Nordic Afternoon Tea at Aster, Victoria

Its no secret that I love cinnamon buns. 50% of the few recipes I've posted so far this year have all been bun related. My quest for the year is to learn the perfect knot and unlock cinnamon bun superstardom.

So when I was invited down to Aster in Victoria to try their new Nordic afternoon tea, firstly I was thrilled to try their cinnamon buns. And secondly, I love Nordic food so was intrigued as to how they'd translate it into an afternoon tea menu.

First up, cocktails and bubbles. My choice was the Greenway with gin, St Germain, matcha tea syrup, fresh basil and lemon juice. Super fresh and infinitely better than a matcha latte, i.e. matcha with gin!

For savouries, Atlantic prawn skagen on sourdough, blackcurrant herring with egg on dark rye and pork rolls with aquavit mustard. I love Finnish egg butter karelian pies so was thrilled to see it on the menu in an open sandwich. 

And for sweets, cinnamon knots, blueberry pie rye croute and lingonberry macarons. The softest macarons around with lingonberries sourced straight from Finland.

Executive chef Helena Puolakka then gave us a demonstration on how to make the best cinnamon knot. Gone are the days of a big roll and slicing each bun, its all about knots to keep optimum filling in each and to maintain light airy buns. It really does make the difference!

If you fancy getting your fika on, I thoroughly recommend Aster's and its such a gorgeous venue! Served from 3.00pm-5.00pm everyday for just £20 a head, you can't go wrong.

For more information, and to drool over the menu, take a look here.

Thanks to Sheepa for inviting me, I had a fab time. Although my food was complimentary, all opinions are my own.

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Food in December

Happy New Year all!

Another month and year has flown past and there's been plenty of great food. Perhaps a little too much, but that's what January is for. I don't expect January to be full of wheatgrass and yoga, just maybe fewer mince pies and cream. Sadly, no festive Christmas burgers either. I have no real plans for January as yet in terms of baking, I should probably devise a form of plan, but for now here's the end of 2015...

At the start of December I popped over to Brighton for Afternoon Tea in Blackbird Tea Rooms, home to the best scones you'll find. Starbucks helped to spread the festive cheer and get me in the holiday mood by dropping off some #StarbucksBakes treats. I'm looking forward to recreating their fig and cinnamon loaf cake at home. Sadly I can only recall one burger this month, but at least it was an old favourite from Honest Burgers. The Christmas special burger included smoked bacon, deep fried brie, cranberry sauce and rocket - I'd have quite happily eaten it in lieu of Christmas dinner it was that good! I headed to Truc Vert with the girls for our first Raclette experience. Plenty of melted cheese and charcuterie, check out their Raclette Wednesdays through January for a great night out. I'm not one for takeaways, unless its Eat First. Homemade meals delivered straight to you to, all you need to do is heat up when you're ready. I ordered a turkey dinner with pigs in blankets for a work lunch treat on Christmas Eve, Eve! (Use my code  'DQ5FPASX' for £10 off first orders). And for something extra special, Williamson Tea's Kenyan Earth, a bright, full-bodied English Breakfast tea. The festive elephant caddie would make a great gift, or is great to keep for your festive brews.

And whilst we're rounding up the year, my favourite and most popular posts of the year:

• Food photography tips - a few little tips and tricks in food photography and styling ideas
• Super simple Churros DIY with Tefal Optigrill - grilled doughnuts are heavenly and if you haven't tried them already, they really should be a new year's resolution
• Cookie dough marshmallow brownies - perhaps the most lengthy recipe ever, but it involves cookie dough, marshmallow and brownies, gloriously good
• Bake Off Bake Along series - baking along with all 10 weeks of this year's GBBO, at times I felt like giving up even with only one recipe a week, but it was a great challenge to try new recipes

So that's it!

