To Tea, or Not to Tea? Review: Afternoon Tea at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Hello there!
Afternoon tea has become very trendy in recent years and, I must admit, I do love it. I don't have it very often since it can be rather calorific but for a special occasion it is lovely. On this occasion, it was my mum's birthday and we went to the Swan Restaurant inside the Shakespeare Globe Theatre for afternoon tea which was themed around the play A Midsummer Night's Dream*. This is a review of the tea, savoury and sweet treats we had. Enjoy!
Review: Afternoon Tea at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Tea:
To complement the savoury and sweet treats on the cake stand, they offered a variety of different teas. They had black teas, green/white teas and also herbal teas. I went for the citrus chamomile as I wanted something refreshing and decaf. This choice of tea was great as it had the chamomile flavour when you first tried it but left a refreshing citrus flavour after. It definitely had a lemony-citrus aroma to it but it wasn't as strong as a lemon green tea or lemon and ginger. They had a clever little tea strainer you put on the side of your cup to prevent the loose leaf tea falling in your cup. What I really liked was that they gave you quite a large teapot each which stayed hot and meant you didn't have to ask for refills all the time. The teacups themselves were a cross between a teacup and a small mug which made them easy to hold and you weren't worrying about them being fragile.
Savoury:
The selection of savouries were a nice range with a brioche bun, white and brown sandwiches and a mini quiche. The salmon sandwiches were creamy from the citrus cream but not so much that it was sickly. The egg sandwiches were also not too rich and tasted very fresh. The only down side was that the bread was a little dry for me personally. I'm pescatarian, however, this wasn't a problem as they simply replaced the chicken brioche roll with another salmon sandwich for me. My mum had the chicken brioche, though, and said it had a good mustard flavour and a light bun. My favourite out of the savouries was the mini mushroom and leek quiche as it was very flavourful and a little warm still which made it more satisfying. The savouries were all light so fitted the summer theme well.
Sweets:
The sweets included scones, sponges, pastries, jellies and macaroons so there was a good range of flavours and textures. For me, the scones were one of the best parts of the afternoon tea. They contained mulberries which I had never had before so made a change to sultanas. The scones were light in texture, perfect for afternoon tea, not dry at all and had a lovely glaze on the top. My only comment would be that they were quite big scones to have with other sweet treat, though they were delicious so I wasn't really complaining.
The Opera cake was delicate and had a beautiful shine on top but it was very sweet from the salted caramel filling. It tasted lovely, it just would be more ideal as a dessert on its own. It was just a little too sweet when you're having other sweet treats as well.
The presentation and colour of the macaroons was dainty and the texture of them was perfect since they still had a little chew to them. I found the flavour subtle though, I think it needed more blackcurrant in them for more of a punchy flavour.
As side from the scones, my favourite sweet was the chouquettes which were filled with a rhubarb and custard filling. They were simple yet elegant with the chocolate decoration on top. They had so much flavour in them and the pastry was very crisp.
The rosewater jelly had a fairly strong flavour of rosewater and the panna cotta was very creamy so worked well with the jelly. However, it was all soft so a crunch of some sort would have added lots of texture. Overall, the selection of sweet treats were of a high quality and I was impressed so would recommend this afternoon tea.
The Products in More Detail
1 - Buttermilk poached chicken, grain mustard mayo, amaranth
2 - Scottish smoked salmon, citrus cream, watercress, granary bread
3 - Clarence Court egg mayonnaise and cress salad
4 - Wild mushroom and leek quiche
5 - Mulberry scones with clotted Devon cream and midsummer berry jam
6 - Poire William and salted caramel Opera
7 - Blackcurrant jam and violet macaroons
8 - Rhubarb and custard chouquette
9 - Rosewater jelly, hedgerow berries and vanilla infused cream
Like afternoon tea? Why not check out this blog post:
Afternoon Tea in Covent Garden
*This post isn't sponsored and all opinions are my own but if you want to visit then the link is below:
https://www.swanlondon.co.uk/afternoon-tea/
If you liked this post, visit my full blog at:
https://littlechefbeth.blogspot.com
Afternoon tea has become very trendy in recent years and, I must admit, I do love it. I don't have it very often since it can be rather calorific but for a special occasion it is lovely. On this occasion, it was my mum's birthday and we went to the Swan Restaurant inside the Shakespeare Globe Theatre for afternoon tea which was themed around the play A Midsummer Night's Dream*. This is a review of the tea, savoury and sweet treats we had. Enjoy!
