Thursday, 2 August 2012

Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea at the Sanderson Hotel, London




Fans of afternoon tea can get slightly overwhelmed in London – from the grandeur of The Ritz to the contemporary gateaux at Sketch, there’s just too many to choose from; and that’s not even taking into account the pop up teas, themed teas and one off events, like the couture teas that you can indulge in during London Fashion Week (if you’ve never eaten a Louboutin made of cake you haven’t lived). 

When a friend suggested the Mad Hatter’s Afternoon tea at the Sanderson Hotel I realised this was new territory - a literary theme - and booked it immediately.  If you haven’t been to the Sanderson, the first striking thing about it is that from the outside it looks like an office block – off-putting.  Inside, however, there’s the kind of modern art that people stop and take pictures of  - a Dali-esque sofa of plump red lips, a retro hanging ball bubble chair, custom designed Philippe Starck furniture – and a reception desk complete with loomy ‘visual installations’ that you try not to stare at in case the staff think you’re a tourist.  From the reception desk I was directed to the outdoor courtyard, where tea was to be served around a Japanese water feature on the kind of sleek garden furniture you won’t find at Argos.



Tea here is served all day (11.30 – 5.30pm) and costs a relatively purse friendly £35, including a glass of champagne or a cocktail (compare that to £52 at The Langham).  We of course took up the offer of booze – woman cannot live on Earl Grey alone – and my tea companion had a glass of very respectable fizz, whilst I sank a ‘Vivid Hour’ (Earl Grey infused Absolut, raspberry vodka & framboise liqueur shaken with fresh raspberries and grapefruit).  The cocktail was strong and fruity and delivered just the right level of tipsiness.

The tea took a while to come (it wasn’t that busy so this was a little annoying), but when it arrived on a cake stand of wobbly, vintage plates, it certainly looked worth the wait.  We were briefed on the various tiers - the bottom layer, rainbow coloured finger sandwiches, one each of smoked salmon and cream cheese on green spinach bread, egg mayo on brown bread, ham and mustard on yellow bread (saffron) and cucumber and black pepper on a red beetroot bread.  A little stingy on the portions perhaps, and for some reason one of the groups of sandwiches came on a separate plate, but tasty fillings and no dry slices thankfully.

From there it was on to some fairly unremarkable scones with a TINY portion of clotted cream (I ordered another immediately obvs) and some rather lumpy strawberry jam.  However, the piece de resistance of this tea has to be the sweet stuff.  The ‘Queen of Hearts’ strawberries and cream mousse encased in heart shaped dyed red white chocolate was gorgeous; the Chocolate Opera Rabbit’s Clock, a mix of layers of chocolate and coffee sponge, was perfectly bittersweet; and Heston Blumenthal like touches, such as exploding lollipops and sweets that turn your mouth hot on one side and cold on the other, provided an element of adventure you don’t often get at teatime.

Service wise, we were left to enjoy our tea in peace, which was lovely, but we also had some trouble getting refills of tea and that extra clotted cream – none of which would have bothered us that much had they not charged a hefty and above average service charge.  As usual in these places where the chair I’m sitting on cost more than my outfit I find it hard to make a fuss, and we’d enjoyed the atmosphere so much in the end I didn’t bother.  You can get refills of all the plates here, just like any other tea establishments, but they’re not that forthcoming in terms of offering it so you’ve got to be shameless (especially as you may feel a little judged…).

In conclusion then, the tea itself was great value and the setting perfect if you prefer contemporary teatime style to old school pomp.  Just don’t turn up in fancy dress or they might throw you back down the rabbit hole…

The Sanderson Hotel
50 Berners Street 
London
W1T 3NG
020 7300 1400

http://www.sandersonlondon.com

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