But, I have never ever ever been to The Ritz for an afternoon tea so this year, this was my pick!

Before the actual afternoon tea (which was booked for 5.30pm), we went to Sexyfish for some cocktails, did a little shopping and then went to the Rivoli bar inside the Ritz hotel just to see what the vibe was like!

But that was all just pre-game to the main event: the festive afternoon tea!

Before some pics, I want to say that the tea was very special! The festive ambience was perfect thanks to the extravagant decorations, beautiful pianist and festive choir. The service was also second to none! The food was also delicious ( the Yule log was my fave)!

Here are some pics:

Belmond are known for their hyper luxurious experiences so I was very much looking forward to what promised to be an exceptional few hours!

Our amazing journey began at the station as we made our way to the Belmond entrance. There was a trio of singers outside serenading us with 20’s style songs as we checked in which was incredibly special. Seeing all the staff in special, old-school uniforms also added to the vibe that we were going back in time to a golden age of train travel.

Once on the train, I was blown away with the decor and attention to detail. We had booked in the Cygnet carriage, which is the one carriage on the train that was specially designed by renowned filmmaker Wes Anderson. The carriage was INSANE – the green and pink theme was on point!

The table itself also was beautiful and full of lovely details. Here are some close-up pics:

The train started pulling out of Victoria and we were off into the Kent countryside for a few hours of bliss! I loved that we got a map of exactly where we were going on our seats!

Once we were firmly on our way and we had taken in everything on the interior of the carriage, it was time to focus on the exterior! The countryside that we were gently steaming through was so pretty and quintessentially English. The green countryside complemented the green interior of the carriage perfectly so it was all incredibly aesthetic.

After some sightseeing, the stewards started to bring out the afternoon tea, which was just course after course of beautiful savoury pastries, sandwiches, scones, and sweet cakes and pastries.

AND the obligatory champagne and cocktails, obviously!

At some point during the trip, the singers who serenaded us on the platform came back and performed some songs for our carriage, which was really special.

After too short a time, the food and drinks had all been eaten and drunk, the songs had been sung and the countryside gave way back to London. We arrived back in Victoria very full, happy and with a newfound appreciation for the magic of train travel.

Putting two of my favourite things together sounded like a no brainer, so I enlisted my friend Angelica and off we went to sample the Berkeley’s delights!

The first thing that I want to call out about this afternoon tea is that the table felt very welcoming – they had made us name cards which felt very luxe – I’d never seen that before at an afternoon tea!

We opened the beautiful menu to read what was on offer for the tea. Aside from the usual massive selection of teas and drinks, there were a number of sections of food that we were getting through.

The waiter came by and whilst we were looking at the menu, he showed us an accompanying brochure that was styled in the vein of a fashion magazine that described all of the fashion looks that inspired the afternoon tea. It was amazing to see the looks that we knew the food would resemble, and we got to keep the brochure so that we could compare them when the sweet stuff came.

After our drinks were served, it was time for the savoury treats.

First, two small savoury bites: A beautiful smoked and charred duck breast on brioche bread with a gooseberry chutney. Then, a tomato and asparagus tartare on sourdough. They were both absolutely delicious. Second, a selection of sandwiches – nothing too out of the ordinary, just beautiful classics like smoked salmon, chicken, egg + mayo etc. Each sandwich was served with a different type of bread and I personally loved the onion bread that the salmon was paired with.

The sandwiches were also refillable, which is my favourite afternoon tea feature. I always always go for a couple more knowing full well I still have a lot of eating to go (but I’m never sorry!)

After the savoury stuff, we got to sample the sweet things! This is where the true magic of the fashion theme came to life as we got to compare the delicious confections in front of us with the real-life fashions on the pages.

The sweet treats were absolutely beautiful, and I only wish I had taken more photos. In terms of the taste, there were definitely some that I preferred more than others – I particularly enjoyed the chocolate cylinder layered with Victoria sponge and strawberry jam, with intricately piped lime button cream flowers, that paid homage to Michael Kors’ SS22 handbag. I also LOVED the Lanvin-inspired floral platform chocolate biscuit.

