All of a sudden a man appeared dressed in a powder pink suit and straw boater. He explained he was the caviar man and was going serve us some pearls of deliciousness alongside two strips of bread and a miniature cheesy egg. This wasn’t the standard icebreaker for an afternoon tea but then we weren’t at any standard place. We’d ventured through the door of 9 Conduit Street and into the magically whimsical world of Sketch to sample the recently-launched Christmas afternoon tea. Think sandwich combinations you’d never dream of - broccoli layered on top of bread and truffle-infused cheese toa...
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The Queen’s closest Thai restaurant, unlike Buckingham Palace, is simple and fuss-free. The Mango Tree boasts a prime spot in the city, just a hop, skip, and a jump from Victoria train station and Green Park. Despite its ritzy location, the place is laid-back with no formal attire required. It’s a Friday night and the place is buzzing, with a mixed bag of guests feasting away. An Indian family sits behind us while a group of students gaggle away on a table to our right. One thing that is reflective of the area, is the price. Most mains hover at more than £20, while the starters are around ...
Read more →A pianist was tapping away on a grand piano as I pondered which cake to delicately plough my fork into. If you're looking for the ultimate afternoon tea in London, then Fortnum & Mason has to be it. It was a Sunday and I'd ventured to the Royal purveyor - located around a 20 minute walk from Buckingham Palace - with a friend who was visiting from America. On walking into the place, you're hit by a waft of old-school charm. Smartly dressed servers fettling the cake trolley, zany English art hanging from the wall and soft carpet rolling underfoot. We were booked in for the cla...
Read more →The original Bea’s of Bloomsbury will always hold a special place in my heart; just a few steps from my old office, I spent many an afternoon gossiping with colleagues over a cup of tea and a slice of their red velvet and never did a birthday go by without a dozen cupcakes ferried over to the office. But Bea’s have just opened their 5th site in Marylebone and I have to say, they’ve excelled themselves here. The café is beautiful – with sugar-sweet pastel décor, it’s an amalgamation of an upmarket French boutique bakery and an American diner. What could be better than a Bea’s cake ...
Read more →You’re all familiar with the wallet-gouging, tourist-fleecing disgrace that is afternoon tea in a number of London’s more storied hotels and department stores. Fifty quid a head for indigestion and seventy for heartburn, if you decide to throw in a sad, room temperature flute of own-brand Champagne. It’s not traditional, it’s a shameless clip joint routine, all white-gloves, golf club etiquette (blazers, anyone?) and meanness. Here at the Punch Room, we really feel that it should be allowed to fade into the twilight, along with the last episode of Downton Abbey. There’s no point complaining a...
Read more →We’re now about half way through the Great British Bake Off. I’m obsessed. My mum asked me last week if she reckoned the show had actually encouraged people to don their aprons and get into their kitchens. Well, just this morning, I witnessed a proper East End geezer arguing with the girl behind the counter at the Brick Lane bagel shop about how to make the best puff pastry for croissants. True story! If that’s not a sign that London has gone baking mad, I don’t know what is.
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