Here's to another year packed with fabulous food and lots of fun for you all xxx

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Food in November

The month before Christmas means that if you're a self-confessed elf like me then you don't have to restrain yourself any longer. Now is the time to test every shop's mince pies just to find which ones best and to start up a plan for Christmas gifts. And if you're Scrooge? Then you'll be the one grumbling that you always have to carry an umbrella and that you've already heard Mariah Carey playing in the supermarket umpteen times.

I've planned my family's Christmas gifts, made a special advent calendar for Boy and my Christmas cake is soaking away in its Brandy pyjamas.

I lieu of any mince pies at present (I still haven't got to that part) I'll be working on soaking myself in my very own gin pyjamas (exact logistics of this to be confirmed)...

O N E   S I X T Y

The month started with a quick catchup with Emily whilst I accompanied her on a review to One Sixty Smokehouse in the City. She needed my burger opinion, one of the services I offer alongside my blog just in case you needed the same *wink wink*. You can find her full review here, but I love the mac n cheese balls and the burger was pretty good too...look at that patty!

N I N T H   W A R D

After the burger warm up, I hopped over to an old favourite of mine, Ninth Ward, to try out their infamous chocolate burger. Its like they made it just for me. I took along some fellow burger critics, although Persephone ordered chicken and Mike wasn't convinced...Gianni did share my love. Crispy bacon is incredible with a dark, rich chocolate sauce dripping over a burger patty. The patty itself was perfectly pink inside but a little too charred on the outside, but the chocolate sauce more than made up for it. I will return!

S L O W   C O O K E R   S T I C K Y   T O F F E E   P U D D I N G

It didn't take much encouraging to dust off my slow cooker for the season and have a whirl at making more recipes in it. I've not made any desserts or cakes in it before so thoroughly enjoyed creating this sticky toffee pudding for the guys over at Domu. Their slow cooker recipe hub is a great place for recipe inspiration. You'll find my recipe here. You know what I need to try next? Brownies!

L O S T   A N D   F O U N D   A F T E R N O O N   T E A,   B I R M I N G H A M

A little day trip to Birmingham to meet Emily and Amelia. We had brunch in Bar Opus, mulled wine in the Christmas market then onto Afternoon Tea at Lost and Found. I loved their cute teacups, glorious jam filled flapjacks and perfectly fluffy scones.

H O M E S L I C E

20 inch pizza? Yes please! Although the wait was almost an hour for three people at 6pm on a Friday, it was well worth it. Homeslice's menu only consists of wine, beer and pizza. Order by the slice or the full 20" to share. We went for half chorizo, corn and coriander and half pulled BBQ brisket with pickles. Wine also comes in a giant carafe, you pay what you drink when they measure it at the end

M U L L E D   C I D E R

You know you have the right friends when they appear at yours with cider, spices and camembert. Flick came over to bake one afternoon to bake loaded up all the essentials. This mulled cider was made with cranberries, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, a few spoons of brown sugar and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg. There's no real recipe, just leave the cider and spices to heat through and the sugar to dissolve. So good we forgot to bake the gingerbread we'd planned and left some chai brownies in the oven for 50 minutes...!

There's already so much baking planned for December, I can't wait for mince pies.

What's are your go to Christmas recipes?

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Review: The Arch Hotel Street Food Afternoon Tea

Tucked round the corner from Marble Arch, The Arch Hotel offers a modern take on Afternoon Tea, Street Food inspired in their Hunter 486 restaurant. Inspired by the International Street Food Scene, classics like scones and sandwiches are given a little upgrade.

A combination of two of my favourite things, I'd like to be able to say that I had the dedication to polish the lot off myself, as this photo suggests. Of course, I was more than dedicated in eating as much as possible, with the help of Boy who had booked this treat as a Birthday present to me (Boyfriends take note, if you're looking for something a little less girlie that you'll both enjoy, then this is your place!)

Stowed away in a little booth, Tattinger poured and camera out. 

We started with a selection of their savouries all beautifully presented and steaming hot.