Finally, if that wasn’t enough, we ended off with the most beautiful scones (both fruit and plain) with a selection of jams and clotted cream.

Suffice it to say, I ended this tea absolutely stuffed and we actually had to take a few things home in a doggy bag.

All in all, I definitely recommend this afternoon tea for its great service, and the yummy and generous tea. The fashion theme definitely added a unique twist to it which was a lot of fun, although I will say that some of the fashion interpretations were a bit looser than I thought, and a couple of them could have had a bit more finesse. But those are small quibbles.

Thanks to The Berkeley for a really yummy afternoon!

A cool thing about The Beaumont is that its best suite is actually a living sculpture designed by the incredible Antony Gormley called Room! Here it is from the outside of the hotel:

I love what a statement it makes for the hotel, so we were very excited to stay in it for a night!

Interestingly, the sculpture is *just* the bedroom part of the suite. The rest of the suite is located inside the traditional part of the hotel. Here are some pics of the room itself to start with:

The room itself is very low-lit and sexy, with the only light sources coming from a small window and artfully placed LED strips. The ceiling is the piece de resistance, and is very sculptural (duh!) The bed was HUUUUGE and very comfortable.

The rest of the suite was also large and comfy! There was a hallway, a nicely sized living room, and a large bathroom! Here are some pics:

Last but definitely not least, a cool perk about the Beaumont is that they have a car on hand that will chaffeur you to places within a certain radius of the hotel! We made use of the car a few times to get us to shopping and restaurants!

All in all, staying in the Room suite was definitely a fantastic experience. I really recommend the Beaumont hotel if you’re looking for a central London hotel close to all the shops and the action!

Hakkasan is a Cantonese restaurant famed for its dim sum, beautiful cocktails and chic interior that is SO low-lit inside you may want to bring a torch (just kidding, please don’t bring a torch )

We ordered cocktails to start – I had an absolute delicious lychee martini – and ended up going for the dim sum selection to start.

This dim sum was amazing, and included a beautiful lobster dumpling, scallop and prawn shui mai, wagyu beef with black garlic, and a royal king crab dumpling. So good and perfect as a sharing plate for two.

If you’re extra hungry, there are a myriad of extra small bites you could get to accompany this, including the delectable-sounding lobster lychee, but we didn’t want to spoil our mains so we were relatively restrained!

Speaking of main course, we ordered a selection of things to share, including a truly exceptional dish of grilled chilean sea bass in honey. When I say this was in the top 5 things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life, I’m not joking. It was simply beautiful and we haven’t stopped talking about it since!

We also had the wagyu beef, and some classic sides like egg fried rice and stir-fried baby broccoli – yum!

When it got to dessert, we received a lovely birthday dessert plate for Lu and we ordered one other dish called the Jivara bomb which was a beautiful concoction of hazelnut praline and chocolate.

All in all, if you’re looking for beautiful Cantonese food in London, with exceptional service and you’re happy with it being on the pricier side, look no further than Hakkasan for a fantastic time.

First off, a disclaimer. We visited Fortnum & Mason during the height of Christmas shopping fever, so the entire store was basically completely overrun by Christmas shoppers. It was exceptionally busy, including in the tea salon.

Once we had battled through the throngs and been seated however, our seating area was an oasis of calm. We looked through the menus – I was surprised to find out that the tea salon offers multiple different afternoon tea packages, which is great – and I went for the classic afternoon tea with champagne.

While the service was quite slow (likely due to the aforementioned Christmas rush), it didn’t really matter because we were there to celebrate Katie and enjoy the experience – we weren’t in any particular rush.

When we ordered, our waiter told us that we could have as many sandwiches and scones as we wanted. I really liked that she mentioned that upfront, because when its not clear, it always gets a bit awkward if you want to ask for a sandwich refill.

