Place : Reform Social
and Grill, The Mandeville Hotel, Mandeville Place, The Mandeville Hotel,
London
W1U 2BE
Date: November 2014
 |
| June 2010 |
This was my third visit
here - I came with my 3 nieces in June 2010 -and again with friends a
year later they had a unique (in London ) menu of gentlemen's and
ladies afternoon teas so we had 2 of each.
 |
| 5th cup of tea -June 2010 |
Sadly we
only remembered to take pictures at the end but we certainly
enjoyed their take on tea for a gentleman - the cake selection was
much the same but the savouries were delicious - with things
like sausage rolls and mini steak sandwiches.
 |
| 2010 Blue men's crockery (plate) ladies floral pink (cups and saucers ) |
We also loved that
the men's tea was served on blue plates and ladies on pink
Zandra Rhodes crockery.
Anyway this time
they were offering unlimited champagne with a festive tea so
it would be churlish not to give it a try !
It wasn't for an occasion, just a Christmas shopping trip in
London.
It was the
most horrendous weather- cold and literally rained all the day we
went up there, and as it was a Sunday I had to run
training on the south west coast the day after so had a
suitcase with me (I know very bad planning ) Delighted that the
hotel happily looked after my case in the luggage store
when we went at 11am explaining our 3pm booking.
So by the time we
had traipsed around the very wet but festive Oxford Street by
3pm we were more than ready for a warm cuppa.
The Reform Social and
Grill is inside the Mandeville Hotel, very near Oxford Street, and is based on
the idea of a gentlemens club, so has lot of nice little booths, leather seats,
wood panelling , flocked wallpaper and has a lovely ambience.
We were greeted by the
absolutely charming maître D who seated us conveniently near the
ice buckets of champagne - and proceeded to supply us with
a glass of very welcome warm spicy mulled wine and ensure
champagne glasses were full for the whole 90 minute experience.
As a result I can't comment much
on the teas ....although we did love the vintage style cups and
saucers which were charmingly mismatched. (obviously broke all the Zandra Rhodes ones!!)
They were happy to
create a separate plate for my fussy friend who doesn't eat any food with "gunk"
- mayonnaise mustard dressings etc - this did take a while so I
think the sandwiches had been made earlier (to be honest
they were a little bit dry, but still tasty
As myself and Caron
really do like a savoury plate we did ask for more sandwiches - and
had to pay an extra £5.50. If we hadn't been plied with
so much champagne I might have objected (I think
that's outrageous generally) The sandwiches were nice (sorry don't have a pic) finger sandwiches made with an unusual bread
Beetroot and basil and a festive turkey and cranberry being the highlights. I
also liked the swapping of the traditional cream cheese and cucumber for goats
cheese and cucumber.
The Scones were very
nice – fluffy and warm, and the cakes :
Battenberg, Mini pie
crumble, Chocolate yule log, Christmas cake, Scones, clotted cream, jam were also
quite delicious - the frosted Satsuma was a lovely touch!
All in all it’s hard to
beat for value - as soon as free flowing champagne is included at London prices
it becomes a real bargain. This was served in a very traditional way, but you couldn't fault the charming staff and
service, and they are happy for you to take your time over your tea (the freeflowing
champagne is only for 90 mins though, officially but I was slightly wobbly on
my way to the train station!)
Definitely would go
back - in fact planning to revisit the Gentleman's tea with my brother for his
birthday in Feb - watch this space for his guest blog he has promised to write
!
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