Mini cheeseburgers with onion marmalade in brioche buns

Smoken chicken, chilli, avocado and mango tortillas

Homemade scotch quail eggs

Chicken satay with dipping sauce

Mini fish and chips with tartare sauce

The cheese burgers were perfectly cooked with a tangy marmalade, so good I would have managed a full-sized one in addition to everything else. The mini fish fingers were packed with steaming, fresh and flaky fish encased with crispy batter. One of Boy's favourites, the satay chicken was generously sprinkled in sesame and a nice chilli kick.

Next up, a board of miniature sweet treats. 

apple and cinnamon doughnuts

chocolate and pistachio macarons

coffee eclair

lemongrass, mango and coconut rice pudding

strawberry and pistachio tart

raspberry and victoria sponge

As much as I love scones, cinnamon doughnuts are pretty good contenders for a replacement. The Victoria sponge was gloriously light and fluffy. And my favourite, the coffee eclair. I was so glad to see these was much larger than everything else!

It was great to see a modern update on the traditional sandwiches of Afternoon Tea, not usually my favourite part. Both Boy and I loved it and would definitely love to go back again to have everything again in both miniature and full sized versions.

Love Street Food as much as we do? - Bookings and more information, here.

 

  We dined at Hunter 486 of our own accord, and therefore all views expressed are my own.

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Review: Afternoon Tea at St Paul's Cathedral

Its not often that you go for Afternoon Tea and take more photos of the surroundings than the food itself. Unless, you go to St Paul's Cathedral where the views are breathtaking. 

The Cathedral sits up on the highest point of the City of London, on the top of Ludgate Hill. St Paul's as we see it today is the product of a complete rebuild to its 17th Century Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London. 

Until the '60's, St Paul's was the highest building in London's skyline, reaching a whopping 365 feet and is still, to this day, one of the highest domes in the world.

When you step inside, look up. An interior dome, archways and mosaics span across the whole site. Everywhere you turn there's something else to look at. 

Down in the crypt you'll find more than 200 memorials and crypts including the Duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, Alexander Fleming and Florence Nightingale. 

As you stroll around feeling like you're in the middle of Hogwarts, you'll find in the south-west bell tower you really are. This is the staircase featured in the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Being super fans, both Katy and I squealed a little and took our time photographing absolutely every single step to savour every moment of being so close to Harry and co. 

And, after all that exploring you'll need to take a seat beneath the cathedral, collect your thoughts and enjoy finger sandwiches and scones.

In the restaurant, head chef Chris Terry uses local suppliers and seasonal produce in his menu; breakfast, mains, sharing platters and afternoon tea. 

A selection of finger sandwiches including smoked salmon, egg & cress, cucumber & cream cheese and ham & mustard. Freshly baked scones with Cornish clotted cream and chef's homemade rhubarb jam. 

And for sweets, lemon meringue pie, chocolate delice, rhubarb & ginger cheesecake and my favourite, cherry bakewell battenberg. 

Plenty of tea and English sparkling wine with russet apple.

I think chef knew we were about to embark on some more exploring and needed some fuel for the road!

30-ish feet above ground, now feeling like a giant, we set off to explore the cathedral from above. See the ground here...

...and the window in the ceiling?

Just a 'few' steps and now we were on top of the cathedral, almost...

Climbing 300-ish steps up, the top of St Paul's Dome offers spectacular views of London's skyline. Definitely worth it. 

And, if you want to experience even more of what St Paul's has to offer, don't miss the 5pm choral Evensong. Pretty impressive how a seemingly small choir can fill the entire cathedral.

Afternoon Tea is served in the cathedral restaurant Monday to Saturday, 3.00pm - 4.15pm. For £21.25 you'll get the full tea with sparkling wine, just £15.95 without or £9.95 for cream tea.

Buy tickets and book online here.

Huge thanks to the lovely Ed from the press team who spent the day before moving house giving us lady bloggers an expert guided tour. 

