Time for Tea.....The Playboy Club, London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends....this week we are sharing with you a recent visit to somewhere we have visited a couple of times before...but we always have a good time so we keep heading back! It might be something to do with the tea-riffic teapot cocktails....

Afternoon tea cocktails - Playboy Club, London

Or maybe it's something to do with the scrummy afternoon tea treats, which includes their iconic bunny ears.......

Afternoon tea, Playboy Club, London

Or perhaps it's the excellent service, which is always friendly and welcoming? Whatever it is....The Playboy Club in London have got it right with their afternoon tea with a with "a playful twist and a tail". Afternoon tea is served between 5-7pm Tuesday to Saturday in Salvatore's Bar.

The tea costs just £30 per person and includes a teapot cocktail, there are four alcoholic and one non-alcoholic cocktail to pick from....all with a scrummy tea base.

The savoury selection is always quite impressive and substantial....

Savoury afternoon tea treats
Playboy Club, London

On this occasion we enjoyed a crusty baguette filled with roast beef and horseradish, along with a cream cheese and salmon bellini....

Afternoon tea, Playboy Club London

There were also lovely finger sandwiches (with no crusts in sight), made on fresh granary bread and filled with egg and thinly sliced asparagus...

And finally my favourite....which we have enjoyed before and I was pleased to see again....the bruchetta....toasted bread....lots of tomatoes and balsamic...scrummy....

There are no scones served with this afternoon tea, but to be honest we never really miss them. 

This is a contemporary tea served in a contemporary environment... I think it might feel a bit odd to sit in the bar dressing our scones while others sip on their cocktails!

The sweets on offer are also filling enough that scones are not really required....

Afternoon tea sweets - Playboy Club, London

This time we enjoyed a lovely piece of carrot cake, a vanilla macaroon, some strawberries and cream and a rather scrummy chocolate mousse cake, complete with chocolate bunny ears.

Everything served was fresh and of a good size. The flavours were well balanced and everything went well together. A very enjoyable sweet plate and end to our afternoon tea adventure.

I particularly enjoyed the chocolate mousse cake, the bottom part was sponge, the top chocolate mousse. It was decadent, without being too rich and looked super cute too....

Afternoon tea Bunny Ears Cakes
Playboy Club, London

No extras are offered....but if they were I'm not sure you could fit them in anyway! All in all a lovely afternoon tea experience - perfect for enjoying with a group of friends!

For more information pop by the Playboy Club's website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for a festive tea......Playboy Club London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends.

Now we realise that we haven't done many proper afternoon tea review articles this month, so we thought it was high time that we indulged in a spot of afternoon tea (all in the name of research you see)! For our festive afternoon tea with our friends we decided to head back to the Playboy Club near Park Lane London for their festive offering. The Playboy Club was probably the venue we were most pleasantly surprised by this year - not only offering excellent service and food, but also good value too. With this in mind we were really looking forward to trying their festive afternoon tea feast.

As you'll remember from our last visit - accompanied by a pianist, the iconic Playboy Bunnies serve guests afternoon tea in Salvatore’s Bar. As well as a selection of homemade savouries, sandwiches and pastries you also get to pick your own choice of Te’Freddo Teapot Cocktail. For the festive season The Playboy Club has an Arctic theme and the bunny serving us was wearing icy blue and white to match the theme.

Afternoon tea - Playboy Club London

The afternoon tea itself is served on the usual black slate stands, which are beautiful and suit the surroundings. The china used is plain and simple, allowing the food to really shine.

Let's start on the bottom tier with the savouries....

Afternoon tea savouries - Playboy Club London

Now there are no scones on offer at this afternoon tea, but because of the variety and amount of savouries served I don't think you really miss them (unless you are a real traditionalist).

I'm pleased to report that the savouries were different this time to the ones we sampled before. We enjoyed fresh and tasty bruschetta served on griddled bread....

I have got some extra tomato on my plate here as Alexandra didn't want her portion....but the size of this alone is very generous and it tasted so fresh. I love the griddled flavour of the bread, which works really well with the fresh tomatoes.

We also enjoyed mini baguettes filled with roast beef and horseradish sauce....

Again, this is a generous portion with each guest getting two halves. The bread is fresh and crusty and the roast beef flavoursome. We also enjoyed smoked salmon blinis served on Olive oil croutons and egg mayonnaise sandwiches which were fresh and crustless.

All extremely enjoyable and filling. My favourite has to be that bruschetta!

Once we had finished with the savouries we moved up a tier to those marvellous sweets on the top.......

Afternoon tea sweets at the Playboy Club London

On the top tier you will find a wonderful selection of sweets, which includes: 

carrot cake,

chocolate & Guinness bunny ear cupcakes, 

cute little macaroons and 

a strawberry & clotted cream shot

A well balanced and tasty selection, which we think includes something for everyone.

Strawberries & cream and candy canes at the Playboy Club

We thoroughly enjoyed all elements of the sweet tier. The strawberries and cream were fresh and light and were topped with mint. Those mini macaroons were perfect - melting in the mouth as you enjoyed them.

An iconic bunny ears cupcake!

The carrot cake was full of nuts and was extremely tasty, topped with a light cream cheese frosting. The chocolate and Guinness cake left us all wanting more! The sponge was light, with just the right amount of icing on top....and those chocolate bunny ears were delicious!

We were also all treated to a candy cane....well it is Christmas time!

Although you are not offered any extra food, we all agreed that we had plenty and wouldn't have wanted anymore as the portions were generous.

