“Tea is like poetry”
This week I was invited by Anomalous London to check out the lovely, beautiful and luxurious Chloe Afternoon Tea at the Mandarin Oriental in swanky Knightsbridge. Set in the beautiful and classy Rosebery Room the Chloe Afternoon tea is part of London Fashion week and runs until the beginning of March.
I walked in and as an ex-Nottingham girl I was enamoured by the opulence of the Mandarin. I have friends visiting in May so definitely taking them there for cocktails! Just walking around I felt like I was in a New York movie and I should have been wearing a beautiful flowing dress like Audrey Hepburn. I fell in love with the Mandarin there and then.
So, we were having the Chloe Fizz Afternoon Tea (£54 with cocktail/champagne, or £45 with just tea) and started with cocktails. I had the gin-based Pink Folder to start with served with pomegranate seeds. Anomalous had the Hepburn, a vodka-based cocktail garnished with rose petals.
So we started with some yummy little sandwiches, they were cut in a cute bag-style shape and the fillings included crayfish, salmon, egg, organic chicken and ham. They were cute, bite-sized and a great start to our afternoon tea.
We then had our scones and oh… my god… they were delicious. The scones were light, fresh and accompanied by Devonshire clotted cream, strawberry jam, rose petal jelly or homemade lemon curd.
I’m a jam on top girl – what are you?
Then…. Then…. It was dessert time! And WOW what a dessert plate it was! A selection of hand-made pastries were:
The Drew: cherry and almond Manjari chocolate ganache
Purple frills: Coconut mousse, spiced pineapple and ginger sable
1971: Lime posset and wild strawberry cremeaux eclair
Tropical Petticoat: guava parfait, crunchy passion fruit and sable breton
Pistachio cloud: Layered pistachio and vanilla delice
My favourite, by far, was the Tropical Petticoat but all of them were a delight to the taste-buds.
This was by far the best afternoon tea I have ever had and what made it even more amazing was the Tea-Master Ludovic Coco who gave us an education of all things tea. I took quite a liking to oolong and po’erh tea. Make sure to ask for him if you go! He was mesmerising and explained so many different types of teas to us, he is the one who coined the phrase (or at least told us about it) ‘tea is like poetry.’
Overall, this afternoon tea treat was exactly what I needed on a rainy Monday afternoon. I might not be part of Fashion Week but I sure felt special.
Thank you once again to Anomalous London for taking me as your guest and thank you Mandarin Oriental for all of your hospitality.
A few more pics:
Priya Mulji
