I can't resist a chance to have afternoon tea!  When in Rome, or England, in this case!
Then the added Christmas atmosphere and you've got one beautiful celebration of a Christmas tea!!

Once again, I made my way to London for another London Bloggers Tea.  This time at the Lancaster London overlooking Hyde Park with the amazing Chef Ben Purton. 

I tell you, Chef Ben did not hold back!  He is one hospitable chef!

The decor was simple yet so elegant.

A beautiful display of Novus tea and bubbly.

Some yummy goodness right there!

On the menu:

 Smoked salmon, cucumber, and egg & cress sandwiches along with wild mushroom, chicken tarragon tartletts and beef filled Yorkshire pudding.

Desserts:

White chocolate raspberry lollipops, passionfruit & raspberry macaroon, caramel and hazelnut tranche, apple & honey cupcake and lemon fruit tart.

I was pretty full by this point.  But the white chocolate raspberry lollipops were calling my name!  Don't they look pretty?!  There was a little surprise on that first bite.  Pop rocks!!  That bright red ring around the center were pop rocks!  Absolutely loved that touch!

Such a lovely spot for tea, don't you think?

If you find yourself near Hyde Park, check out the Lancaster London.  Fabulous afternoon tea, and the rooms look amazing too!

Too early for Christmas??

Not for a Christmas Afternoon Tea!!

Our venue, the beautiful Conrad London St. James hotel, formerly Intercontinental Westminster, thought our group of London Bloggers, gathering for our #LDNBloggersTea, was a perfect group to try out their Christmas Snow Scene Afternoon Tea.

Take a look at this menu!

The ingredients used for our tea were nicely displayed for us.



Beautiful flower arrangements set throughout the room.



Even a harpist.  He was amazing and even played a couple Christmas tunes for us!



The tea selection.  I chose the Vanilla Black Tea.





Brussel sprout salad, venison bites & turkey ballotine with cranberry sauce.



Smoked Salmon, beetroot & spinach and gammon with mustard sandwiches.



Orange Cranberry & Christmas Spice Scones.  I didn't get a good photo of the strawberry jam and blackberry curd.  The blackberry curd was tasty!



Executive Chef Zoe Wager came around to talk with us about the tea, the ingredients she used and how she thought through the lovely dessert display she created.



Is this dessert scene not the cutest thing?  It's like peering into a Christmas window display!



Winter berry Christmas tree on a brownie base.  Once cut into it was a lovely red mousse, meringue snowmen, Christmas postcard marshmallows, white forest yule logs, chocolate orange Battenberg present and snowflake macaroons.  So much to choose from!



To top it off, blueberry macaroons to take home.  Every detail was thought out and executed beautifully!  Thank you, Conrad London St. James!



Great company, food, location, an afternoon well spent!

If you find yourself in London during Christmas, be sure to make your way to the Conrad London St. James for the Christmas Snow Scene Afternoon Tea.  The tea begins on November 24 through Christmas eve.

£37 per person £45 with free flowing champagne.

 I paid a discounted rate for attending the #LDNBloggersTea and the purpose of reviewing the Christmas Snow Scene Afternoon Tea.

City of Westminster on Dwellable

This past Saturday I made my way into London to join up with 20-something bloggers to enjoy an afternoon tea at the Milestone Hotel.

It was nice to see some familiar faces, like Sunny in London.

I've been following Dannielle at ChicaDeeDee for awhile now, this was the first time we got to meet.

I got to chat with a few others, but I didn't take many pictures.

I did manage to get a few of the food.

Now for the hard part.  Oh how I hate to give a bad review, but I have to be honest, it was not my favorite.

The London Tube had some station closures delaying people's arrival, but we were served almost an hour after our start time.

The bland sandwiches were no longer chilled, the scones were hard and crumbly and the desserts were just ok.

Typically their afternoon tea has an array of teas to choose from.  I guess when you book a private party room, you don't get the choices.  We only had the option of English Breakfast or Earl Grey.  Fine by me, but others mentioned they would have liked to try some of the other flavors. 

The company was great, but the tea was a bit disappointing.  Here's to next time! Have a great weekend!!