets all baked by the Michelin-starred team behind Outlaw’s at The Capital. 

When we arrived at the launch we found a beautiful spread, demonstrating what the new afternoon tea will look like, we were also given a sneak preview of their Christmas offering!

The afternoon tea launch table
The Capital Hotel

 The afternoon tea includes everything you would expect from a traditional spread. The sandwich fillings include cucumber, egg and cress, ham and mustard and a smoked mackerel pâté, there is also bacon and mushroom quiche to tempt the taste buds. There are plain and fruit scones which are served warm, with home-made strawberry jam and Devonshire clotted cream. The sweet selection includes Victoria sponge, Bakewell Tart....and something rather wonderful....a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich!

Afternoon tea savouries
The Capital Hotel

Afternoon tea scones - The Capital Hotel

Ice Cream sandwiches for afternoon tea
The Capital Hotel

As this was a launch event we didn't get to try the full afternoon tea experience, but we did get to sample some wonderful canape versions of the afternoon tea menu. Particular favourites were the lemon drizzle cake and the ice-cream sandwich.

Mini Ice-cream sandwich at The Capital Hotel

Rather scrummy lemon drizzle cake - The Capital Hotel

This afternoon tea adventure is accompanied by a selection of Jing’s tea blends ranging from old favourites such as Earl Grey to Green tea from Japan or fruit infusions. 

Jing Tea at The Capital Hotel

In additional to this wonderful spread the Capital’s award-winning Barman, Cesar, has created two afternoon tea cocktails using a spot of Sipsmith London Dry Gin for the base.  You can pick from The Basil Street Spritz which includes blackcurrant and hibiscus infused tea and Champagne or how about the Capital Citrus Blend which blends marmalade, orange, lime and apple juice, with Bohea infused tea and Curaçao.   

A sneak peek at the Christmas afternoon tea at The Capital Hotel

Afternoon tea is served at The Capital between 2pm - 5:30pm every afternoon and costs just £29.50 per person, making it a very affordable experience. Afternoon Tea with one of the cocktails costs £35 per person or The Capital Champagne Afternoon Tea comes with a glass of Ayala Champagne and costs £39.50 per person. For more information please visit The Capital Hotel website.

We'd like to thank The Capital for inviting us to their launch, we're hoping to pop back soon for the full afternoon tea experience.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Boyds London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends, this week I was very lucky to be invited to the afternoon tea launch at Boyds Brasserie in London. I was a guest of both Boyds and Square Meals, along with a group of lovely food bloggers.

I had seen a photo of the new afternoon tea which launched on the 7th July and was keen to try it out for myself.....

Afternoon tea - Boyds London
Photo from website

Not your usual afternoon tea venue, Boyds is a restaurant located a very short stroll from Trafalgar Square on Northumberland Avenue. Boyds is very proud of it's British menu, sourcing everything from within Great Britain. It's interior is rather glamorous, but also relaxed - a nice environment to enjoy a spot of tea in!

Your afternoon tea at Boyds is served on plain white china and glass serving plates - which gives the tea a modern feel. The menu however, is quite traditional with a slight quirky start and finish!

Afternoon Tea China & Menu

The afternoon tea feast at Boyds begins with traditional sandwiches...but also a serving of potted shrimp. I have never seen this on an afternoon tea menu before, but I am pleased to report that it made a lovely addition.....

Afternoon Tea - Potted Shrimps - Boyds

The potted shrimp was light and flavoured well and the crisp bread made a perfect accompaniment. It was a rather fresh and scrummy way to start the meal. The potted shrimp was served alongside a traditional sandwich platter....

Afternoon Tea Sandwiches - Boyds

As you'll notice there wasn't a controversial hint of crust in sight....I can also confirm that the bread was soft and fresh. The fillings included a lovely egg mayonnaise and watercress served on white bread, smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill served on brown and salted beef with pickled cucumber and Dijon also on brown bread.

I really enjoyed the egg sandwich and also the salmon, unfortunately the salted beef wasn't for me - I am not a huge fan of pickled things or Dijon...but my fellow diners all seemed to enjoy it.

Once we had enjoyed the savoury elements, we were served the sweets on a two tier cake stand....

The Sweets at Boyds!

The scones are served with clotted cream and strawberry preserve, these are followed by a lovely selection of perfectly sized cakes and pastries.

Scones ...dressed the Tea With Me and Friends way!

Although the scones weren't served warm, they were a good size and perfectly fluffy in the middle. Not claggy in texture at all. I enjoyed both the cream and dollop of jam and am pleased to report that there was plenty of both on offer! As you can imagine....bringing a group of food bloggers together brought about debate regarding the "correct" way to dress your scones. Regular readers will know which way I fought!

Perfectly Sized Afternoon Tea Sweets - Boyds

The sweet selection included a wonderful piece of fruit cake, which was full of flavour but not at all heavy. There was also a bite sized eclair, which was so light, a fresh strawberry tart and a piece of lemon drizzle cake. My favourite items were the eclair and the fruit cake - which surprised me! I made the mistake of leaving my piece of lemon drizzle to last, unfortunately this meant the air had got to the cake a little by the time I ate it and it was a little dry. The flavour however was wonderful. 

All of the items were a good size and easy to eat. I enjoyed all the flavours - all in all it was a very nice sweet plate!

Finally, there is one last item to finish the afternoon tea experience.....

Mini ice creams - Boyds

Yes, they are cute little ice cream cones! 

I really enjoyed the chocolate wafer combined with the vanilla ice cream....and the use of "hundreds and thousands" adds a fun element. They were really scrummy and a lovely end to the afternoon tea.

This afternoon tea costs £19.90 per person with tea, if you want a treat you can include a glass of champagne for £29.90 per person. I think this is a good value afternoon tea, full of scrummy items. For more information please visit the Boyds website.

A group of food bloggers....identifiable by the
amount of cameras/mobiles on the table!

I'd like to thank Boyds and Square Meal for their hospitality - we were all well looked after, and it was brilliant to talk to some other food bloggers. Although I was a guest at this event, this has not clouded my judgement and all opinions expressed in this article are my own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel