Traditional Afternoon Tea at The Goring Hotel, London

Today I am reviewing the traditional afternoon tea of The Goring Hotel in London .

The Goring Hotel can be found in Belgravia in London, less than a 10 minute walk from Buckingham Palace, perfectly located for sightseeing.  The Goring Hotel is a 5 star hotel that was opened by Otto Goring on 2nd March 1910. What makes the hotel unique is that it is the only remaining hotel in London that is still owned and run by the family that built it! With Otto Goring’s Great-Grandson, Jeremy Goring now running the hotel. When reading up about the hotel I also found that the Goring was the first hotel in the world in which every room had a private bathroom and central heating! 

Today, however the hotel is probably better known for it's royal connection, as the Queen Mother was a regular visitor and more recently the hotel came into the spotlight when Kate Middleton and family stayed there the days before the royal wedding in 2011. So unsurprisingly Afternoon Tea at The Goring  is indeed a posh affair. 

lets just take minute to appreciate how beautiful this wallpaper is!  

The afternoon tea is served in the Bar & Lounge area every day between 3pm - 4pm, and is priced at £42.50. 

We visited during the summer months so were lucky enough to be offered a table on the terrace overlooking the beautiful Goring gardens. On that particular day the sun was shining and there were people  playing croquet on the grass area and others taking strolls through the Goring Gardens. It was a lovely and tranquil environment for enjoying afternoon tea! The terrace is actually well heated so you might still be able to enjoy enjoy tea on the terrace on a more nippy afternoon!

I love the minimal look to the tables!

Our Afternoon Tea started with an amuse bouche to get our taste buds going. This was essentially a  small glass of Cheddar custard, cauliflower cream topped with toasted rice - it was delicious, and very flavoured. 

The waiter then brought out a 3-tiered cake stand containing...

• 8 sandwiches between the two of us.
• 2 Plain Scones and 2 Currant Scones 
• A selection of amazingly delicious desserts: Battenberg Cake, Mandarin Dome with Financier Base, Lemon & Bergamot Meringue Tartlet, Raspberry and Pistachio Choux, White Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Jam on a Crumble Base.

I was really impressed with all the food especially the desserts, they all looked and tasted amazing. Shame we were so full by the end  that we were struggling to eat all the cakes! Maybe we should've started with the cakes :) My personal favorite was the White Chocolate Mousse, which contained jam and strawberry pieces inside - absolutely divine!

So, finally I can't talk about the Goring without mentioning the impeccable service, as you would expect from a 5 start hotel, the staff were very friendly and attentive. The waitress frequently checked on us and offered to fill our tea cups, so we were never short of tea! I must have had like 6 cups of tea in the 2 hours we were there!

The Goring's Afternoon Tea is definitely fit for a queen. The service, surroundings and food all exceeding my expectations. If you want to treat your self to a 'high end' afternoon tea, then I would recommend the Goring to you!  

See you next time for more of my ramblings 

xx

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Curly Whirly Cake, Konditor & Cook

Today I wanted to do a quick post to share a new (rather amazing) discovery of mine the ever so delicious Curly Whirly Cake from Konditor & Cook. I have heard friends and family rave about Konditor & Cook's Curly Whirly cake, so during my last trip to London I just had to give it a try! Now considering I have sampled a fair few cakes in my time I can now confirm that the Curly Whirly Cake is one of the best cakes I have ever tasted (I know I'm bigging it up alot, but trust me it's delicious!)

Konditor & Cook's cake shop in London sells indulgent treats.The company was founded in 1993 by Gerhard Jenne. Konditor & Cook is particularly well known for their chocolate brownies and their Curly Whirly Cake.

The Curly Whirly Cake has a dark chocolate sponge cake with a cream cheese vanilla bean frosting and is covered in dark chocolate swirls.

When they say they sell indulgent treats...they mean it! Even though the cake is absolutely delicious I don't think many people could manage more then one slice in a go due to the richness of the dark chocolate sponge. But with that said they're 24 hours in the day ;')

The cake is available in 5", 7" and 10" and can be personalized at an extra cost of £5.00 for a special occasion. If you are ever looking for a cake to binge on a celebration cake for a loved one (mum if you're reading this, its almost my birthday...hint hint) then Konditor & Cook is a great place to head to.

Here are few pictures from my trip to the Spitalfields Market branch of Konditor & Cook...

What is your favourite cake from Konditor & Cook? Any recommendations?

See you next time for more of my ramblings!

xx

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Foodies Festival, Syon Park

Todays’ post is about all things food and drink. I don’t know about you but for me bank holidays are all about relaxation, family time and obviously eating way to much! So, during the bank holiday weekend I had tickets to the Foodies Festival in Syon Park. As the name suggests the Foodies Festival is essentially a celebration of food and drink. It contains an array of independent food and drink stalls from yummy brownies and unique dips to pop-up restaurants and bars. Throughout the day there are also food demonstrations and master classes by top chefs, such as Aldo Zilli and last year’s masterchef winner Ping Coombes.

