Willy Wonka Themed Afternoon Tea at Chesterfield Mayfair

I adore my bestie G.C but one thing we do not agree on is afternoon tea, it is just not her thing, at all. However curiosity must have got the better of her and she agreed to go with me just this once. The place we went to was Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair, a 4-star luxury hotel. We were actually suppose to go before Christmas, when they had the Christmas-themed menu but alas both me and G.C were ill so we had to wait until now. The menu now is inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate factory, usually priced £34.50 per person but afternoontea.co.uk had a special discount for £26 per person for their January sales (ends 31st January 2015) which is even better. The hotel is a short walk away from Green Park station and fairly easy to find with their bright red canopies.

I was actually a tad late and G.C was already in the lobby waiting for me, when I first walked in the concierge greeted me and then escorted us round to the cloakroom where we were handed a small cute envelope with a ticket number for our coats. We were then escorted to Butlers restaurant and also told in advance where the powder room was, which is very helpful may I say.

The service throughout was absolutely impeccable, chairs pulled out, napkins opened for us, teas refilled in a timely manner and all done with a friendly attitude. Although we did go quite late as I had to work and I have found that afternoon tea in a dim man-made lighting is just a bit depressing. The tea list that Chesterfield has is very extensive which is both bad and good, good in that customers have a lot of choice but bad because there is just too much choice. What I would suggest to them is to cut down the descriptions of the teas and to just summarize the key-notes.

I opted for the 'Organic Dragon Well' green tea and G.C opted for the 'Yellow Gold' oolong tea which are both teas we are familiar with but I just could not summon the energy to go through the whole menu. Shortly after our tea arrived we were given two mini bottles with pink soda and popping candy inside. 

We also did not have to wait long for our traditional afternoon tea to arrive, which was expected as there was not a lot of customers eating at the time. The sandwiches were subpar, the bread was quite dry and I found a small piece of rock-hard cheese in my ham and cheddar cheese sandwich which I had to spit out. The only nice piece from the bottom plate was the small circle chicken sandwiches with almond flakes on the side. The scones on the second plate however were lovely! The clotted cream also was not too strong and even G.C approved. She did not know what scones were and attempted to cut the scone in half from the top before I stopped and showed her how to cut it properly. With the plate empty, we were offered refills but we did not want to stuff ourselves so much.

Before we got to our last plate on the top, from the corner of my eye as we were sitting near the entrance, I saw a big blob of purple in which I was reminded that this is a themed afternoon tea that we were at and sure enough a few seconds later 'Willy Wonka' himself came bounding in to greet each table personally. He chatted with everyone and then offered us a gob-stopper and a chance to pick the 'Golden Ticket' from his hat. Before he left he must have seen my camera on the table and offered to pose for a picture, me and G.C did not really want to pose but I asked if he was happy to be by himself in the picture and the result was below.

Back to the dessert plate, by this time the mood of the food was not great. G.C actually asked me if this was how it usually is at afternoon tea and that was quite embarrassing because I know there is a lot of places with good food but I have yet to find a good themed afternoon tea that does not let the quality slip just because they have a good theme going on. Back to the dessert plate the lemon sponge and cupcake were quite dry but the blueberry macaron and Willy Wonka bar (made at the hotel) were nice. The golden egg however was made entirely out of dark chocolate with some kind of jam inside and as I am not a fan of dark chocolate, the taste was just too overpowering for me.

I had to add in the bonus cam-whoring pictures in the bathroom. The hotel itself was absolutely lovely, it had that olden-day style to it however, and I do feel bad for saying this, but I would not recommend this afternoon tea to friends. There are other Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed afternoon teas out there which I have yet to try but this one was not it and as you may have guessed G.C has not been converted to the world of afternoon tea. 

Update II

It has been over 2 months since I last blogged but I blame the crazy Christmas period and the fact that I have been ill. I went to the GP last Monday and she actually said 'its unfortunate but it seems you have caught another cold just as your other one was getting better'. The utter frustration! I also blame the new disgusting routemaster buses aka 'Boris-buses' with their no-windows concept. Everyone's germs and breathe just all mixed together into a big red container, do not even bother going upstairs if you have a weak immune system. Not to mention the amount of times this bus has broken down on me, not cool Boris, not cool.

Photo credits to BBC

Some of the changes in my life since November include a promotion and starting a new internship but this internship was different, different in that it was something I wanted to do, not something that I thought I should be doing. I am so sick of job-hunting and sometimes it can get you really down. People say that in your twenties you should be out exploring and finding your passion but then society says that after graduation we should be up and running in the cut-throat working world. So I thought why can't I try and pursue something that incorporates both passion and a career, which is easier said than done but I decided on 2 interests to explore.

I researched online trying to find trainee positions or internships but they were either in Australia or did not exist, until I saw one post. There was just one small problem, it was dated 2 years back. Nonetheless I did not let that deter me and thought it was worth a try to contact the company anyway and I am so happy I did because I got a response the next day telling me that there is a spot open for another intern and to come in for an interview. Mind you it has been a long time since I have gone to an interview but the creative director is such a lovely person, I was instantly made to feel relaxed. Fast forward to 2 months later and I have been offered a part-time position and I am just ecstatic. Just as I was losing hope I was given a chance in life and I am so excited to see where this new opportunity will take me.

Following on from this positive note, I have booked my next holiday! I was so disappointed that in 2014 I did not get to go anywhere so hearing my cries W.C messaged me immediately when she had her holidays booked from work. My heart had been set on one location for a couple of months now and with some near-miss bookings I was determined to go this time round. That place was Paris. I always felt ashamed that as a British person I have never set foot in France before, even on a school trip at least! (Way back in secondary school, there was one school trip to Paris which unfortunately got cancelled due to not enough interest). So even with the terrorist scares we have booked it for February coming. 

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.