The Pudding Bar, London

The Pudding Bar was a dessert pop up bar serving afternoon tea and desserts in the evening. It was located on Greek Street and was a great idea and hopefully the guys behind it will pop up again or find a permanent fixture soon.

We visited for dessert after dinner one night and our eyes were bigger than our bellies again as we opted for three desserts to share and one glass of each of the four available dessert wines. Each of the desserts were quite large and priced very reasonably at £6-7.

Blackberry panna cotta with honeycomb, blackberries and spiced rum & nutmeg ice cream.

Apple and maple syrup baked Alaska, cinnamon spiced apple cake with maple syrup ice cream, wrapped in Italian meringue with maple glaze.

S’more cheesecake, milk chocolate cheesecake on a ginger nut biscuit base with peanut butter ice cream.

Dessert wines from right to left, Maury Grenat, Finca Le Estacada Secua Chardonnay Dulce, Royal Tokaiji Lake harvest and Chateau du Levant Sauternes.

Each of the desserts was made with skill and the baked Alaska was the unanimous favourite with the apple and maple combination edging out the peanut butter ice cream and chocolate cheesecake.

Palm Court at The Langham, London

Famed as the birthplace of Afternoon Tea, Palm Court of The Langham Hotel has been serving tea to the cream of London society since the Victorian era. The kitchen is helmed by the award winning pastry chef, Cherish Finden, who has appeared on Masterchef.

I couldn’t express how excited I was when Mr Nom told me he had booked afternoon tea for me and a friend. Since watching the delights on TV I have always wanted to try the amazing cakes on offer. To sample as muh as possible we ordered one of each set of the Wonderland and Bijoux afternoon tea sets.

Before our tea sets arrived, we were presented with a lime posset each presented with gold leaf to match the opulent surroundings.  This was extremely tangy which caused me to make some unusual facial expressions.

The Bijoux tea set came with the following:

Foie gras and smoked duck with granny smith apple

Lobster, cucumber and shisho dressing

Smoked mountain ham, aged comté, garden peas and truffle

Foreman’s smoked salmon and brie with pickled apple purée

Piquilo pepper flan with candied pinenuts

Japanese bloody mary macaroons

Elderflower and Greek yoghurt panna cotta

Royal Ascot Victorian sponge hat

Pistachio and apple sour diamond - I love all things pistachio so this dessert went down a storm with me and there were great combination of flavours too.

Hereford strawberry and lemon Battenberg with lime jelly truffle, such a well crafted mini dessert, I couldn’t get over how small it was and the taste was incredible too.

The Wonderland tea set consisted of:

Crab, shrimp, cucumber, caviar and avocado 

Burford brown egg mayonnaise with mustard cress

Rose county beef with plum tomato and remoulade sauce

Formans smoked salmon with whipped brie and wild rocket

Poached cornfed chicken with coronation mayonnaise

Passion Fruit and Mango Dome

Valrhona chocolate tart

Lemon and poppy seed cake was fresh and light after the slightly heavier chocolate tart.

Layer Eton mess push up pop, at first we were staring at it not knowing what to do before someone quickly noticed and filled us in on how to eat it.

Both sets came with a selection of scones served with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve. I washed all this down with vanilla tea and with this being my favourite it was easy for me to decide from the large array of tea on offer.  We were so full from the afternoon tea that I didn’t eat in the evening. Palm Court is a beautiful venue and the equally stunning tea sets lived up to expectations. The atmosphere was superb with a live pianist playing tunes in the background. Not the cheapest at around £45-50 a head but well worth trying.

Sketch - Afternoon Tea, London

I remember seeing the beautiful photos of the afternoon tea at Sketch and begged Mr Nom to take me. On the morning of the reservation I was super excited! I did not eat any breakfast and was ready for my treat at Sketch. Full of smiles stepping into Sketch I was led into the Glade room and I could not believe how pretty it was. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, the walls were painted like a forest with mirrors around the corners of the room and red lasers flashing.

There was an array of beverages to choose from and we both decided to select teas, Mr Nom and I both had our eye on the Vanilla tea but he chose the Chai tea instead so we could both try more of the wonderful teas on offer. The Vanilla tea was lovely! I don’t normally drink a lot of tea apart from my green tea at home but I think I would be drinking vanilla tea from now on.

The afternoon tea set was utterly beautiful, the wonderful colours and the impressive selection of cakes and sandwiches, combined with the surroundings made the experience magical. The scones were brought up to us separately, lovingly wrapped up to keep them warm. We smothered them in lashings of cream and tried both the blackberry and strawberry jam. I think I prefer the strawberry jam out of the both.