The food overall was very delicious – all the sandwiches were incredible, and the scones were perfect, and came with a wide range of accompaniments.

I would say for the little cakes that I had expected a bit more precision in their appearance, but that they tasted incredible. My particular favourite was a honey cake with some sot of delicious piped cream on top.

Overall, I would highly recommend a visit to the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, and I certainly would like to go back when its a little less busy to have a second experience!

I had heard great things about the afternoon tea there, and so, as a mid-year pick-me-up, we decided to pop in to sample the experience.

Overall, the setting for afternoon tea, Palm Court, hits all the right notes. It is sumptuous, elegant, and refined, with plenty of spacious seating, little stools for your handbags and my favourite, a pianist serenading you in the background.

The afternoon tea had all of the usual components – teas + champagnes, sandwich selection, scones, little sweet bites, as well as a ‘bonus round’ of a frozen ice-cream sandwich. Very yummy all-round but my favourites had to be ice-cream sandwich and the regular sandwiches.

I did appreciate the theme of the sweet bites though – they were all elevated takes of classic British biscuits, very clever!

We ended off the experience with a visit to the bar, which has a really interesting cocktail menu that is sure to have you drinking something you’ve never seen before!

The Grove hotel is a luxury hotel based on the outskirts of London, very close to where we live. We usually love staying there as a mini break because of its fantastic service, lovely grounds and yummy food options, as well as it being very convenient for us to get to.

Knowing that it was likely that it wouldn’t be open for too long as we approached the winter months and likely more lockdowns, I decided to quickly capitalise on it reopening after lockdown and book a nights stay so that we could have some relaxing time ‘away’ (even if away meant a 20 minute drive from our house )

This post is a review of our stay, including a look inside the Presidential Suite, the afternoon tea and the Grove grounds!

A quick note on COVID precautions. Upon booking, they told us that they were requiring all guests to wear masks indoors when they were walking through the hotel, but that you could remove your mask when you were seated. Additionally, the hotel was complying with the 10pm curfew rule, so from 10pm, all hotel guests had to be in their rooms. They had also reconfigured areas like the bar and restaurants to ensure that people could seated at safe distances.

The Presidential Suite

To make our stay feel extra-special, we booked the Presidential Suite, which is located inside the Grove’s 18th Century mansion house. The suite contains one bedroom, as well as a spacious lounge and gorgeous marble bathroom. It also has stunning views out across the beautifully manicured Grove grounds.

Upon arrival into the suite, we were greeted with a bottle of champagne, a beautiful fruit tray and a welcome note from the Grove staff. Little touches like that always make you feel very welcome

Here are some pictures from inside the suite:

The Bedroom

I love the colour palette in the bedroom – warm, cosy and feminine. There were also a couple of extra touches that I loved – one was that the bed has a TV that emerges from the end of it, so you can lie back and watch TV cocooned in this amazing 4 poster bed! The second touch was the amount of mirror options in the room! You can see that there is a gigantic full length mirror (perfect for selfies!), as well as mirrored cabinetry and a mirror over the dressing table. For somebody that likes to take her time getting ready, this setup was a dream!

The Lounge

I think the lounge was my favourite part of the suite. Again, cosy, warm and inviting – it wants you to spend time there and relax.

There is a very deep, comfy sofa to sit on, as well as a few other seating options including a writing desk, a small dining table and a couple of other armchairs. Other features include a working fireplace, a TV, and a little ‘library’ featuring a selection of books.

There is also (not pictured) a mini bar area including all the usual things like kettle, cups and saucers, glasses etc. Usually outside of COVID, the fully complimentary minibar would be stocked with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as well as nibbly food options. However, a note of caution that the hotel advised us that due to COVID, they were not stocking the minibars right now. They did however, give us the option to call room service and order some nibbles and alcohol free of charge direct to the room.

The Bathroom

Now this is a bathroom!

