Secret garden afternoon tea at Kona Taj 51 for Mothers Day - London

 It's been a while since my last afternoon tea so I was particularly looking forward to taking my mum here for mother's day. 

This is my 1st time having the secret garden themed one but my 4th visit here for an afternoon tea. Priced at £75 each not cheap but I saved myself a bit of money by getting a buyagift voucher when they had 25% voucher code. 

The hotel and residence are set in a square with a lovely fountain and garden in the middle. The afternoon tea is served in the Kona restaurant.  

It was busy when we arrived and we had to wait outside as we were about 15min early and they had to set all the tables up ready.  

We had a nice table for 2 against the back wall and it was nicely laid with pretty flower print china. 

The menu was already on the table and had a metal door on the front that you open up and get a nice surprise when a butterfly comes out. My mum's paper butterfly ended up on the lap of the man on the table next to us. Mine unfortunately did not fly that far!!!! 

I had already mentioned when booking no fish for either of us and no mayonnaise or mustard for my mum. We had to explain again to the waiter and they said no problem. 

I ordered a herbal tea called  'Summer of Love, and my mum ordered a cappuccino. As we waited for the drinks to arrive the waiter brought over a wooden box each and said there was a treat inside and it was all edible apart  from the box. 

It had a layer of crumbled shortbread biscuit and chocolate soil with a large chocolate ganache shaped key that was to unlock the Secret Garden and the start of the afternoon tea. 

The Summer of Love tea was a green tea with a slight fruity taste and very nice The tea stand arrived within 10 minutes and it looked so lovely like a birdcage with some butterflies on it.

We  got two chicken sandwiches each (my mums made especially without mayonnaise) a beetroot one and a rolled up egg one with half a tiny egg on top. They were nice and very fresh. 

Next we started on the pretty cakes as the scones had not yet been brought out to us. 

The first one we had was the red rose shaped cake filled with raspberry ganache, white chocolate crunch and lychee mousse inside a light vanilla sponge.  

This was very nice and we followed this by having the equally nice tart baked with basil almond cream topped with mandarin citrus cream cheese.   

Two cakes down and the warm scones arrived served with mixed berry jam and large pot of clotted cream.  We got two berry scones each, they were small in size but by now we were both feeling rather full anyway. 

The scones were a bit too pudding and soft inside and  maybe they could of done with a bit longer in the oven. My mum could only eat one of them and I eat one and half topped with lots of jam and cream. Whilst eating them I ordered myself a cappuccino. 

We both had two cakes left to eat and decided best to take them home to enjoy later. 

I had mine in the evening and they tasted as good as they looked.

Chocolate brownie, chocolate mousse, chocolate crumble in a chocolate pot, with white chocolate flowers

Moist olive oil and lime cake with mango ganache 

It was a lovely afternoon tea with such a pretty theme and well thought out. Before leaving we were handed a bill for the service charge that was optional but worth paying as the waiters looked after us. 

We also got a packet of wild flower seeds to take home with us. 

I am looking forward to seeing what theme they do next ...........

Nearest Station : Victoria Underground  about  14 minute walk. 

Best bits : The pretty cakes and the wooden box filled with crumbled biscuits and chocolate key   

Worst bits : The only I can think off is that were were not asked if we wanted any extra food      

Value for money :  At £75 its not cheap but it was very nice and a bit different.  

Would I go back? : Yes when they have a new theme  

 

Savoy Hotel NYE Afternoon tea - London

 Finished off 2024 with a wonderful afternoon tea at the 5 star Savoy Hotel in London.

This was my second visit to the Savoy as took my mum there for her birthday a few years ago. 

You can understand why this is a 5 star hotel as from the grand entrance to the large reception area it is stunning and very posh looking . 

 The Christmas decorations were stunning and the large angel made of lights above the stairs was so beautiful 

Afternoon Tea is served in the newly decorated Galley which looks much different to when I last visited. They pavilion in the middle that hosted the piano has now gone and instead the piano is to the side of the room. The sofas and chairs are in a cream and gold fabric with brown leather. The main feature of the room is still the glass domed ceiling in the middle. 

Our table was to the side of the room in the corner and upon being seated we were handed the menu to choose the type of afternoon tea we wanted to order. 

