Afternoon Tea at London Hilton on Park Lane

AD - gifted experience


Today, I had the pleasure of going into London and celebrating Afternoon Tea Week, courtesy of BuyaGift.com, with Afternoon Tea at the London Hilton on Park Lane. I adore going out for afternoon tea and it is one of my favourite experiences. Having had Afternoon Tea in places like Fortnum & Mason, Harrods and experienced the infamous Tale As Old As Time Beauty & The Beast Afternoon Tea, I wanted to try something a little different. Today we got to experience a Chocoholic Afternoon Tea that (fun fact) has been crafted by the winners of Bake Off: The Professionals 2018.


After having walked all the way from Kings Cross Station to Park Lane, both my uncle and I had built up quite an appetite. I was already excited that we were going out for afternoon tea, but on top of that, I was buzzing from my Caramel Frappaccino. I decided to take my uncle with me because not only has he never experienced afternoon tea, but he truly is one of my best friends. We've got more of a brother/sister relationship since we're quite close in age and he's helped me out a lot over the years - especially when it comes to behind the scenes blog stuff and my computer going wrong. I wanted to treat him to something he'd never experienced before and thank him for everything he does for me.


When we got to the hotel, we easily found the restaurant called The Podium where afternoon tea is served. We were seated quite quickly and had a few minutes to check out the tea menu before ordering our tea. I had your standard Full English Breakfast Tea and my uncle had Nutty Chocolate Tea which smelled just like Nutella! I usually brave going for a different flavoured tea but I completely bottled it this time for some reason. I also completely forgot to try the Nutty Tea but being Twinings, I'm keeping the flavour in mind so I can buy some to try one day. I only like black tea too so I'm quite fussy with my tea. It annoys me that I can't find a brand sold in the UK that does fruity black teas. Lipton do my favourite and that's hard to find.


I was more than happy with my tea anyway and over the time we were there, I drank two teapots of tea. I don't know if that's excessive or not but I thoroughly enjoyed every cup I had! Thinking about it, that's quite a lot of tea tbh and I sit here writing this post with yet another mug of tea. Honestly, I know I'm of Portuguese blood but I'm truly British through and through. (Do you know Portuguese people think it's weird we put milk in our tea?)


It wasn't long before we were served sandwiches and they came in the loveliest long plate. They were presented so well and looked absolutely amazing! I hadn't had an experience an afternoon tea where the sandwiches were served separately. But this did mean we could appreciate the sandwiches better before moving onto our desserts which I quite liked.


From left to right we had: prawn cocktail and lettuce on malted seed, coronation chicken curry and pineapple on ciabatta, cucumber, chive and cream cheese on malted seed, ham, tomato chutney, mustard and cress on ciabatta and finally smoked salmon and horseradish cream.


My favourite by far was the smoked salmon one, followed by the ham, then the prawn, the coronation chicken and then the cucumber sandwich. There wasn't one that I didn't like and I could have easily has second helpings of all those sandwiches! The bread was soft and fresh and the flavours complimented each other so well. I just loved them. Very impressed.

Once we were finished with our sandwich selection it was time for scones and desserts. Both my uncle and I have big sweet tooth so we were very excited for what was next.


It wasn't long until our scones and desserts arrived. Service was pretty good and all the staff were friendly and looked after us well. They bought us tea, water and checked we were okay without being over the top. I thought it was 5 star service! The waiter brilliantly explained what we had in front of us. With so many different things I'm glad he told us. I did still forget what some of them were though. Luckily I had the menu to hand when I wanted to check.

The scones were amazing. Not only were they still warm and soft, but the spreads went with them perfectly. We had strawberry jam, clotted cream and salted caramel spread. It was all gorgeous and the scones were gone in no time!


With scones the gone it was time time for desserts and there were six to go through. We decided to split them all in half so we could both try them all. I was so excited. We went from left to right, starting with the middle tier and then moved onto the top leaving that glossy chocolatey looking one to last.