 

Review: Disney's Into the Woods Afternoon Tea, Sketch

Mayfair's Sketch has teamed up with Disney to offer a magical woodland inspired afternoon tea to celebrate the release of Into the Woods on DVD and Blu-ray. For a limited time their classic afternoon tea menu will be recreated to include a selection of the Baker and his Wife's pastries. As you can see, Sketch's Pastry Chefs have really gone to town on retelling the tale with their fantasy treats.

Hidden behind an emerald green curtain, Sketch's Glade room is the perfect backdrop for this fairytale woodland treat. As soon as you step through the curtain you really do feel as if you've been transported into an enchanted forest. The eclectic mix of furniture helps to add to the outdoor feel including peacock chairs and rattan furniture. With songs playing straight from the film, you're sure to feel right at Disney home.

A selection of assorted finger sand-witches include: smoked salmon & Jacob's cream, cucumber & ricotta, Prince pesto panini with mozzarella and egg & mayonnaise with quail egg and caviar.

The toasted paninis come wrapped in a ribbon, just like you'd imagine Little Red Riding Hood's mum to pack into her basket ahead of her journey into the woods. The extra special finishing touches really do make the sand-witches magical.

Next up, plain and fruit scones served with clotted cream and a choice of homemade fig or strawberry jam. Quite possibly the best scones I've had in a long time. Beautifully light, fluffy and not too crumbly.

As expected, the enchantment continues onto the pastries. With Jack's beanstalk tart and Little Red Riding Hood choux buns. Almost too beautiful to eat! Other sweets include Earl Grey macarons, rhubarb & raspberry cheesecake, Cassis meringue, Malabar marshmallows, chocolate mint cake and pineapple, coriander & coconut sponges.

The afternoon tea comes with a large choice of Jing teas or Champagne if you fancy a few bubbles.

Well and truly in the fairytale mood, I considered leaving a trail of crumbs to follow my route back - except there just weren't any left!

And as for the film...with such a great cast, gorgeous costumes and a mix of all my favourite childhood fairytales, I think its safe to say this is my favourite Disney film in a long time. Forget 'Let it Go', the Into the Woods song will definitely get stuck in your head!

To coincide with the DVD release on 18th May, tea in the woods will be available between 18th May - 7th June. For reservations, visit their website here.




I was asked to review the afternoon tea by Premier Comms and was not paid for this review. All opinions are honest, and my own. 

Pret-a-Portea, The Berkeley

   Whilst backing up my beloved iPhone to ios7 I found these cake-dreams from a few weeks ago. This was of course whilst I was desperately trying to free up the obligatory 3gb of memory.

   Like the Queen, I managed to celebrate my birthday this year over two months. So I thought I'd share a little of my Amazing Monday (where I became a real grown up...but I'll save that for another time).

   On Amazing Monday, Boy Loves Food and I toddled down Knightsbridge hidden from the showers under my teeny umbrella. Not a fan of rain, usually I'd be a little grouchy. But on this amazing Monday, I was wearing my Wednesday Addams dress and off to drink tea and eat cake at The Berkeley.

   Pret-a-Portea at The Berkeley gives a fashionista twist to a traditional English afternoon tea inspired by fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen, Prada and Oscar de la Renta. Here, designs fresh off the catwalk are translated into a tea stand full of gorgeous cakes and fancies.

   Coming to the close of the Spring/Summer there are many a photo of these treats circulating round the Interweb by now, I'm sure. But my absolute favourite was the Alexander McQueen whimsical yellow honeycomb cream oversized dress topped with marzipan bee. Or the lovely Jason Wu coconut 'Carolyn' hatbox shaped cake bag sandwiched in retro leopard print chocolate. All washed down with the loose leaf pear caramel tea blend.

   I promise those cake descriptions are fresh from their menu, enough to make any cake eater sound like a fashionista!

Pret-a-Portea, The Berkeley London.