Again, the amount of mirror options is perfect for somebody like me! An entire wall of the bathroom is covered in mirror squares!

But enough about mirrors, the real centrepiece of this bathroom is the ENORMOUS marble bathtub, with its fully transparent front! It’s definitely a novelty to have a bath in a partly transparent tub, let alone one as large as this. Despite its size, the tub takes a surprisingly short time to fill. Another small touch is the candles and ESPA bath goodies that are left by the bath for you to enjoy – which all smelled delicious and made for a very nice, foamy bath!

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea at the Grove is something we had never done before, and to be completely honest with you, was not even in our plans for the stay. However, when we got there, we were so hungry that an afternoon tea had never sounded more appealing. And if you know me, you’ll know I’m a sucker for an afternoon tea, so I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity!

Before we get on to the food itself, I want to take a moment to show you the lounge where we ate. There are actually multiple rooms where you can eat your afternoon tea, all decorated differently, but I’m really glad we got this one, because its just a VIBE.

Let’s just say I’m obsessed with the wallpaper and matching curtains!

The eagle-eyed among you will also spot that the last pic is of a different room, so you can see how the interior design varies from room to room. The last room also had a real-life harpist serenading everyone as they ate, which was an excellent extra touch.

Okayyyy harpists are cool but we all want to see the food right? Here goes:

Although its an afternoon TEA, I actually didn’t take any pictures of the tea, but you’ll have to take my word for it that there was a great tea selection and I enjoyed mine very much!

For me its all about the food, so I have lots of pics of that! Above you’ll see both the savoury and sweet courses. The savoury sandwich selection was TOP TIER! Genuinely. I loved every single sandwich! On offer was:

• Salmon – Smoked salmon on brioche, mascarpone cream
• Chicken – Chicken with truffle and tarragon crème fraiche on white bread
• Ham– Ham with grain mustard butter on wholemeal bread
• Egg – Egg mayonnaise with land cress on wholemeal bread
• Cheese – Classic cucumber and cream cheese with dill on white bread

The bread was cut generously and the fillings didn’t skimp either. I had seconds of the chicken and of the egg

For the sweet course, the pastries on offer were:

• Almond and cherry tart
• Passion fruit meringue chou
• Grue de cacoa chocolate brownie
• Caramel and apple petit gateaux
• Chocolate and cherry slice
• Earl grey and lemon loaf

My two absolute favourites which I captured with their own up-close pics were the passion fruit meringue chou and the caramel and apple petit gateaux. Both were so yummy.

Finally, if you can believe I still had room for it, there were scones with a great selection of different flavoured jams and of course cream. The scones came plain or with raisins and you could of course request your preference if you wanted. I think I was basically in a food coma by this point so I didn’t take any pictures of the scones

Overall, I really really rate this afternoon tea, because literally everything was yummy as well as being beautifully presented. The service was very attentive and prompt as well.

The Grove Grounds

The Grove is set on a mammoth 300 acres and so has a lot for you to explore outside. There are a lot of woodland trails to walk on, a golf course, a formal garden area and a walled garden with a pool (best enjoyed in summer!)

Outside of these specific areas, it is just a joy to walk around the immediate grounds around the rooms and restaurants. We went for a little meander to walk off some of our afternoon tea, and walked through some beautifully looked after garden areas:

The main event, however, was to go and do an activity on the grounds – something that neither of us had ever done before: Laser Clay Pigeon Shooting! This is like clay pigeon shooting, except there are no actual rounds involved, its all done by lasers. Its actually really clever in that its able to immediately detect and tell you if you’ve hit the target with your laser.

Each 45 minute session includes:

• An intro and safety briefing
• A quick training session with a dedicated instructor, so you know how to operate the gun and how the games work. I went in feeling like I would just be the worst and not understand anything, and our instructor was very patient, clear and really helped us have fun!
• A series of fun competitive games – perfect for us as we love being in competition!