From left to right on the middle tier we had: a coconut sphere with Brazilian chocolate, pina colada cheesecake, mandarin and milk chocolate log and then caramlised banana and milk chocolate macaroons.


From left to right on the top tier we had: a passion fruit an strawberry jelly tartlet and a deconstructed black forest gateau.

Just take some time to appreciate the how beautiful, delicate and yummy they all look:


Coconut Sphere with Brazilian Chocolate



This one tasted really amazing. It was refreshing, light and wasn't too heavy in the chocolate flavour. I genuinely thought I wasn't going to like this one but it was delicious!


Pina Colada Cheesecake



Instantly and by far my favourite dessert of all six. This one tasted just like pina colada and it was just so amazing. I'm usually quite fussy with cheesecakes but this one amazing!

Mandarin & Milk Chocolate Log



I liked this one but it was my least favourite of them all simply because I'm not a huge fan of mandarin. I think the flavours were really lovely and it was a nice contrast between the chocolate and the sharp mandarin.

Caramelised Banana & Milk Chocolate Macaroons



I used to hate macaroons but I slowly grew to love them. I think it's all down to the flavours. Being a fan of banana as a fruit I was interested to see how this tasted and it was really lovely. The macaroon was amazing and I love how they were stacked. Cute!

Passion Fruit & Strawberry Tartlet



This one really surprised me! I loved how this one tasted and it was great to have something non chocolatey to break up the chocolate flavours in the rest of the desserts. It was really fruity and tasted a bit like a fruit trifle in a way...

Deconstructed Black Forest Gateau



For some reason both my uncle and I were excited about this one. I love a good black forest gateau and my uncle loves anything really chocolatey! I also loved how they decorated the tiny cake in gold and copper glitter on that chocolate mirror glaze. This cake was so chocolatey and was nearly the end of me. At this point both of us were full to the brim and I was adamant to finish this cake! I wanted to try them all. I loved the flavours and thought it was lovely but after so much cake it was too chocolatey for both of us. It should have been the one we started with tbh. But still, it was delicious too.

After having demolished: ten sandwiches, four scones, six cakes, three pots of tea and a cappuccino between us, we were full. To. The. Brim. It was truly a luxurious experience and an excellent way to celebrate Afternoon Tea Week.


As I mentioned before this week was Afternoon Tea Week and I had the amazing opportunity to experience this chocoholic afternoon tea courtesy of BuyAGift.com. If you didn't know, BuyAGift is a great place to buy unique experience gifts from days out and spa breaks to driving experiences and of course, afternoon tea. They have a brilliant and broad range of afternoon tea experiences on their website for you to choose from too. You can choose themed afternoon teas, ones with champagne or gin! And you can even sort them to see which ones are in locations closest to you if you don't want to travel too far. It's such an amazing experience and if you know someone who loves tea, cakes or might like to experience something new or a little luxurious then this is a fantastic gift! I think experiences are an amazing gift and I'd be more than happy to receive this for a birthday, Christmas or any other special occasion.

Thank you BuyAGift.com for a truly fantastic experience. Both my uncle and I really enjoyed it and can't wait to go out for afternoon tea again soon!

4 comments

  1. It all looks so pretty! I’m intrigued by the salted caramel spread on scones. Good? I’ve not been for afternoon tea in ages but I’m going tomorrow and I can’t wait! x

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    1. The salted caramel was surprisingly nice! I really liked it and it was nice having something other than jam! I hope you enjoyed your afternoon tea too!

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  2. That after looking tea looks amazing! I always love the salmon sandwiches they do - they never seem to taste as good if they aren't part of an afternoon tea! What a lovely time you had and with lovely company 😊

    www.babblesnbooks.wordpress.com

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    1. The salmon sandwiches are always the best. I love smoked salmon! Afternoon tea is most definitely one of my favourite things to do ever!

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