The assortment of lovely sandwiches included smoked salmon and jacob’s cream. A rapped up warm croque monsieur, this was delicious with the mozzarella and pesto filling. It was a lovely touch to get a warm sandwich which I haven’t experienced before with afternoon teas in the past. Cucumber, ricotta and asparagus sandwich was lovely, I like a bit of crunch in sandwiches. I was expecting the asparagus to be bland was I was pleasantly surprised when it was seasoned well. The egg sandwich was certainly not your average egg mayonnaise sandwich as this one had the added extras with the quail’s egg and caviar.

The last of the afternoon tea were the gorgeous array of cakes, pistachio macaroons were a treat, I love macaroons and pistachio is a one of my favourites. Almond and berry tartlets. Coffee eclair, creamy and indulgent. The strawberry cheesecake was presented in the mini pots. Raspberry meringue was rather sickly for me. Last but not least, the bubblegum marshmallows were a treat, I felt like a kid nibbling on them all since Mr Nom was super full by then.

Sketch is a wonderful place for afternoon tea; the food was stunning in its creation and matches beautifully with the décor. The toilets were a talking point as well, the unusual pods for each cubicle was certainly an eye opener, like something out of a futuristic film!

Teacup, Manchester

This is was my second visit to Teacup on Thomas Street, Northern Quarter. I don’t know why it’s been a year or so since my last visit, probably when I crave cake I tend to be at home or away from Manchester. Since we were in around one Sunday, Mr Nom suggested we should go; I couldn’t turn down the offer that’s for sure!

There are too many delicious looking cakes to choose from and the choices of beverages were vast as well. Mr Nom chose a cappuccino and I got a latte. I seem to love coffee since purchasing a Nespresso machine. The coffee at Teacup is quite strong and I had to add sugar which I usually don’t.

I had my heart set on the pistachio cake; I’m a sucker when it comes to pistachio flavoured cake and ice cream. On the other hand, Mr Nom was rather decisive, he had his heart set on the coffee and walnut cake but at the same time he wanted to try the novelty rainbow cake. In the end he just went for his first choice walnut and coffee cake.

We were really surprised by the generous portions of cake and in fact, Mr Nom and I were defeated by the cakes.  I loved both of the cakes, slightly a little dense but we all come to Teacup for a little indulgent treat.  

On my previous visit I ordered a tea; look at the sweet little timer!

To accompany my tea I went for the flourless chocolate cake. A little secret, it is Teacup’s favourite cake!  It was lovely, a must try!

MO Bar, Hong Kong

Our second visit to The Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Central, Hong Kong, was to try the afternoon tea at the ground floor based MO Bar.  Mrs Nom was disappointed that we had just missed the Marc Jacobs themed tea set and even more so after our visit there has been a Jimmy Choo edition with stiletto shaped treats!

The theme during our visit was inspired by Apivita’s honey based products, a Greek health and beauty brand I’m told, not that I know any different.  Having only frequented afternoon tea a handful of times in Manchester and Liverpool I wasn’t really expecting much other than sandwiches, scones, cakes and tea.  However with this being the Mandarin Oriental they don’t tend to do things less than special.  Our prior visit to 2 Michelin Starred Amber based in their hotel being an example.

The clientele was a mixture of tourists, businessmen and gossiping housewives passing time (we could tell by the two whispering aunties next to us).  The service was attentive and efficient as expected from the hotel.  One thing I like about afternoon tea is that you are left to get on with it when the tea set is delivered for a relaxing time rather than being watched like a hawk and feeling uneasy.

I’m never sure what order afternoon tea is supposed to be served, but I always prefer the savouries before the scones then pastries last.  We were served the scones first from the stand and swapped for the savouries which caught a few glances.  The first plate was a delight and different to usual finger sandwiches which are a bit boring.  In order of the picture below we had Mediterranean quiche, black olive focaccia, tomato confit & feta cheese shavings, goats cheese pie with green apple, pine nuts and honey, pitta hummus and olive caviar and Greek flatbread with grilled chicken and tzatziki. All were perfectly enjoyable with the exception of the pitta which was a bit on the hard side.

We moved on to the scones and they were still warm, probably answers my question above as to why the scones are served first.  There was a selection of raison and plain scones served with clotted cream and a choice of strawberry and grape jam.  The scones were light and buttery and dainty in size but adequate, leaving room for the desserts.

The desserts from the left in the picture below were panna cotta honey and red fruits with strawberry jelly, pistachio and honey macaroon, lemon tarte and honey meringue, blueberry financier and strawberry tartar tomato and ouzo.  The standout treat being the striped panna cotta and jelly.

It will take something special to top this afternoon tea, cucumber, ham and cheese sandwiches just won’t cut it anymore, neither will eclairs and brownies.  I can sense myself turning snobbish, won’t last long though as the equivalent in London is something approaching £50 per head.  We paid just a touch less than £20 each for the Apivita tea set, extraordinary value.  To top it off we were each given a sample beauty set which included hand cream and a couple packets of royal jelly and aloe serum.