Over the last year I have been enjoying Afternoon Tea in various establishments around London and the Home Counties. Its a difficult job, but someone has to do it!! I have been part of the #LDNBloggersTea group - about 25 bloggers who have tea, drink champagne and then write about their experiences. This Sunday was the turn of The Lancaster, London, under the expert cheffing hands of Chef Ben Purton. The lovely Melanie, from Sunny in London, had worked very hard to organise the event, taking over the reins from Selena at Oh The Places We Will Go. And a very professional job she did too!! Thank you Melanie for giving us all such a treat!
I have attended all the London Bloggers Teas bar one and that was when Chef Ben created tea for us last. Since then he has been an enthusiastic supporter of our little tea scoffing band and I was looking forward to both meeting him and eating his wares.
I made my way to Lancaster Gate tube station and from there it was a two minute walk to The Lancaster. We had our own private room, just off from the lounge on the first floor and we were greeted with warm smiles and chilled pink Laurent Perrier champagne. Things were looking good!
If you are visiting London, then The Lancaster is in a brilliant position for seeing the sights and the views from our room were gorgeous. The windows looked out over Hyde Park, the Serpentine and its fountains. It was beautiful.
Chef Ben had obviously worked very hard on their menu and it was clear that they were very proud of their work. A huge amount of effort has gone into creating an Afternoon Tea here. Before Ben Purton arrived it was a service that they did not offer so full marks for adding to London's menu of top notch teas.
The scones were freshly baked and we were the first to try the Christmas Pudding flavour scone, along with a plain and a raisin flavour. And the good news was that there was plenty of clotted cream and delicious homemade strawberry jam.
One of the things I really loved this afternoon was the attention to detail... we were able to see the huge range of teas on offer - from Pear and Ginger to English Breakfast to Dragonwell Green Tea. And the lovely representative of Laurent Perrier, Ashley, told us all about what was best to drink with the champagne - apparently strawberries are good, but so was the terrine shown below. Yum.
As is usual at these occasions I was pretty full up by the time it came to eat the dessert tier. There is only so much tea and champagne a girl can consume before she gives up the ghost. However I manfully continued and was treated to white chocolate and raspberry lolly pops which sparkled in my mouth, mostly because of the surprise popping candy! A honey and apple cake was another favourite and the tiny lemon tart was scrumptious!
I sat back in my chair and looked around the room, dressed for Christmas and full of happy smiling blogger faces, some new, some who had been to a LDNBloggersTea before, and the feeling was good.
Afternoon tea at The Lancaster, London costs £30 per person, £35 with a glass of Laurent Perrier champagne and £40 with Laurent Perrier Rose. We were fortunate enough to be given a discounted rate of £25 for our tea. If you are looking for a safe haven just a few minutes from Oxford Street, where you can watch the world go by and indulge yourself then this tea is very lovely. I can't recommend the staff enough as they could not do enough for us! Thank you to Ben Purton from The Lancaster and Ashley Wilce from Laurent Perrier. You spoiled us magnificently!!
