Moroccan Themed Afternoon Tea at Momo Restaurant

Hidden away from the bustling crowds of Regent St is a small food court on Heddon St. It contains various restaurants and bars including Ice Bar and Momo Restaurant. We were given the choice of either sitting inside or outside but since inside was a bit too warm for us, me and J.Y decided on the latter. Now sitting outside in November, in London sounds crazy but they had the overhead heaters which made it bearable, however what we did not account for was the fact that they offered shisha. Personally for me shisha and tea do not go together so we did feel regret when the table next to us started blowing big puffs of smoke our way, as we were trying to be dainty and ladylike with our afternoon tea.

For the menu please see here. We decided on the traditional afternoon tea which was £22 per person however there is a 13% service charge which they say is optional. In regards to tea I chose 'The A L'opera' green tea and J.Y chose the 'Blanc & Rose' white tea which we were both happy with. The food did take awhile to come out and I can not say for sure that it was worth waiting for. Although my expectations may have been too high to begin with.

To start off with is the savoury plate at the bottom. Now the overall appearance was somewhat off-putting. Imagine my surprise when I was taking the picture and realizing that the brown roll resembled something from the toilet but immaturity aside the mechouia (Tunisian salsa) on toast was quite nice however the zaalouk (eggplant) on toast I was not too keen on. The filo pastries had cheese inside which J.Y was a big fan of.

These mini sandwiches were so cute, it reminded me of something from Mario. Inside it was smoked salmon and cheese. The wrap had a Moroccan chicken filling which was delicious.

The start of the sweets begin here! First up was the scones with clotted cream and a strawberry and fig jam. The jam was absolutely gorgeous! It was flavoursome without being too sweet. The scones itself had a slight cinnamon flavour and raisins inside. If I could have stomached 2 I would have but being greedy has its consequences. 

Next up was the maghrebine pastries. I think these were the biggest disappointment, most of them had the same kind of texture (a sort of sponge soaked in syrup), just with different flavours.The nicest one had to be the one shaped like a mini loaf which had a subtle coffee-flavour to it.

The macarons were lovely! It was pistachio-flavoured with a lemon filling. The brownie had bits of walnut inside and on top was a dark-chocolate icing. The last one was a victoria sponge with a slab of white chocolate stuck on top with a tiny bit of lemon filling to stick it together. 

The service was good and the waiters were very friendly, maybe too friendly. One of them asked us where we are from when he saw me snapping away with my camera and I said 'We're Chinese', he then proceeded to throw out all the mandarin he knew which made it very awkward. I am not going to start a cultural lesson here but what I will say is that China has over 200 languages and yes the main one is Mandarin but please do not assume that every Chinese person can speak or understand it, especially British born ones! 

Overall I would not recommend this afternoon tea to friends. I think when you dislike nearly a whole plate or level then it is not worth it. Although I would go back to the restaurant and try the food because much of the savouries were nice and we had a good whiff coming from the table next to us who had ordered from the restaurant.

[Review] Garnier Body Tonic Smoothing Sugar Scrub

Usually I purchase 'Soap & Glory's Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub' which is a good product but at RRP £8 it is quite pricey for a body scrub, so I wanted to see if I can find a cheaper alternative which is when I came across 'Garnier's Body Tonic Smoothing Scrub'. It had a lot of good reviews and for only £3.56 (on special offer in Superdrugs now, RRP £7.15), it was worth a try.

Directions and ingredients -
(Click on picture for bigger view).

Containing fruit extracts it has a strong smell and I am guessing the small red dots are suppose to be the fruit extracts. The scrub is very grainy so you do not need to rub it in too much. The back of the tube claims that after one use your skin feels noticeably softer and smoother and I was thoroughly impressed after my first use. It did leave my skin feeling soft and smelling fresh. However we shall see if after 3 weeks if my skin feels toned, (though I only exfoliate once a week).

After my initial first use I was very happy however the next day my skin felt very heavy and sticky, like there was a lot of residue left though I had washed everything off already. Maybe I had used too much product but I will not be purchasing Garnier's Body Tonic Smoothing Scrub again and will stick to my Soap & Glory Breakfast Scrub.

Rating out of 5:    

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.