For my birthday celebration last week, my sister and I had 5 very luxurious days in London. We spoiled ourselves rotten, this involved a lot of fine-dining, pampering and cocktail drinking.

One of the best celebration treats was afternoon tea at the The Langham Hotel. There are so many luxury 5-star hotels in London that the choice of where to have this was a bit over-whelming! I decided The Ritz and Dorchester perhaps would be too touristy, Claridges was fully booked for months (!), so the 5-star Langham Hotel was my best choice. Especially as it’s where the tradition of afternoon tea was born over 140 years ago and it’s won countless Afternoon Tea Guild Awards. The meal takes place in their Palm Court which is the ‘centre-piece’ of the hotel.

From the minute we arrived we were treated wonderfully, the service was impeccable.  The decor isn’t quite what I had expected, I thought it would be more traditional, however it was glamorous and modern with their mirrored ceiling and grand chandelier. The ambiance was perfect with the pianist playing his classical take on relatively modern pop songs which I very much enjoyed.

With seatings at 1pm, 3.15pm & 5.30pm, the choices of afternoon tea are Wonderland or Theo Fennell Bijoux. We decided to splash out and get the Uber Bijoux Afternoon Tea for two, served with a half bottle of Laurent-Perrier Brut Reserve NV (price: 122 UKP).

The menu looked divine and we were so thankful to be starving as we arrived. The food did not disappoint! As the dishes arrived our eyes widened and bellies rumbled. It all look too good to eat!

First of all the delicately made ‘finger sandwiches’ were heavenly. We already knew we would be ordering a second round of these before we even tasted them.

Here we have (starting from the top going clockwise):

Crayfish with fennel, creme fraiche and tobiko fish roe
Beetroot cured scottish salmon and grey goose vodka cream
Pearl las and broccoli quiche with piquillo peppers
Montgomery cheddar and sweet onion biscuit (seriously delicious, my favourite)
Foie gras and smoked duck with mandarin (the orange ones in the middle)

These certainly aren’t your average finger sandwiches. Sinking my teeth through the mandarin gel and in to the thick ball of foie gras was a new and fun eating experience, however the tastes combined were too strong, perhaps they should have used less foie gras. Although I wouldn’t say no to more.

The quiche was light and perfect, and biting in to the sweet onion biscuit topped with creamy montgomery cheddar was an explosion of wonderful flavours – I think my sister and I positively squealed with delight.

Next was the tier of the most creative cakes I have ever seen! Inspired by the jewellery designer Theo Fennell, the glossy gels, pearls and bright colours were a feast for the eyes as well as our stomachs. We were very impressed with the attention to detail for each cake.

Here we have:

Salted caramel pearl and pistachio fudge
Kentish strawberry with white balsamic macaroon
Victoria plum with sakura sponge
Mango and passion with shortbread
Royal Gala apple with champagne

They almost looked inedible! (in the best kind of way). It was great fun tasting each one and trying to guess the flavours.

After this we had our warm selection of scones from the Palm Court bakery, with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve. I’ll be honest we were sadly absolutely stuffed to eat all of these, however we had a bite of each one – the chocolate scone was my favourite.

Bedford scone
Raisin scone
Chocolate and marinated orange scone

As my sister and I initially sat down, our waiter asked us what the special occasion was, to which my sister replied it was my birthday treat. He remembered this detail and it was such a wonderful surprise to see him bring a muffin and candle out to me as the pianist played a happy birthday song. How sweet of him. Too full to finish it, the waitress boxed it up for me. (Definitely breakfast the next day).

See the Langham’s Afternoon Tea website here.deeo.ruпродвижение сайта результатsmo продвижение сайтавзломать wifi для андроидчехол для iphone 5 тонкиймгновенный займ через систему контактcasino gratis ladbrokesescorts dubai elitebedava casino poker oynauk casino clubтур в стамбул майводяные дизайн радиаторы