High Tea Time – How Very British! Scoff&Banter Oxford Street

Scoff & Banter Tea Rooms 

350 Oxford Street, London W1C 1BY

Last week I was lucky enough to be one of the “50 for 50p” guests at the soft launch for the tea rooms Scoff & Banter have opened on Oxford Street in the Radisson Blu hotel behind Debenhams. 

My sister and I already had tickets to the theatre for that night, I was working in London during the day, so the opportunity seemed too good to miss. We were very taken with the unusual menu –the savoury options do make it a High Tea rather than an Afternoon Tea- and the fact that you can choose your own two items from the savouries, sandwiches , scones and pastries http://www.scoffandbanter.london/d/scoffandbanter/media/New_menus/J303629_FB_SB_A4_Landscape_TeaRooms_Menu_Web2_a4ff3f.pdf - much discussion had ensued on the way there about which choices we would make! 

  

When we arrived we were greeted at the door of the hotel and whisked upstairs to the stunning wood panelled tea room, a glass of Prosecco was placed in our hands and we were shown to our table. It was so exquisitely set with a white table cloth and Bombay Duck chinaware (long been a favourite of mine) – we were by the window , which although the view wasn't spectacular of the side of Debenhams it was a good people watching spot of both outside and inside the restaurant!

We were given our choice of teas, explained in detail by the charming Justas, and chose our sandwiches, scones and desserts. I chose a delicious lavender based tea.

As it was a soft launch, we were given the chance to taste all of the hot savouries which were being served canapé style by the staff circling around.

Oyster Rockefeller

Caramelised onion tart 

Scallop

Sticky Beijing Beef

Teeny Tiny Eggs Florentine

I would be hard pressed to say which my favourite was – but I especially loved the spiced scallop with a little battered cauliflower topping, which melted in your mouth, and the Oysters Rockfeller and the sticky Beijing fillet of beef was a hit with both of us. In fact we enjoyed all of them and I would struggle to choose just two!   

We were then brought our three tier tray with our sandwich,  scone and desserts choices

Rare Venison with Gin & Tonic Relish

We both chose the same sandwiches: rare venison with gin & tonic relish and Smoked salmon, crayfish and dill crème fraiche on a toasted bagel – I do like finger sandwiches but it was great to have a choice of unusual sandwiches on different bread. The sandwiches were utterly delicious – I loved the gin and tonic relish, and the fillings in the bagel were very generous.

By this time we were struggling and quite glad we hadn’t had lunch.

We chose a mix of scones between us, which worked out well as we had two mini ones of each of our choices so could mix and match, Pecan and apple Maple syrup and sultana, Seville orange, Valrhona chocolate – there was also a Vanilla and Cheddar cheese option. 

How adorable??

One of my highlights of the table setting was the adorable serving dishes for the Devon clotted cream, the strawberry and rhubarb conserves, my sister had to tell me to stop lifting the lids!

Ta Da!

This definitely was High Tea as we then had desserts not pastries – again we chose a mix to test them : Chocolate whisky cake with candied orange,  Lemon meringue with  blackberry compote and lime syrup,  Sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel ice cream and  macadamia nut brittle and last but not least Poached rhubarb and custard with a gingerbread biscuit.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Poached Rhubarb and Custard 

Sadly we had to go to the theatre  - we could have spent at least another hour sitting there, enjoying the food, drinking more tea (and prosecco !!)  but had to rush off – but we had sat there for 90 minutes and didn't quite finish our food.

It’s not a cheap option (£34 /£39 with prosecco /£42.50 with champagne) but is reasonable compared to some of the big London hotels. It is so special that’s it’s the perfect place to have a celebration and the high tea was enough food for lunch and dinner. 

The location is great too just behind Debenhams on Oxford Street- great place to take the weight off after a busy day of shopping. Normally I agree with the Duchess of Bedford in that afternoon tea is for the ladies but unusually for me I think it’s a fantastic place to take a man – (or a man to take a lady) my husband would have really enjoyed the hot dishes , variety of sandwiches and savoury scones and the quantity of food.