Tickets are a little bit on the pricey side around £10-15 for an adult (although there always seem’s to be 2-4-1 deals available). The event is really designed to be a fun day out for the whole family with plenty of open space for picnics and live music playing, which adds to the whole festival vibe,- so I would say definitely worth the entrance price. You even get free products samples at some stalls, so you can taste before you buy  :)

What made this visit particularly special though was the gorgeous weather on the day –the sunshine
created a lovely relaxed summery atmosphere - very rare for a bank holiday weekend in the UK! In fact, I remember the last foodies festival I attended in Hampton Court a couple of years back, it was pouring with rain and I was covered in mud by the time I got home! This was certainly a very different experience to that!

Here are a few pics from the day...

To quench our thirst we opted for some freshly squeezed mango juice. Lately I’ve been loving freshly squeezed juices as they are 100% pure, which means no added sugars or sweetener’s, unlike the processed juices available on the high street. They are so much healthier and you can really taste the flavour of the fruit. 

Now for my favourite stall of all - The Brownie Bar

I’m not usually a brownie person, but these looked delicious and there were soo many unique flavours to choose from that I was intrigued to try them. It took me a good 10 minutes to decide which flavours to try. I eventually opted for the Malteaser Brownie (which was hands down the best brownie I have ever tasted) and the Nutella + Peanut Butter Brownie (which was also pretty good!).

Washed down by some ice tea…

As it was a sunny day, I felt it was obligatory to have some ice cream in honour of the good weather. The Whipsmith’s stall were advertising nitrogen ice cream, something I had never heard of before.

They make the ice cream in front of you, which is fascinating to watch. Although it did mean a long wait.

There were soo many flavours to choose from …

I was also incredibly excited to see that there was a macaroon stall (Dimkin's Patisserie)!!! Of course I absolutely had to try these and I wasn’t disappointed they were just as delicious as those I’ve tried in France and Belgium :)

More sweet stuff!

The only downside to my day was that there weren’t many savoury stalls that sold vegetarian dishes, which meant I had no choice but to overdose on the sweet treats (which I guess isn’t too bad for a sweet tooth)!!!

Overall, it was a lovely day out and I would highly recommend it to any foodies out there!

See you next time for more of my ramblings. 

xx

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Rainbow Cake, Hummingbird Bakery

I can't believe I'm 17!

In today’s (short) post I wanted to share a new discovery of my mine the delicious Rainbow Cake from the Hummingbird Bakery. It was my 17^th birthday a few weeks ago and of course there had to be cake :) This year I was well and truly spoilt rotten by my lovely friends and family. The highlight of the day was receiving this giant yummy cake from my favourite bakery. A lovely treat courtesy of my mum – thanks mum!

For those of you that don't know the Hummingbird Bakery is a unique American style bakery in London, which offers a range of American style cupcakes, brownies, pies and cakes.

The bakery only opened in 2004 and is celebrating its 10th UK anniversary this year. Unfortunately, they only have branches in the London area at the moment. I wish they would open a branch closer to where I live (sigh)...wait perhaps on second thoughts that’s for the best otherwise I would probably end up a couple of dress sizes larger!!

The Rainbow Cake is the yummiest cake I have tried from the Hummingbird Bakery soo far…

It had a bubblegum flavour in both the frosting and sponge!

There was plenty to go around - we even managed  a second helping in the day! 

I also received a copy of the Humingbird Bakery Cake Days recipe book and will be attempting to recreate some of the hummingbird magic at home soon, particularly the gingerbread cupcakes, which look amazing for Christmas - I will let you know how I get on!

Hope you enjoyed today's post :)

See you next time for more of my ramblings! 

xx

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Wonderland Afternoon Tea Review at the Langham, London

So, time for another dose of my ramblings! As promised today's post will be a review of the ever so posh Wonderland Afternoon Tea at the Langham Hotel in Central London.

As my sister was hitting a big milestone in her life (the big 30) we thought we would celebrate (take her mind of it) by going to The Langham Hotel for a spot of Afternoon Tea! Now as much as I love afternoon tea the Langham was a serious step up from my usual cuppa in my PJ’s during an episode of eastenders!!

The Langham Hotel is located on Portland Place in Central London and has been there since its opening on 10th June 1865 (wow). We were drawn to the Langham over all the other posh afternoon teas on offer across the capital, as it is described as the birthplace of afternoon tea…oh and did I mention that it’s just a 5 minute walk from Oxford Street – perfect for a spot of retail therapy after gobbling up all those yummy treats! 

The afternoon tea is served in the Palm Court, which is really easy to find as it is on the ground floor, just opposite the main entrance. The Palm Court had a slight 1920’s, Great Gatsby vibe to it with dim lighting and a beautiful gold pattern on the walls – not quite as traditional as I’d expected but classy and elegant nonetheless. It had a very relaxed yet stylish ambience to it.

We chose the Wonderland Afternoon Tea, which is only served at 3 sitting times - 1pm, 3:15pm and 5:30pm, each lasting two hours.

