I can’t believe my blog is almost half a year old and I still haven’t blogged about my favourite place in London for Afternoon Tea! It is now a tradition to visit The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge for their Prèt-Â-Portea afternoon tea on my birthday, and this time we sampled their AW13 menu.
The Berkeley hotel has long been a favourite of the fashion crowd, and with its location just around the corner from fashion meccas, Harrods and Harvey Nics, it seems fitting that their menu is equally fashionably fabulous!
The head pastry chef at the luxurious hotel frequently attends fashion shows to gather inspiration for the pastries, and is helped along by fashion editors, so it is no surprise that the menu reflects only the best seasonal trends.
So iconic are the pastry creations, that the hotel now has designers calling up asking if their designs can be made into edible treats!
The menu changes each season (Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter) and reflects the colours, textures and key pieces of each season.
You can choose to have a normal, or champagne afternoon tea – I prefer fruity cocktails so chose a strawberry daiquiri while we perused the menu.
The sandwiches were bought out first – and they include the usual favourites of smoked ham and mustard, egg mayonaise, salmon and coronation chicken. The sandwiches are replenished as often as you like, and I love that you have your own individual plate as opposed to helping yourself to the cake stand in the middle. More for me – yay!
Next are the scrumptious scones, and by this time our tea had been served; we chose Organic Assam and Chocolate Mint Truffle. The scones as you can imagine are melt in the mouth delicious and I would have eaten ten had I not known what treats were soon to follow!
The tea is served in bespoke psychedelic Wedgwood china, which has recently replaced the classic Paul Smith crockery.
And here it is, the piece de la resistancé! The AW13 showcase of pastries is definitely my favourite one yet; with Burberry’s signature trench coat and Gianvito Rossi boot biscuits on the top plate, alongside an Emporio Armarni mousse with Curacao jelly, topped with a chocolate swirl (below).
{ The Biscuits were just begging to be instagrammed! }
{ The lowest level contains some more savoury canapés, such as this goats cheese and apricot bite, which we polished off and our waiter replenished plenty of times! }
The other pastries (or works of art should I say!) included a Jean Paul Gaultier gold quilted banana cremeux, a Saint Laurent Classic Duffle sponge cake bag, and a scrumptious Vivienne Westwood Anglomania oversized checked mint green Macaroon.
We could have happily sat in the plush leather armchairs all afternoon, with tea and cocktails on tap, but with the impending threat of a food coma we pulled ourselves away.
The treats that we didn’t manage were beautifully packaged up in a bespoke handbag designed box for us to enjoy the next day, or as a midnight feast as it happened!
The Berkeley’s Prèt-Â-Portea adds a fashionable and fabulous twist to the British traditional afternoon tea, creating catwalk designs for cake lovers, and if you havn’t been, it is definitely a place to add to your London List.
The classic afternoon tea costs £39.00 per person (not including cocktails) but make sure you book in advance, the waiting list is currently about 6 months long and we only got a table thanks to a cancellation back in September!
It was worth it 🙂