I take Afternoon Tea a lot (as readers know) but this is without doubt up in my top three, it is exactly the right blend of interesting and unusual foods and traditional fare, the setting is beautiful and the service faultless – not over fussy but just a raise of an eyebrow and someone would be there. We also got to meet the Manager, Mike , who had issued the invitations – great job Mike, of training your staff, and managing such a splendid place with such attention to detail.

Would I go back ? Definitely – and have several volunteers that want to come with me having seen my facebook pictures.

Do make the effort to go – well worth it ! 

My friends are posh too ...Part 3 - Claridges

Claridge's Foyer
Brook Street, Mayfair
London W1K 4HR

Sadly not me enjoying this tea ....but not much needs to be said when looking at these pictures, except look for an excuse to go I'd say! 

My friend, her sister and her mum loved it - although it was very expensive (£55) it was a real afternoon tea experience rather than  just a meal, and as it was for a special birthday they felt it was worth it.

Just the crockery and cutlery are amazing ! 

The sandwiches were fresh,had generous fillings and they were happy to swap out the ham ones for the non meat eating sisters.

They were also unlimited! 

  

There was a choice of raisin and plain scones with clotted cream and gelee.

The cake choice looked incredible - I was very struck by the beauty of the Raspberry and Rhubarb Macaroon, but apparently they change them every two weeks, so can't promise one of those if you go there.

There was a choice of twenty teas, a tea lesson for the tea drinkers and they were serenaded by a pianist and cellist. 

The surroundings were beautiful and they came away stuffed,  with a little gift of Rhubarb and custard sweets to soften the blow of the bill. 

That's how you do Afternoon Tea! 

Could do better ...... Novotel London City South

53-61 Southwark Bridge Road 

SE1 9HH  LONDON 

First of all I know that going to a chain hotel probably isn't the best place to choose when looking for a London Afternoon Tea - but this was a part of a Buy a Gift deal bought as a birthday present which included the Tower Bridge experience.
The Tower Bridge was absolutely brilliant walking along that walkway ! But I have used Buy a Gift many times and had great experiences or great feedback from giftees but this will make me much more cautious. 

The tea was served in the Elements restaurant, which was very quiet - there were two other couples sat in there also taking tea, but we did feel a bit lost in what was very obviously a restaurant set up for business stays and conferences - there were some nice looking areas they could have screened off or made a bit more interesting.

We were seated by the window - which we thought was a nice idea until we saw that our outlook was the car park - at one point we even had the recycling truck pull up for a while to obscure our view further!  

Our waitress, Paula, could not have been nicer and did help to make the experience better, but it was a very lacklustre affair.

Above you can see the menu, with the choice on offer - my friend doesn't eat meat so we asked for a change of sandwich from ham which was happily changed for a cheese one. My friend ordered coffee which came cold - the second cup ordered was hot when we pointed this out to Paula.

My assam tea came in a white pot, although had a tea stained spout and tea stain dribble down the pot from the spout - not a good look but was lovely and hot and strong with a tea strainer (again stained and bit bent) 

Sandwiches were very fresh with generous fillings - three each with a mix of brown and white bread.

Scones hmm - if you look at the menu it does say SCONES plural but we only had one each, small, obviously quickly heated in the oven so was a bit too crispy -  and the horror of jam in a little jar ! But there was a generous amount of cream to spread.

The most disappointing bit for us was the pastries which were obviously defrosted - the vanilla slice was soggy and still very cold in the middle, the carrot cake was lacklustre - but the eclair was tasty.  

If you take out the cost of the TowerBridge part (10.50 each) the experience was £59 for two so the tea was £38 - a reduction of £12 from the restaurant price.

This was definitely not worth the full price of £25 and only just at £19 each with no atmosphere, setting unsuitable, food only ok. 

We had tea a 3.15 and left by 4 pm - normally it takes us a couple of hours at least to work our way through tea and cakes and chatter. 

We left a tip for Paula because she was lovely and she couldn't have served us more charmingly, but there are much much better places to take tea, and I wouldn't recommend this as one of them.  