Don’t be fooled though – the gun is still fairly weighty, and after 45 minutes you will feel like you’ve done an intensive arm workout! In the third picture, you can see how scores are kept through a board that immediately updates with real time info on if you’ve hit the target, who hit it quicker, and what the overall scores are.

I really enjoyed this activity and would 100% go back and do it again. It was a lot of fun with just the two of us but you could also play with up to 4 others, so great for a group activity as well that is safe and very socially distanced!!

Other stuff

There’s a few other bits that I didn’t take pictures of but that are worth a quick mention.

Restaurants!

There are two main restaurants to recommend at the Grove. The Stables is more low-key, informal dining – perfect for a hearty brekkie, or a gastropub style evening meal. Its also great for a lunch stop-in! The Glasshouse and its accompanying bar is more formal dining. Usually it operates a delicious buffet with lots of varied stations, but due to COVID is currently on table service.

We ate in the Glasshouse this time round and even though it was slightly different to usual, enjoyed the meal (albeit not as much as usual as I do normally like going round all of the varied buffet stations!)

Spa

One better for non-COVID times, but I do want to give an honourable shout out to the spa at The Grove. I’ve visited a few times and always had a very relaxing, pampering experience. They have a range of treatments, as well as a lovely pool to enjoy.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Grove, even though it was slightly different to usual, and look forward to going back again in better times! Any questions, please comment below!

The entire cafe and afternoon tea menu is themed in the Tiffany blue, and so whilst I had of course heard excellent things about the food, I was just excited for the general experience!

The decor did not disappoint. From the wallpaper to the china to accents on the menu, everything was tastefully decorated in the famous Tiffany Blue. You might think this might feel overwhelming, but there was just the right balance of blue and contrasting white touches in the furniture, floristry and other details.

Whilst the menu had a faint New York theme, this didn’t come across in the decor, which lets be honest, is probably a good thing!

Aside from the usual sandwiches and cakes which I will get to in a sec, two lovely little details that felt very unique to the Tiffany cafe were the amuse-bouche that we were given on arrival (an upmarket prawn cocktail confection) and a warm accompaniment to the sandwiches, an absolute delicious warm parmesan madeleine, that came with a sour cream, caviar and chive dip. Really yummy.

The sandwiches were all upmarket takes on usual sandwich fare, and were all very delicious. And they offered us seconds, which is always very appreciated. The sandwiches were:

• NYC Salt beef with pickles and mustard
• Cucumber and peppercorn with mascarpone
• Egg and black truffle
• Smoked salmon, lemon and chive cream cheese

The egg and truffle one was my particular favourite but genuinely could not fault any of them!

The scones and cakes were next, although probably because I was stuffing my face I didn’t take any direct pics of the scones.

The standout cake was the Tiffany blue egg that had inside a lemon curd and mascarpone mousse, standing on a biscuit ‘nest’ base. Again, a really nice original touch for the Tiffany cafe and probably my standout fave cake.

The others were:

• A ‘Times Square’ dark chocolate mousse cake with sea salt caramel
• A miniature New York cheesecake
• A ‘ Central Park’ blackberry tart, which was so fresh and yummy

All in all we had a great time! The food was great, the service was good (although not standout), and there was a little photo moment outside with a Tiffany ring box seat that added a little fun and drama to the experience. Definitely an Instagram moment too!

I really recommend a visit here! 9/10!

Book here

The restaurant is small and understated but obviously been crafted with care. From the very spacious tables that never feel like you’re on top of another party, to the ambience that has been perfectly pitched to feel light + airy whilst still intimate, Core is somewhere to go where you want refined, easy intimacy with friends, family or even colleagues.

There are three different menus to choose from:

• Core Classics – a set menu of absolute Core favourites
• Core seasons – a set menu of seasonal dishes
• A La Carte – pick and choose your three courses

I highly recommend picking Core Classics on your first trip as it is a really beautiful collection of tried + tested favourites that you’ll love! However this time, we went for the A La Carte option – this post will show what we chose!