Review: Afternoon Tea at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Tea:To complement the savoury and sweet treats on the cake stand, they offered a variety of different teas. They had black teas, green/white teas and also herbal teas. I went for the citrus chamomile as I wanted something refreshing and decaf. This choice of tea was great as it had the chamomile flavour when you first tried it but left a refreshing citrus flavour after. It definitely had a lemony-citrus aroma to it but it wasn't as strong as a lemon green tea or lemon and ginger. They had a clever little tea strainer you put on the side of your cup to prevent the loose leaf tea falling in your cup. What I really liked was that they gave you quite a large teapot each which stayed hot and meant you didn't have to ask for refills all the time. The teacups themselves were a cross between a teacup and a small mug which made them easy to hold and you weren't worrying about them being fragile.
Savoury:
The selection of savouries were a nice range with a brioche bun, white and brown sandwiches and a mini quiche. The salmon sandwiches were creamy from the citrus cream but not so much that it was sickly. The egg sandwiches were also not too rich and tasted very fresh. The only down side was that the bread was a little dry for me personally. I'm pescatarian, however, this wasn't a problem as they simply replaced the chicken brioche roll with another salmon sandwich for me. My mum had the chicken brioche, though, and said it had a good mustard flavour and a light bun. My favourite out of the savouries was the mini mushroom and leek quiche as it was very flavourful and a little warm still which made it more satisfying. The savouries were all light so fitted the summer theme well.
Sweets:
The sweets included scones, sponges, pastries, jellies and macaroons so there was a good range of flavours and textures. For me, the scones were one of the best parts of the afternoon tea. They contained mulberries which I had never had before so made a change to sultanas. The scones were light in texture, perfect for afternoon tea, not dry at all and had a lovely glaze on the top. My only comment would be that they were quite big scones to have with other sweet treat, though they were delicious so I wasn't really complaining.
The Opera cake was delicate and had a beautiful shine on top but it was very sweet from the salted caramel filling. It tasted lovely, it just would be more ideal as a dessert on its own. It was just a little too sweet when you're having other sweet treats as well.
The presentation and colour of the macaroons was dainty and the texture of them was perfect since they still had a little chew to them. I found the flavour subtle though, I think it needed more blackcurrant in them for more of a punchy flavour. As side from the scones, my favourite sweet was the chouquettes which were filled with a rhubarb and custard filling. They were simple yet elegant with the chocolate decoration on top. They had so much flavour in them and the pastry was very crisp.
The rosewater jelly had a fairly strong flavour of rosewater and the panna cotta was very creamy so worked well with the jelly. However, it was all soft so a crunch of some sort would have added lots of texture. Overall, the selection of sweet treats were of a high quality and I was impressed so would recommend this afternoon tea.
The Products in More Detail
2 - Scottish smoked salmon, citrus cream, watercress, granary bread
3 - Clarence Court egg mayonnaise and cress salad
4 - Wild mushroom and leek quiche
5 - Mulberry scones with clotted Devon cream and midsummer berry jam
6 - Poire William and salted caramel Opera
7 - Blackcurrant jam and violet macaroons
8 - Rhubarb and custard chouquette
9 - Rosewater jelly, hedgerow berries and vanilla infused cream
Like afternoon tea? Why not check out this blog post:
Afternoon Tea in Covent Garden
*This post isn't sponsored and all opinions are my own but if you want to visit then the link is below:
https://www.swanlondon.co.uk/afternoon-tea/
If you liked this post, visit my full blog at:
https://littlechefbeth.blogspot.com