House of High Tea Berkhamsted - Guest Blog from Helen and Pat

61 High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2DE

Feels faintly ridiculous that I haven't made to this place as its only a few miles from where I live, but a couple of friends of mine went last week and shared their thoughts and photos. It's a family owned business, open Wednesday to Saturday and won an award for being the best Chiltern Tea Shop of 2014. 

Here are Helen and Pat's combined thoughts.

The tea room has lots of attention to detail with each table and chair set different and fresh flowers to set it off. There's even  a tiny upside down table with a mouse enjoying his afternoon tea on the ceiling! The background music was suitably relaxing and added to the atmosphere. 

We had home made sausage rolls and cheese scones before sandwiches and lemon posset to cleanse our palate before the scones and cake. 

Everything we had was home made and there was a lovely choice of cakes on the counter. There was also twenty types of tea to choose from. 

We couldn't finish it and took a cake home each. 

We must go back and try the breakfast version - a range of mini breakfast items including bagels with smoked salmon, granola pots, sweet pastries ...

All in all House of High Tea was lovely but expensive for a non London venue at £22.50 and they added 10% service charge - which again is unusual outside a London venue. Happy to leave a tip but I prefer to choose. 

I have to say ladies it does sound lovely and as it so local also means no cost to go into London etc

Café Dutch @The Dutch Nursery Brookmans Park

The Dutch Nursery Ltd

Great North Rd, 

Brookmans Park, Nr Hatfield

Herts, AL9 6ND

http://www.dutchnurserygardencentre.co.uk/ 

This was a GroupOn offer that seemed too good to miss - Afternoon Tea and Spa Treatment for £19 at Reflections @ The Dutch Nursery in Hertfordshire. 

Let’s face it - it would be rude not to.  

We’d booked this a while ago as this was the first time we were all free at the same time during the day so had almost forgotten about it, it was a great end of term treat!  We found it slightly disconcerting walking into what looked like a show conservatory for the massage in the Reflections Salon, but once inside it was like any other treatment room, nicely draped and decorated and lovely ambience and tranquil music.  We did have totally chilled out, relaxing back, neck and shoulder massages, just the right amount of pressure.  

http://reflectionsthedutchnursery.weebly.com/about.html for further details about their holistic treatments. 

By the time we’d all three finished we were all totally floppy and went and sat in the Café Dutch on the delightful terrace for our tea.

I was very taken with the beautiful V&A cups and saucers and plates! No choices of tea offered (we didn’t ask actually – too chilled after our massages!) but could have had coffee if we chose.

Tea was served in a nice china white teapot and milk jug, and then the 3 tier tray was brought out. This was very pretty!

The other girls are both vegetarian so had veggie sandwiches and I had normal – sandwiches were ham and mustard, egg and of course cucumber and cream cheese - with generous butter and fillings.

There was a cute little selection of cakes lemon drizzle (gorgeous) mini eclair and mini victoria sponge.

If I had to criticise one thing it would be the paucity of scones – there was only one mini one each although I liked the addition of the sliced strawberries. The normal cost is apparently £10.95 for Afternoon Tea  - I think if I had paid full price I would have expected at least two of those mini scones or a full size one and less cakes, as to be honest for me the scones are the highlight of an Afternoon Tea. 

But that’s me being greedy and I'm sure if I’d asked they would have given me another one. The staff were very helpful and charming and eager for us to enjoy our tea.

Considering what we paid for our whole package it was a complete bargain and even the scarcity of scones didn't spoil the event. The setting on the terrace in the sunshine was so lovely and I even got to buy some unusual plants for my garden on the way out!

Would thoroughly recommend the treatment at Reflections and also enjoyed my tea on the terrace. 

Cream Tea @Bills in Berkhamsted

163-165 High Street
Berkhamsted
HP4 3HB

http://bills-website.co.uk/restaurants/berkhamsted/   

Cream Tea at Bill’s is advertised with cakes and warm fruit scones, served with Bill’s strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream, served with a large pot of tea of your choice (7.95) or glass of Bill’s champagne (10.95)

Because there was no sandwiches this wasn’t technically an afternoon tea , but it was afternoon and there were scones so we feel it counted ! 

