It’s common knowledge that when Wimbledon is on that you can expect terrible weather however London has being sprinkled with gold dust and we have had the most sunny weekend imaginable!
G and I had made a booking a few months ago to visit The Corinthia Hotel in London for Afternoon Tea not realising that we would be served up a Wimbledon Afternoon Tea (excuse the pun!).
We tend to always visit the bar for a cheeky tipple before Tea and since it was so warm in London it’s compulsory to have a Pimm’s. The bar area is extremely elegant and well worth a visit if you are around the Embankment area in London.
Sandwiches
We both were served our sandwiches on plates and the sandwiches had the normal fillings of Ham, Cream Cheese and Cucumber, Salmon, Chicken and Egg and Mayo. The bread was the spongy variety that you get served up and I find to be rather heavy when you have a lot of sweet treats to enjoy.
My biggest issues with the gluten free sandwiches was that they had being chilled (no problems with this but prefer the bread at room temperature) however they were so cold it had dried out the bread and gluten free bread is normally pretty dry already.
Scones
Once we were finished with the sandwiches, four of the most gorgeous baskets were delivered to our table including two fruit scones which were amazing!
They passed my scone test with flying colours – you could cut them, they didn’t crumble, they didn’t break a tooth and they tasted like real scones, they were real melt in your mouth scones which are pretty damn difficult to find when you are gluten free!
The scones were served with strawberry and raspberry jam and clotted cream which was extremely tasty however G and I have major fights over the strawberry jam when having Tea and unfortunately not enough was provided but we did request some more and it was bought to our table promptly.
G’s gluten loaded scones were light and fluffy, when G orders another round of scones you know they must be good!
Pastries
After the scones I was all set to tackle the gluten free pastries which included a chocolate and coffee cake, poppy seed cake, macaroon, Pimm’s Jelly and Lychee cup.
G ate my Chocolate and Coffee cake (I don’t like Coffee so G was onto a winner!) and the Poppy Seed cake & Lychee Cup weren’t a winner for me – the Lychee Cup tasted like cough medicine.
The Macaroon and Pimm’s Jelly were delicious however I did feel a bit hard done by as I didn’t get anything Wimbledon themed pastries.
G’s basket were full of Wimbledon themed treats that looked amazing.
At the very end, a bowl of Strawberries were provided from the plants in the courtyard of the hotel which was a great way to end the Afternoon Tea.
Tea
G had the Silver Needle Tea which was light and refreshing for a hot summers day and I had the Oriental Berry Tea which was sweet and I loved it! A must try tea if visiting the Corinthia Hotel.
Atmosphere
We had our Afternoon Tea in the courtyard area of the Hotel as we wanted to take advantage of the lovely summers day and we had a lovely private little area to enjoy our tea rather than sitting in the Lobby. I loved the look of the Lobby where the Afternoon Tea is served as it is pure elegance.
Service
I found the service to be a bit hit and miss really and I am picky when it comes to service and first impressions do count – we weren’t even acknowledged by the doorman (he did open the door) but he didn’t respond to our afternoon greeting.
We thought that we had entered the Lobby on the wrong side of the hotel as there was no where to check in for Afternoon Tea so we wandered around to the bar, where we were served drinks and I explained we had an Afternoon Tea booking. It was hard to get the bar staff’s attention (there were 6 customers in the bar) and I had to search for a member of staff to ask if it was okay for our drinks bill to be added to our Afternoon Tea bill.
We went to the Lobby area for Afternoon Tea and were ignored by three staff members (they wouldn’t make eye contact!) and eventually a lovely man showed us to our table. Just found it rather confusing to find a place where you could check in for Afternoon Tea.
Our French waitress who served our Afternoon Tea was lovely and accommodating and we spoke of our mutual love of New Zealand, this was probably the saving grace when it came to the service we received at the very beginning.
You are offered refills of any area of the Afternoon Tea so you won’t leave hungry.
Would I go back – I have real mixed emotions about this Afternoon Tea to be honest, I probably wouldn’t as the gluten free sandwiches and pastry selection combined with the bad service at the very beginning of our visit left me disappointed.
However saying this, G saw the biggest Hamburger and decided that he’s going back just to try it!
The Traditional Afternoon Tea starts at £39 per person.
Have you tried the Gluten Free Afternoon Tea at The Corinthia Hotel, what were your thoughts?
xx