In addition to the food we each chose a teapot cocktail to enjoy with our feast. There are four different tea based cocktails to pick from, and also a non-alcoholic version. You can pick from traditional, fruity, floral or spicy.

After we enjoyed our teapot cocktail, we also enjoyed in another cocktail each from the main menu (they are serving a wonderful selection of Christmas themed cocktails at the moment!).

Excluding the additional cocktails, the afternoon tea is just £30.00 per person, which we feel is an affordable treat. The tea is served Tuesday - Saturday between 5pm-7pm, for more details please see the Playboy Club website.

As for atmosphere and general thoughts about indulging in a spot of afternoon tea at The Playboy Club....well all we can say is keep an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised. A couple of people have questioned our choice, but as an all female group we found the bar to be welcoming and the service excellent. Although we were all a little envious of the fabulous Playboy Bunny outfits!

Please note that although we did pay for some of our afternoon tea, the Playboy Club also treated us. However, this has not affected opinions expressed in this article and we would like to thank the Playboy Club for their hospitality.

If you have tried the Playboy Club afternoon tea we'd love to hear what you thought....please drop us a line!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Playboy Club London

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Today we want to share with you a recent afternoon tea experience which has a twist and a tail...when Lorna, Becca and I met some Playboy Bunnies at the Playboy Club in London and enjoyed a spot of afternoon tea. This afternoon tea launched in July this year, and we were invited as guests of the Playboy Club to try their offering.

Now, the traditionalists out there might already be shuddering slightly, exclaiming "what on earth does the Playboy Club know about afternoon teas??"....but bear with us on this one...

The tea is served in Salvatore's Bar which is a dark, but comfortable space where customer service is second to none and the cocktails flow! The bar staff and Playboy Bunnies could give some of the top hotels in London a run for their money when it comes to customer care.

We arrived slightly early, but were welcomed into the bar and found a seat straight await. We had the menu explained to us and then were left to choose our "tea".....

Time for Tea - Playboy Club style!

So, if you want a proper cup of a tea, then maybe this experience isn't for you. But if you fancy trying a rather wonderful tea based cocktail with your food, then you've come to the right place. The Playboy Club gives you four different varieties to pick from and there is something for everyone...with a traditional, a fruity, a floral and a spicy cocktail.

They cocktails are served in rather lovely iron teapots and cups.

As we began enjoying our drinks, listening to the piano player,  the sweet and savoury treats were brought out to us.....

Afternoon tea
Playboy Club, London

The food is served on slate tea stands, which fit the sophisticated surroundings of the bar. The bottom slate contains a good selection of generously sized savouries and on the top tier you will find a variety of sweets that will make your mouth water.

The afternoon tea has gone pink this month, supporting Breast Cancer Awareness, but the themeing is not at all tacky and I think the flavours all worked really well. For every tea sold in October, a donation will be made to Breast Cancer Awareness.

The savoury selection - Playboy Club

On the bottom tier we discovered beetroot and ricotta sourdough bruschetta, smoked trout on crouton, pastrami on a mini brown roll and generous finger sandwiches filled with prawn mayonnaise.

All the savouries were fresh and tasted wonderful. We all really enjoyed the beetroot bruschetta and I loved the luxurious prawn mayonnaise finger sandwiches, which had a mild kick to them. Each of the savouries was presented well, with lovely attention to detail.... 

More savouries - Playboy Club

Now, the eagle-eyed of you out there might be asking "but where are the scones" and this is the part where traditionalists might shudder again....there was only one token scone on the plate...cleverly incorporated into this blackberry and clotted cream shot....

Token scone at the Playboy Club

I really enjoyed this part of the tea, the jelly and clotted cream worked really well together. The mini scone was slightly claggy in texture, but that was soon forgotten when you piled some of the clotted cream onto it!

To be honest we didn't really miss the scone part of tea here - there was plenty of food and we all left feeling satisfied. There was a good selection of sweets to choose from and I am pleased to report there was one of each for everyone....

Afternoon tea sweets - Playboy Club London

This top tier included mini berry macaroons which were crisp on the outside and so wonderfully chewy in the middle. We also enjoyed perfectly spiced carrot cakes and iconic bunny cupcakes, although as Lorna found if you didn't eat your chocolate ears quickly they might fall off....

Lorna and the droppy bunny ears!

All the sweets were very tasty and I am hard pushed to pick a favourite...but possibly that carrot cake might just win! They sweets were all a good size....not too large that you couldn't enjoy them all, but not too small either. We really enjoyed this selection.

Afternoon tea is served between 5-7pm, Tuesday to Saturday at the Playboy Club. The tea, including the tea-based cocktail, costs just £30.00 per person. I think this is really good value as you get a brilliant choice of good quality food, plus a cocktail each. To find out more about afternoon tea at the Playboy Club visit their website.

Once we had finished our food we decided to stay a little bit longer and enjoy a cocktail from the extensive main menu...it took a while to pick from the menu as they all sounded so good, but we were all really pleased when our choices appeared....

Cocktails at the Playboy Club

Now, as well as taking photos of all the scrummy food and cocktails we enjoyed, there was one last photo that we needed....

Tea With Me and Friends and the Playboy Bunnies - I think we fit right in!

We would like to thank the Playboy Club and all the staff we encountered on our visit for their hospitality and great service. Please note that although we were guests at the Playboy Club, this has not affected our judgement and all thoughts in this post are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel