Cuban Themed Afternoon Tea at Asia de Cuba

This outing with M.S was long overdue and since she had not been to afternoon tea before I decided to take her. As usual I was looking on afternoontea.co.uk and one deal that caught my eye was the champagne afternoon tea at Asia de Cuba (inside of St Martins Lane Hotel), for £25 per person. Having read reviews and seen the pictures I was very excited about this themed afternoon tea.

The Entrance at St Martins Lane Hotel - So sorry about the bouncer, he was obviously happy to spot a friend across the road.

M.S had a bit of trouble finding the place even though she was actually standing right outside of it but I do not blame her. I have walked past St Martins Lane Hotel before but I always wondered what that building was because there are no clear signs, actually there are no signs full-stop. Although the veiled curtains and yellow bottom certainly catches your eye, it is also a short walk from Leicester Sq. station and Charing Cross station so it is easy to find, once you know what you are suppose to look for anyway. Into the lobby there was a mix of eclectic furnishing such as the chessboard seats and the gnome table, however St Martins Lane were able to incorporate all these different objects without making it seem too tacky, somehow. I have to mention the toilets as well, they were so weird, if you look below it looks like a storage unit. You had to push the 'doors' to reveal the toilet and once inside it really does feel like you're in a box.

We were seated and shown the menu to choose our tea, the menu itself was in a Cuban box which also contained our utensils and a tea strainer. As we had already booked this afternoon tea we did not really need the menu so the waitress took it away rather quickly before I could take any pictures. I ended up having to borrow a box from another table. This afternoon tea actually has 3 courses and for each course there is a selection of 3 teas to choose from. The ones I chose were the Dragon Well, Lychee Red and Phoenix Honey Orchid to finish off. I would definitely recommend the Dragon Well and Phoenix Honey Orchid. The staff were very informative and they guide you through the teas and the dishes on the course.

The first course tea arrived in a big clear teapot, I absolutely love these teapots! The second course tea arrived in a smaller version and the last tea was served in a tiny clear cup. The last course teas are all cold and is suppose to aid digestion for the whole experience.

The savoury course was amazing, although the only thing was they were all cold by the time we got to it (M.S decided to go toilet when the food arrived and the obvious thing to do would be to wait for the other person before starting, unfortunately). I think my favourite would have to be the scones and my least favourite the vegetable summer rolls (they had no taste whatsoever even with the sauces provided). The mango, kiwi and strawberry layered bottles were also delightful, they were like a fruit puree. 

The desserts were sort of 50/50 with me. The banana spring rolls were weird but nice and the doughnuts with butterscotch sauce were amazing however the chilli chocolate was quite spicy and the key lime pie was much too sour for my liking. The cold tea to finish off was a great end, it was  very refreshing and was not too strong. All in all I was very happy with the afternoon tea and would definitely recommend Asia de Cuba to friends.

[Review] Etude House Aloe Moistfull Soothing Skin Toner

You may have seen me mention this product in previous posts and since this is my 3rd bottle I will do a review about it. When I was in Seoul 2013 I decided to try a new toner and the one I picked up was 'Etude House Aloe Moistfull Soothing Skin Toner'. The reasons I picked this series was because it claimed to both moisturize and soothe the skin which sounds perfect for combination skin-types. I wanted to believe the soothing qualities as I usually use an aloe vera plant for burns so this product should not irritate my skin. 

The bottle itself is made out of plastic and the packaging is pretty simple. It has the ingredients listed both in Korean and in English. The toner consistency is slightly gooey, like aloe vera itself and it comes out clear. It also smells lovely, not too overpowering. I use this product twice a day and apply with a cotton wool, on application it sinks into my skin quickly and does not feel sticky at all. My skin feels moisturised and prepped for my cream.

I have been using this product for just over a year now and have not looked back. It does everything I want from a toner, it moisturizes, cleans off excess make-up and soothes the skin. I have not had a break-out in a long while and will not be switching my toner any time soon. The only thing is Etude House products are not available in the UK so you can only order it online (Ebay, Yesstyle, Sasa), which also means it can be quite pricey compared to if you bought it in Korea. I usually get mine from Yesstyle UK as they regularly have discount codes and deals on.

Rating out of 5:     

Afternoon Tea at BB Bakery Covent Garden

I have had my eye on this place for awhile now and for 3 reasons, the fact that their website is plastered with pink, the number of good reviews left by past visitors and last but not least the amount of sweets that you actually get with the price! It was £26 per person which is very decent for both quantity and quality. A friend of mine has not been afternoon tea before so I thought this would be a perfect place to take her, as she too is very girlie. Altogether there were 4 of us ready to go. When booking there is an option to write down special requirements but silly me forgot to ask for a vegetarian option for R.K and for a low-fat alternative to clotted cream, however upon emailing BB Bakery and on 2 different occasions I got prompt replies from the Head Pastry Chefs themselves , Mathieu and Thibault, who were more than happy to accommodate us. BB Bakery is just 5 minutes walk away from Charing Cross station and we all made it for our 2pm booking.

Exterior

"Oh! So thats what BB stands for".

  

We were seated and given a menu to choose our teas. I love my tea strong and was very happy that it was loose leaves and not in a bag. 3 of us got the '4 Red Fruit' (4RF) tea and W.H got the 'Red Tea'. The 4RF tea had a slight sweetness to it and tasted lovely, even R.K who does not normally drink tea and is the type to add milk to herbal/fruit teas, liked it! W.H was also happy with hers. After we ordered we were given a glass of fresh orange juice which was a nice touch. There was an incident later which included an annoying fly who somehow ended up swimming and dieing in my orange juice, which I was savouring slowly. Have you ever felt the absolute sadness and disbelief of when a fly decides to die in your food and/or drink? Thankfully W.H told the waitress what happened and she went and got me a new glass.

Dainty cutlery although the pink plate was a bit dirty.

W.H lone teapot with  Red Tea

Our massive teapot with 4 Red Fruit Tea.

We were so busy taking photos of the interior of the cafe and the cutlery that is was not long before the food came out. First me and W.C were given the pink cake stand and R.K and W.H had the grey cake stand with her vegetarian sandwiches and savouries. We were then told that our scones will come later. 

The savouries tier at the bottom included a quiche, ham & cheese sandwich, cucumber sandwich and a smoked salmon pancake bite. The quiche was actually really nice, I normally do not like quiche but this one was very light. The only thing I did not like from the savouries was the smoked salmon bite as it was very fishy. The middle tier included a raspberry tart, brownie, lemon meringue tart and pistachio macaron whilst the top one had a strawberry macaron and a vanilla cupcake. The brownie was massive and one of them was evidently much bigger than the other, W.C ended up leaving me the massive one.. Although I absolutely devoured it. The dessert that I did not like at all was the lemon meringue tart but to be fair I was never a fan of lemons. Sour and desserts to me, just does not mix. By now we were stuffed but we knew we still had the scones. The scones took awhile to arrive but it was fine as we needed a break anyway. When they did arrive they were very nice, hard on the outside and soft inside.

The only issue I had with BB Bakery was the heat, there was no air con so intead they had to leave the door open (which assumedly welcomed that fly in my OJ) but that did not make much difference. I would advise going on a more colder day. However all in all it was a very good experience, and I will definitely be recommending BB Bakery to others. The atmosphere was good, the interior was filled with lots of girly and cute ornaments and images, the staff were friendly and helpful. Service was prompt and the food and tea was lovely.