So, Rache’s birthday meant we had a good excuse for going out for yet another Afternoon Tea. Heh heh. Searching for an afternoon tea venue which is a little different from the traditional and that I haven’t already experienced was extremely difficult but in the TLS (tea-london-sightseeing) Afternoon Tea at the Swissôtel The Howard I found what I was looking for.

You can literally eat your way around London with this menu …

Located opposite the Temple tube station a benefit of Swissôtel The Howard is that you don’t have to walk or totter far in your shoes! Ha ha! Whether it was the location or relative newness (not sure how long they’ve offered afternoon tea), its clearly not a venue that many people know about – there were a few odd bods around and one big group of girls who arrived when we were about halfway done (though strangely we still ended up leaving after them!)

Due to the fact its not a high profile venue or even that busy we found that getting the attention of wait-staff, to replenish our sandwich stocks of course, was difficult. Though that’s not to say the service was bad when we got it – just a little slow maybe, especially when needing refills on our tea.

At Swissôtel The Howard you can have the ordinary and traditional afternoon tea and supplement it with additional items from the TLS afternoon tea menu if you like. E.g. if you fancy Big Ben it’ll cost you £4, or maybe you wanted Crown Jewels (£2.50). To take the decision-making out of the process we went straight for the TLS afternoon tea with champagne for the birthday gal.

The food/tea all came out at once, even the extra birthday bits for Rache!, so we were confronted with this:

which may not seem like much but somehow we didn’t even get around to eating any of the TLS bit! Takeaway boxes, which were HUGE, were required:

Oh but I didn’t describe the food that we had!

The savoury sandwiches consisted of Smoked Salmon and Horseradish, Coronation Chicken, Cucumber and Minted Crème Fraiche and Honey Roast Ham and Cheese. The scones were plain and fruit and came with strawberry preserve and of course Devonshire clotted cream. The sweet pastries consisted of Macaroons, a Cherry Bakewell Tart, a Fresh Fruit Tartlet, Chocolate Mousse with Orange Jelly and a Seasonal Fruit Smoothie and finally we have the TLS plate which consisted mainly of flavoured shortbreads and chocolates. I like the fact you got two of everything (and additional sandwiches if you wished) so you didn’t have to “share” – I’m so greedy!

Yum!