But before that, one thing to mention that aside from the usual tables, Core has a special ‘Chef’s Table’ that is situated opposite the kitchens. From this vantage point, you can see the chefs preparing the food, and if Clare is in the restaurant, you can observe her at work. We managed to get seated at the Chefs Table this time round, so I also wanted to share a few photos so you can see what the view is like!

Being able to watch the chefs work is incredible – we spent a lot of our meal just talking about what we thought they were all doing and watching the insane level of focus and attention to detail that each dish goes through. Seeing how Clare approves every dish that leaves her kitchen and how she interacts with her staff was also really fascinating!

Okay, onto the food now!

Starters

This dish was called Lobster and Spelt, and also included celery, caviar and selim pepper. It was crafted in the shape of a C, maybe signifying Core or even Clare! I have to say it was a super pretty plate of food and it felt bad to even disturb its careful creation by eating it!

As you may expect though, this dish didn’t just look amazing – every component worked together to give you a real treat, so much so that our plates were entirely clean by the end!

Mains

I was really excited for my main course. I ordered the venison, which is not a meat I would regularly have, so this was a treat in itself. The venison came with heritage beetroot, cherry and pink peppercorn, and was a really healthy portion of food! The venison was cooked to perfection, the beetroot and cherry combined really well to add complimentary sweetness to the meat, and the different textures of beetroot gave the dish a ton of interest. Yummy all round!

Dessert

There is only one dessert I would go for at Core, and it is their perennial classic, the ‘Core-teaser’.

This dish is made up of a beautiful chocolate and hazelnutty mousse and ice cream pairing, sandwiched between two, light-as-air pieces of malt. The combination of all the pieces is heavenly and really rates as one of my favourite desserts ever. There are also some extra surprises – the solid chocolate core in the mousse, the beautifully crafted chocolate feathers that adorn the dessert, and the gorgeous plate that it comes presented on, stuffed with feathers to amplify the light feeling of this dessert. This dish is a must-try if like me, you are a fan of chocolate desserts!

The Extras

One other thing Core does really well is garnish your experience with little extras. Before your starter arrives, you are presented with a few little canapes to get your appetite going (unpictured unfortunately as I was too excited to eat them!), as well as the yummiest bread + butter I’ve ever had.

Before dessert too, a little surprise!

This cherry is of course not a cherry, but a light and delicate take on a cherry bakewell! Just behind it, it also came paired with a cherry-based cocktail of some description, which helped to give the impression of that cherry dessert.

Finally, after the dessert, a couple of extras arrive in the form of edible gels – a ‘light wine’ and ‘red wine’ gel each – as well as a lovely little chocolate lavender tart, that is just a mouthful of gooey heaven.

Scores on the doors

Food: 10/10 – Core’s two Michelin stars are well-deserved and everything is made impeccably, tastes gorgeous and is presented beautifully. I don’t know what else you could really ask for. On top of that, the prices here are not exorbitant. The A LA Carte dinner menu costs £105 per person, and the Set Menus come in at £135 per person (alcohol would cost extra).

Service: 10/10 – The staff at Core will take care of your every need. Your table is discreetly looked over by a number of staff who keep you very well cared for. Each dish is brought out by a waiter who is accompanied by someone who will give you an explanation of the dish, and who are more than happy to answer all your questions (in our case about what they did to the bread to make it taste so damn good!)

Ambience: 8/10 – Core is not somewhere that feels super buzzy for a raucous night out, nor is it somewhere that gives you a real ‘date-night’, sexy feel. However, it is comfortable, intimate and light, and so is perfect for those nights with friends and family where you’d like to recline in comfort and just have a good time.

Would I recommend? I recommend Core constantly to people who just want good food in London. I also personally love that there is an accomplished woman at the helm! Please go and tell me what you think!

Website: https://www.corebyclaresmyth.com/

Address: 92 Kensington Park Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2PN