Sisters Dine Out

Last week I headed into Winchester (with my 11-week old baby) to try the Summer Garden Afternoon Tea. It was my mums birthday, so her partner and I arranged to surprise her. My mum is gluten intolerant, so I’ll show you what the ‘normal’ afternoon tea is like vs the gluten-free offering. Afternoon Tea at The Ivy, Winchester is served between 3-5pm. As we had baby G with us, we opted to eat at 3pm to ensure we were home in plenty of time for the bath routine (how things have changed!).  The first course of sandwiches and scones was promptly bought to the table alongside our glass of champagne. Our savoury selection included: Truffled chicken brioche roll  Marinated cucumber and dill finger sandwich on basil bread  Smoked salmon on beetroot bread with cream cheese and chives  I love that the cucumber and salmon sandwiches were served on flavoured bread. This made them seem a bit more special than your average afternoon tea and delivered a deeper complexity of flavour. ...

Who else has missed eating in restaurants? As you’re reading this blog, I think it’s safe to assume you are also excited to be able to enjoy a meal inside with your nearest and dearest again.  This week, we were invited to Cafe Binghams to try their menu. For transparency, this meal was complimentary, however, this does not affect our review.  Going for Afternoon Tea is one of my favourite things to do, especially when I’m with friends. In my eyes, nothing suits a long overdue catch up like a tasty selection of cakes and a good cup of tea. For me, this was also my first experience eating in a restaurant with my little boy, who was 7 weeks old at the time.  What’s on the menu? Savoury  Coronation chicken wrap  Maybe the best coronation chicken I’ve had. Messy but delicious. Rosary goats’ cheese, sweet pepper piperade wrap   I know goats cheese can be a bit of a marmite option, but I absolutely love goats cheese. It was nice to have something a little bit dif...

As I mentioned in my previous blog, during this time of quarantine we are spending time looking back at meals and venues we visited before starting our blog. We have been focusing on Afternoon Tea's most recently because what is better than tea and cake at a time like this? This Afternoon Tea is actually with my other sister-in-law as we all headed to New York together for a few days in 2017. As my brother had always wanted to have Afternoon Tea at The Plaza, we decided it would be the perfect place to rest our tired feet and refuel. First observation when we first went into The Palm Court   dining room was that the staff were actually quite rude to us. It felt like we were an imposition by being there, which is quite impressive when you have 4 people willing to spend around $100 per head on tea and cake. We almost didn't stay, but my brother really wanted to tick it off his bucket list, so we decided to ignore the rude staff and continue anyway. When the Aftern...

During this time of quarantine, I started looking through my old photos and realised how many Afternoon Tea's or beautiful meals we had enjoyed before we started our blog. So I thought why not take a trip down memory lane and share these experiences with our wonderful readers? As the title suggests, I had this Afternoon Tea back in 2016 and although my memory is good, remembering flavours from that long ago would be impressive and unfortunately, that is not a skill I possess. So I will share what I can and if nothing else, I hope you are able to enjoy the pictures of the cakes as they are beautiful works of art! The Berkeley Hotel is located in Knightsbridge on the edge of Hyde Park. Their afternoon tea is located in the Collins Room which is a beautiful, bright, dreamy space. There is a large 'conservatory'  (and I use that word very loosely as this is like no conservatory you would imagine) which allows light to stream into the space. The Pret-a-Portea is £60...

On Saturday 29th Feb, we spent our leap day having afternoon tea at Gravetye Manor. The afternoon tea was held in a beautiful wooden clad room and had the most incredible fireplace, which was lit when we went in. The room was so cosy and had a very chilled vibe as there are only a handful of tables per sitting. We could have quite happily sat in there all afternoon drinking tea and keeping warm by the fire. (Source :  https://www.gravetyemanor.co.uk/the-manor/photo-gallery/#tab_the-manor )  As a group of 4, we were a fussy bunch in terms of food and out of the 4 of us, 3 had special food requirements. Even though we let know before we arrived, I was extremely impressed with how each person was catered on the day. Two of us upgraded to the Champagne Afternoon Tea for an extra £15 which meant we also had a glass of Taittinger with our tea. Standard Afternoon Tea is £30 per head and you can also opt for the 'Ridgeview Afternoon Tea' which is £42 per head and includes a...

Mid-October we headed into the New Forrest and made our way to the picturesque village of Beulieu and The Montagu Arms. The Montagu Arms has a special place in our hearts as Emma hosted her wedding reception in their beautiful grounds. Based on how magical and perfect her day was, we were looking forward to testing out a Traditional Afternoon Tea. (Source : https://www.montaguarmshotel.co.uk/ )  Given its elegant build and serene setting, we weren’t surprised to see that The Montagu Arms offers a traditional approach when serving its Afternoon Tea. No odd shaped cakes with glitter and fuss, just traditional sandwiches and sweets. Seated in the stunning panelled dining room with the country gardens opposite, you are transported to a place of relaxation and tranquillity. As you would expect, the service is top notch and the staff are impeccable with their manors and dress.       To start, we were offered a homemade pallet cleanser which was delightf...

Back in October we had a wonderful spa session followed by Afternoon Tea at the Christchurch Harbour Hotel and Spa, known as HarSPA. Located on the Dorset coastline, the hotel overlooks the harbour and is the perfect spot to relax and absorb the magnificent sea views.  As with all Harbour Hotels in the chain, there is also the option to dine at The Jetty restaurant. The Jetty at Christchurch is award winning and is situated on the waters edge (you can just see it poking out of the left hand side of the picture below). The Jetty is defiantly on our hit list of places to dine in the future. On arrival you are given complimentary slippers, a robe and towels so that you can feel all snuggly once you are in the HarSPA. The spa has 5 treatments rooms, an indoor pool, hydrotherapy pool, sauna, salt grotto and a steam room on offer and is illuminated with calming lights.  There is also the ‘Hide Away’ for over 16’s only which is a quiet area wh...