The final quarter of the year always brings around the birthdays of some of my closest friends, which happen to be days and weeks between each other. Each of my friends enjoy doing different things, some prefer gifts in the sense of something sentimental, others prefer something they can use or drink. However, when Emma from Adventures of a London Kiwi‘s birthday came around, I knew exactly the right gift for her. An experience that we could do together and both enjoyed, so afternoon tea was the best option.
If you have never visited Marriott County Hall, you can find it on the Southbank with rooms facing the London Eye. I only stayed there earlier this year and I was surprised that you could wake up to the sunrise and the gorgeous London Eye just in front. As you can imagine, where the hotel is located, you can get 360 degree views around Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and all the way through to the London Eye and the festively decorated Southbank.
We kicked things off with some sparkling champagne whilst we admired the views and the gorgeous surroundings of The Library room, where all the afternoon teas are hosted. You literally feel like you’re in an old school style library, which was just perfect for two content creators and writers.
As much as Emma and I love to drink champagne – especially when it is free flowing, nothing says afternoon tea with a teapot filled with piping hot, aromatic tea.
I had to go for the spiced chai, as my inner Indian can never get away from the goodness of chai tea. Emma went for the classic ‘afternoon tea’ tea.
Whilst we waited for our afternoon tea to be prepared, we were brought over an amuse bouche of coconut panna cotta which was deliciously creamy, with pieces of rich pineapple on top.
We could smell the warm of freshly baked goodies and which had to come in the form of soft, delicate cakes and scones. Before we knew it, the gorgeous stand out afternoon tea treats was brought out for us to indulge into.
Starting with the savouries, we were served on various kinds of breads. The team were very accommodating in swapping the pork and fish based sandwiches for vegetarian sandwiches. Emma was served the classic ham, egg mayonnaise, creamy coronation chicken and creamy salmon on brioche roll along with a warm buttery cased quiche. However, the traditional serving of ham and the salmon brioche was supplemented with a beetroot and cucumber with cream cheese sandwich.
Moving up a tier, we opened up the small napkin parcel to soft and perfectly round savoury and sweet scones. Both served with their own individual toppings. The savoury scone was made with Lyburn cheese & basil and was served with a sun-dried tomato spread whilst the golden raisin scone topped with sugar topping was served with the classic clotted cream and strawberry conserve. However, this was no ordinary conserve, it was one made specifically for Marriott County Hall. How special!
I often find myself getting rather full by the time I get to the final tier, full of sweet treats. It’s so hard to resist when there are so many well thought out treats such as salted caramel chocolate cups, cherry hazelnut financiers glazed cherries, strawberry meringue nests topped with cream & edible flowers and raspberry tart topped with rich white chocolate. Each of the sweets were delectable and all were nice small bite size pieces that didn’t make you feel like you were about to pop.
The service at Marriott County Hall was second to none as per usual, the ambience and views were just perfect and the company couldn’t have been any better. Definitely worth a try to treat someone special on their birthday.
Until next time…
