For Christmas I wanted to do something different for me and my friend, Jayne. I wanted us to do afternoon tea somewhere other than the Ritz so I researched on the internet & came across The Berkeley Hotel, a five star Hotel in Knightsbridge. I read up about the afternoon tea called, Pret-A-Portea and realised they do champagne (because neither of us like tea!!|) sandwiches and cakes & the cakes are all shaped in fashion items such as, dresses, bags and shoes! Perfect for two 19 year old girlie girls!! We took the train into Knightsbridge and turned up at The Berkeley Hotel which was very impressive from the outside!
We were then taken inside, the reception was gorgeous, really bright with lovely purple flowers! The room where the afternoon tea is taken place is called, The Caramel Room. It was really spacious, with very comfortable chairs. Perfect for a relaxed afternoon of afternoon champagne, sandwiches and cakes!
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| The Reception |
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| The Caramel Room |
We were then taken to our table, a table for two with gorgeous place settings on the table, striped side plates, cutlery, rolled up napkins and my name on a place card!
The waitress then came over with the menu which was a really nice green colour, with a lovely pattern on the front. as you opened up the menu all the different sandwiches and cakes were described inside.
The menu described all the different types of afternoon tea you could choose from we choose the: Couture Champagne Pret-A-Portea which includes a glass of, Billecart-Salmon Rosé, Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut. Which was £54.50 a head. We read the menu and the descriptions of mouth watering selection of miniature savoury snacks, taster spoons, canapés, sandwiches and cakes. They all sounded amazing! The waitress bought us over our glass of champagne firstly with our sandwiches.
The sandwiches included:
A beef, pepper and lettuce wrap
A smoked salmon sandwich on brown bread
Coronation chicken sandwich on tomato bread
Cucumber & cream cheese sandwich on tomato bread
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Egg mayonnaise mixture on miniature roll
We had two lots of sandwiches because they were so gorgeous and you can keep ordering as much as you like of each thing for no extra price!! They cut the crusts off which I really liked because I'm not keen on crusts on bread, the layer of the filling in each sandwich was perfect, there wasn't too much filling or too less! The beef, pepper and lettuce wrap was my favourite, the beef was succulent and juicy and blended really well with the crunchy pepper and lettuce. The smoked salmon sandwich was lovely, perfect layer of salmon on thinly buttered brown bread, the coronation chicken was probably my least favourite but the tomato bread was so nice, an unusual touch but it really worked! I don't like tomatoes usually but I thought this bread was really good! The cucumber sandwich on tomato bread was a good twist on a classic sandwich, cucumber sandwiches tend to be slightly boring however this one was very yummy! Lastly the egg mayonnaise roll was average in my opinion, the roll was lovely and crunchy but I find egg mayonnaise slightly strong in flavour and this one was no exception! However the sandwiches were all lovely and we enjoyed trying different flavours and they did fill us up!
The waitress then bought out our three tiered cake stand, this was amazing! The top two levels were filled with gorgeous looking cakes, designed beautifully and the bottom level was filled with four different taster spoons of canapés.
We started off trying the bottom tier because it was the savoury items. The shot glass had vegetable soup in it with peanuts on top, we did try this but neither of us liked the soup, it had a nice flavour but it was cold.. I like my soup really hot! The canapés were all very interesting they included:
Crusted tuna with plum jam
Spiced duck with chilli fig compote
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Vegetarian option of coriander and fennel
The duck was both of our favourite canapé, the texture was really unusual as it was like jelly but the taste was so rich and tasty and the sauce covered it was chilli fig compote which was a perfect mixture of sweet and savoury! The tuna was also really nice, it was mixed with plum sauce which gave it a really good sweet bite. We were not very keen on the vegetarian one, it was quite flavourless as I'm not keen on coriander and it had a weird dry texture.
We then started on the bit we had waiting for... THE CAKES!! We were so excited to try them! The waitress bought us over a board that had pictures of the dresses, bags and shoes that the cakes and biscuits were designed from. They included, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino and Mui Mui.
We started by trying the top tier which had two shot glasses of mouse on it and two biscuits. The mouse on the left was a: Lanvin show-stopping cassis bavarios dress with creme de mure jelly topped with signature folded meringue. This was my favourite out of the two mousses as cassis is one my favourite flavours as it blackcurrant! I found this really refreshing and smooth! The second shot glass on the right was a: Bottega Veneta colour blocking pink and gold pear mouse and clementine cremeuz coat with matching macaroon button. I wasn't as keen on this mouse to be honest, I found the mouse had hardly any flavour and I couldn't taste any pear or clementine in it at all! However the macaroon on top was very tasty!
