Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea – Sanderson London
A few month’s back, four of us trundled to London and spent a delightful afternoon sampling the infamous ‘Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea‘ at Sanderson in central London.
To say I was excited would be an understatement, I’d read about it in social media and drooled over the pictures and it was just finding the time and saying ‘Right, let’s just book this and go’ and it was well worth the wait.
I do feel that when attending ‘Afternoon Tea’ the word ‘diet’ should go out of the window. I wanted to sink into a comfy chair wearing loose jean’s and dive head first into buttery scones with lashing’s of cream and dainty cakes and hot chocolate so rich my spoon could stand up. Fortunately, the Sanderson delivered this and I left having devoured everything and feeling rather full, but deeply satisfied in a dreamy world of chocolate, scones and cream.
When you enter the hotel you are greeted by the ‘Lip’s’ sofa and an amazing array of fancy/quirky chairs, our friends had stayed at the hotel before and guided us into the lift’s which are out of this world (quite literally) I won’t ruin it for you but if you go, nip in the lift.
We passed the Long Bar and were greeted and seated by friendly staff, I will take this time to state they were very busy so it would be advisable to book, even mid-week. The plates and cup’s fit together to complete the picture, the menu is hidden in a book and you dine under a huge heated outdoor area with a central water feature. As you can see I ordered a hot chocolate, it was absolutely incredibly thick rich chocolate and a dessert by its self, there was a huge variety of tea to chose from also.
The main event…
3 Layers of heaven, we were given two stands and there was one serving of each item which meant no one missed out on a single thing.
Layer one ~ Mini Quiches, a selection of sandwiches in various types of bread, a savoury scone with a herb butter and a cranberry and orange scone with cream and jam.
Layer two ~ A super light layered Victoria sponge type cake, a creamy sweet mango cheesecake in a white chocolate shell. A delicate green tea mousse in a dark chocolate cup (edible, naturally) and there was a trolley with traditional jellies should you so desire some jelly.
Layer three – Marshmallow toadstools (I love marshmallow) and meringue ‘carrots’ and on the side, there was the ‘Drink Me’ bottle of a sweet, fruity and creamy drink – I couldn’t honestly tell you what was in there but it was fabulous.
To make an event of it we all had a cocktail; you can opt for a glass of bubbles if you would prefer but the list was so packed with incredible sounding drinks even myself as an extremely rare (almost none) drinker joined the fun. As one of our friends had visited before they brought her out a ‘Welcome Back’ cake which was layers of sponge, chocolate and cream – very good indeed and a really thoughtful touch.
I found the staff at the Sanderson attentive, friendly and polite but I will state that we were not happy with the huge service charge of £27.00 on our bill (there was only 4 of us). Maybe a Londoner will come forward and tell me that this is standard(?) it felt like too much to me. On the other hand, even though this was the most expensive Afternoon tea I’ve attended it felt worth every single penny.
As a matter of fact, I’d return just for a hot chocolate, cucumber sandwiches and the mango cheesecake in the white chocolate case. If you are interested in treating yourself (yes, you are worth it) then all the details are *here*
Do tell me, have you ever been to Sanderson for afternoon tea? Anywhere else you’d recommend?
Katie
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