We were greeted by a smiley lady at the reception who seated us right in the corner of the Palm Court. I truly believe we had the best seats in the restaurant perfect to get the whole view of the room and some privacy. Throughout our visit we were treated to live music from the pianist in the corner, which really added to the relaxing atmosphere of the room. 

Now as much as this day was meant to be relaxing me and my sister spent hours before the visit agonizing over what to wear and ruling out half our wardrobes as far too casual for the grand Langham! No one wants to be under dressed in a 5 star hotel do they?! However, all this tension turned out to be completely unnecessary as when we got there most of the people were in smart/casual dress. I even spotted a couple of men in jeans - phew! So, if you’re also worried about the dress code at the Langham, it’s safe to say you can pretty much get away with wearing anything, as long as it’s not joggers and your pajama top! 

As soon as we sat down we were presented with a menu of the selection of teas they had to offer, as I was searching the menu of over 30 tea blends (wow) for my regular breakfast tea, my sister urged me to step out of my comfort zone and try a tea I’d never tasted before, so I chose one of the scented black tea’s - the CHAI tea, which was described as “ceylon black tea with aromatic spices” My sister chose the Jasmine Green Tea, which according to the waiter was one of their most popular blends!

About 20 minutes into our tea the waiter came over and took away our tea pots – we were momentarily perplexed - WHAT? was that it…no more tea?!! However, this was not the case as about 3 minutes later we were reunited with steaming hot tea pots! In fact throughout our sitting the waiter kept an eye out to see whether our teacup was empty, if it was he would dash over and elegantly refill it. I was astonished at how attentive the service was, I must have had around 8 cups of tea as the waiter never let my cup become empty! Impressive!

Now onto the food ….while we were waiting for our tea to arrive we were presented with a sweet treat to get our tastebuds going – a tangy lime posset, it was absolutely delicious! This was followed by a wonderful selection of sandwiches. As I am a vegetarian I don’t often find the sandwich selection particularly exciting. In fact ….

I have been to afternoon teas before where there hasn't even been a vegetarian option , so I've had to just leave out the meat ones, which is usually most of the sandwiches (sigh) However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Palm Court also caters for special dietary requirements. We were served with an impressive selection of 5 different veggie sandwich options:

• Pearl las and broccoli quiche with piquillo peppers
• Spicy humous with crispy salad
• Cream cheese and cucumber on beetroot bread
• Montgomery cheddar and sweet onion biscuit
• Burford brown egg mayonnaise with mustard cress

The sandwiches were lovely and were very very filling and and the best part is you are offered FREE refiles on your favorite sandwiches, which of course we jumped at!

After we finished gorging on the yummy sandwiches, the waiter brought out a warm selection of plain and raisin scones (2 of each) now this is my personal favorite part of any afternoon tea and I wasn't disappointed. The scones were lovely, as was the small dish of clotted cream and strawberry jam already set out on the table for us.

As you can see I had a Devon cream tea (cream first, then jam) – How do you have your cream tea?

Okay so now onto the sweet treats, this is definitely the part my sister and I were most looking forward to trying the beautiful selection of treats consisted off…

• Passion Fruit and Mango Dome
• Valrhona chocolate tart
• Lemon and poppy seed cake
• Layer Eton mess push up pop

My sisters first words when she saw the tray of treats was “Is that it?” however, our eyes were certainly bigger than our stomachs in this case! In fact we actually struggled to eat everything simply because it was all so deliciously sweet and filling. My personal favorite was the lemon and poppy seed cake, as it wasn't too sweet, but still had a lovely dollop of icing on top! The eton mess on the other hand was definitely my least favorite….after a while I sort of gave up attempting to eat it as it was so messy (and embarrassing) to eat. That was the only sweet treat I was disappointed with as it was VERY hard to eat and if you are a bit clumsy and unladylike (like me) it might be a bit of a challenge!!

Disappointingly there are no refills for the cakes and pastries - however we were well and truly stuffed by this time so perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all.

Palm Court certainly out did themselves in terms of excellent service, as when we booked we stated it was my sisters birthday, so they brought out a special birthday cupcake for her and even sang happy birthday to her…how lovely of them!

In terms of pricing the Wonderland Afternoon Tea is one of the cheapest afternoon teas the Langham offers, at £44 per person – bit of difference to the 7p they charged back in 1865! Just like in other top hotels that offer a high quality service there is bound to be a service charge to keep in mind, at The Langham there was 12.5% (£11.00) service charge.

I had the best time celebrating my sisters birthday and I highly recommend this afternoon tea as the service is brilliant, the food is extremely filling and scrumptious. I do think this whole afternoon tea experience is well worth the money, For more information about this Afternoon Tea check out their website - http://palm-court.co.uk/#/afternoon-tea/ 

P.s If you ever go to an afternoon tea at a 5 star hotel it’s always worth checking out how posh the toilets are – you will be impressed :’)

See you next time for more of my ramblings! 

xx

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