We then tried the biscuits on the top tier, the dress was a: Burberry Prorsum stylish black and white double breasted chocolate biscuit with snow white vanilla icing. This biscuit was really yummy, it was really crunchy but soft on the inside. The icing was really creamy and had a lovely strong taste of vanilla! Such a clever design for a biscuit with all the little details that were so realistic!
We started with the orange cake on the second tier which was a: Sonia Rykiel striped chestnut cream and almond sponge cake dress complete with trendy metallic sparkles. This was unusual but nice, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this cake due to the nuts in it but you couldn't tell, which was good! It was really creamy and yummy! Definitely a surprise in a bite!
We then tried the next cake that was shaped like a gorgeous red handbag! Jill Sander pomegranate and grenadine mousse dress topped with colourful chocolate flower pattern. The icing on top was lovely and the chocolate flavour was inspiring, I loved the pattern on top as it was really girlie and pretty! The pomegranate and grenadine mousse was really refreshing however I could not taste any pomegranate!
We then tried the hand bag shaped cake, which was a lovely deep red colour. Valentino orange and ginger clutch cake closed with oversized chocolate bow. This cake was actually really nice which was unexpected because I' am not very keen on ginger as a flavour, however the orange with it made it taste very flavoursome and was probably one of my favourite cakes! The chocolate bow on the front was really tasty also!
We then tried the chocolate one the, Stella McCartney must-have polka dot sponge cake dress. This was a chocolate sponge cake with buttercream in the middle, this one of my favourite out of them all! It was a perfect mixture of chocolate and cream and the sponge wasn't dry at all compared to a lot of chocolate sponge cakes. The icing on top had crunchy bits in it which gave the icing an exciting mix of smooth and crunchy! Overall I really nice little cake, we ordered another one of these each!!
This was a twist on a classic favourite, the chocolate eclair! Dolce & Gabbana signature gold starred chocolate éclair dress filled with hazelnut cream. This was different compared to a normal eclair, because the middle was hazlenut cream which was a different touch and it was quite nice. I found the pastry quite dry though! However the icing was really chocolately and the white stars on top were really yummy!
Overall this was an amazing day!! The whole afternoon tea experience was amazing and the fashion designs were a brilliant twist on normal cakes and the sandwiches were amazing. This was a brilliant day and would recommend it to anyone for a special occasion!!
The Hard Rock Cafe...
After The Berkeley Hotel we did a bit of shopping in Oxford Street then we were going to eat at a very famous restaurant called, Le Relais de Venise in Oxford Street however the que was down the street and the wait was over an hour! So we decided to jump in a cab and went to The Hard Rock Cafe on Park Lane. This is always a good favourite of mine! | like the atmosphere and interior in there with all rockstars and famous singers pictures on the walls.
We sat down and looked through the menu that had a lot of choices, I could have eaten everything on the menu! However we weren't that hungry from our massive lunch so I decided to go for the lasagne because its not too filling.
The portion size was massive! I felt the presentation wasn't that great, but I suppose it is hard to make lasagne look good on a plate, seeing as it a fairly messy meal! The pasta is in four different big tubes with the meat filled inside them which is a lovely twist on a normal lasagne which is in strips, there was also breadcrumbs on top of each tube which gave the lasagne a good crunch! The tomato sauce was really good, not too sharp but with a sweetness to it! The cheese sauce on top was really creamy and I felt like there was a right amount of cheese it in because creamy cheese sauces can usually be quite over powering, however there could have been more sauce on it than there was! Overall I lovely dinner, but I think it could be cheaper than £15.
We then decided to have desert, we both went for the creme brûlée because the Hard Rock's creme brûlée is supposed to be the best around, my friends have recommended it so I thought I best give it a try!
The creme brûlée came in a shot glass which is a cute touch, however it means you don't get a lot of desert in it! This is a very interesting creme brûlée compared to any other I've ever tried due to the fact it is hot, which is a nice touch and I preferred it hot to cold! It is a pastry cream mouse topped with a sugar brûlée crust. The topping was very crunchy and you could hear the crack as you put the spoon into it. The cream was really yummy and you could really taste the vanilla! Overall a good desert for £4.99 and a good twist on the classic creme brûlée!
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