We decided to order a bottle of the English Nyetimber Rose Cuvee priced at £115 as it was NYE. The traditional afternoon tea is priced at £95 each however my husband wanted the High Tea which included an one extra dish to choose from below and cost extra £15

High Tea

 Pan Seared Creedy Carver Duck Breast | Potato Mille-Feuille Chestnut | Grilled Chicory | Truffle Jus 

 Hand Dived Orkney Scallop | Yoghurt | Grapefruit Petrossian Caviar | Lardo 

 Pearl Barley Risotto | Squash Purée Winter Truffle | Burella

The waitress noted that I do not eat fish or seafood and I asked for an extra turkey sandwich instead of the salmon one. 

The Rose Cuvee was lovely and went down well whilst waiting for the food to arrive. The room was very busy with just a couple of empty tables. The piano music in the background was a nice touch and not too loud. We felt very relaxed and very hungry. My husband ordered the Savoy tea blend and I ordered the Blackcurrant and Hibiscus as recommend by our lovely waitress 

The sandwiches arrived on their own plate and looked lovely. 

Coronation Larchwood Farm Turkey | Herbs | Cranberry Bread 

Scottish Smoked Salmon | Lemon Cream Cheese & Chives | Spinach Bread 

Hertfordshire Honey Roast Ham | English Mustard | White Bread 

Somerset Oak Smoked Cheddar | Plum & Ginger Chutney | Granary Bread 

Savory Bites

 Parsnip & Carrot | Thyme | Parmesan Tuile | Savory Cake 

Burford Brown Egg | Truffle Mayonnaise | Wiltshire Truffle | Brioche

I liked the turkey Coronation one in cranberry bread plus the cheese one with chutney was nice too. 

Both little savory bites were lovely  especially the Egg mayo with truffle. 

Next came my husbands high tea choice of scallop in a bowl, he only got one scallop for £15 but said it was very good. Whilst he tucked into this I ordered another plate of sandwiches which was included in the price. 

Once we had both finished the savory food the famous tea stand arrived . It included 2 scones each a plain one and fruit one along with Strawberry compote, lemon curd and of course clotted cream. The scones were unfortunately not warm but tasted nice and fresh. Not the best scones I have had but still very nice especially topped with the creamy lemon curd. 

Along with the scones we each got a tiny bite size mince pie.

Finally it was time to tuck into the fancy looking cakes 

We got one each of the 4 different ones as below 

Mont Blanc - Chestnut Cream | Citrus Confit | Meringues 

Santa  -  Bourbon Vanilla Cake | Chocolate Whipped Chantilly | Redcurrant Glaze 

Chocolate & Tonka Bean  - Cocoa Sponge | Tonka Bean Infused Chocolate Ganache

 Christmas Bauble  -  Yoghurt Crémeux | Lemon Sponge | Blackberry Compo

Before tucking into them I ordered a cappuccino 

 Firstly I had the Christmas Bauble that was the waitress favorite one when I asked her.

Creamy white chocolate shell filled with white yogurt cream on a light lemon sponge with a berry compote. It was defiantly delicious and my favorite one too. 

Next I had the chocolate and Tonka bean log shaped one. This was OK but I thought it had a slight spice taste too it that I guess was the Tonka bean. 

Following this was the Santa dome with chocolate belt around to look like Santa's belly. I liked this one too as creamy center on chocolate sponge. 

Lastly I had the Mont Blanc which was nice and bit different with the Chestnut cream. Overall i thought they were very nice and not too sickly to eat.  We did however feel very full buy the time we had eaten them all !!!   I think the waitress was impressed too. 

We had a lovely time and was very well looked after. Before leaving the hotel we had a few cocktails in the famous American Bar which I have always wanted to go too.  

Nearest Station : Covent Garden about  10 minute walk. 

Best bits : The excellent service and cakes plus the bottle of bubbly went down well.   

Worst bits : Nothing all good     

Value for money :  At £95 its not cheap but the hotel is lovely and we got looked after and made to feel special. 

Would I go back? : Yes I would. 

Happy New Year to all my readers and looking forward to some new Afternoon Teas in 2025