First thing that impressed us was the restaurant itself – I’ve been to a few Bills around but not this one – in fact last time I was in this building it was a fish restaurant but it was all different - all wood panelled and quirky , with lots of little nooks and crannies and some very splendid chandeliers and an appealing looking outside terrace. 

It was pouring with rain the day we went – would have been lovely to sit outside. The staff were also polite and helpful (and made me feel very old – they were all so YOUNG !! ) showing us to our table and offering us the choice of champagne or tea as soon as we sat.  We decided in the interests of research it should be both of course.

Then they brought our tray – well to be honest I doubt I could have eaten any sandwiches the cake selection was so generous ! The scones were warm and huge, fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside with lavish helpings of cream and jam.  Then we had to tackle the cakes which were no less than four varieties to experience each – a strawberry tart, carrot cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate Brownie and a marshmallow creation.  All were delicious, but I especially loved the marshmallow one as it was a bit different and lovely and light.

Our tea came in a trendy old battered tin tea pot which kept it beautifully hot.

We also loved the music they were playing the afternoon we went –  it was like the soundtrack to our youth, late seventies/ early eighties soul and funk tunes that had us shazaming away, singing  along and chair bopping . We should point out that we were the only people in that section of the restaurant !!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tea and it's astonishing value when you think what you pay in, for example, a coffee shop chain for a coffee and a cake, at £7.95 each (without the champers) it really is remarkable.

I also spied some delicious summer cocktails that are luring me back to try over the summer holidays when I have more time and can find a driver ....

Great job Bill's !  

Now how about throwing in a few sandwiches or savoury items and I’m your slave ……????? 

The Swan Restaurant at the Globe

The Swan Restaurant at the Globe
Well it's been a few weeks,  as had a glorious holiday in Crete (if you follow me on Twitter you would have seen some of the amazing beaches, views and meals we enjoyed) so had lots to do to get ready for holiday,  and then lots to do when I got back – including a Hen Do straight after we got back !
The afternoon tea at the Globe was part of the activities planned for the Hen Do day – we'd done Burlesque dancing in the morning and were more than ready for our tea by the time we got there.
I have been in the past and loved their theatre menu so had high hopes for their tea – especially when I saw a tweet about a free glass of bubbles with any tea in June or July! 

From the outset the staff were utterly charming and helpful, even though several of the hens had bowed out of the tea last minute , they didn't move us from the semi private room that had been booked so we had an amazing view overlooking the Thames, St Pauls Cathedral and the entrance to the theatre.

The crockery was all pink and blue wedgewood style (I wasn't rude enough to pick up the cup and check if it was real!) and the table was beautifully set with white linen napkins. 

We were offered prosecco at £6.50 a glass and I did enquire cheekily was that the free one they had tweeted about – the waitress wasn't aware of the offer but the lovely manager came to talk to us and said that was a special offer from www.afternoontea.co.uk when you booked through them . 

But what a fine gentleman – when seeing my crestfallen face he said he would honour it and treat all of the ladies to a glass!

They also have an offer of bottomless prosecco for £18 which was tempting but we also knew we had the rest of the hen do to get through so decided it was maybe not a good idea. 

There was a really good choice of teas – I had a liquorice and peppermint tea which was scrummy.

Loved the sandwich course – as well as the usual finger sandwiches we also had little rolls and canapé style smoked salmon bites. So pretty that they are now my header for my Twitter Page ! 

The scones – just admire this plateful … warm, crispy outside, soft and fluffy inside with lashings of cream of jam to go round. 

And lastly the sweet round … including a huge macaroon, a raspberry and peach panna cotta,  a fruit tart and a mini éclair.

We didn't manage to finish all the food there was so much of it, with lashings of tea as required, and the hens all agreed it was fabulous.

Thank you to the staff at the Swan for helping to make the bride to be's (centre back row) day so special.