Review of Anarch’Tea at W Hotel in London - punk up your afternoon tea!
I love going for afternoon tea.
There's something about having everything laid out all pretty on a tall stand that's so enticing. Oh and don't forget the scones with clotted cream and jam! These days, loads of places offer afternoon tea at quite reasonable prices. There's even various themed ones. Recently, I went on a girly Christmas meet-up to the W Hotel to try out their punk themed afternoon tea called The Anarch'Tea. So exciting!
It was my first time inside the W Hotel, and I was instantly wow'ed by the shiny decor. As it's approaching Christmas, they had some really shiny lights up too! The dining area, wasn't quite the formal table and chairs setting normally associated with afternoon tea. Instead it consisted of low sofas, and coffee tables because this was actually their hotel bar area. To fit in with the punk theme, there was a wall of plates with some funky pictures on them. So the decor and atmosphere had won me over, now I had the food to look forward to.
The deal that we'd booked was for £30, with free refills of tea or coffee. I got sucked into upgrading to the £37 deal, which includes a cocktail - of course my excuse was that I needed to taste it to see if it's worth you guys going to!
The cocktail was called "Lust for Life" and it was a blend of Cachaça, zesty lime, sugar and passion fruit. Not sure if it made me lust for life, but it was enjoyable.
There was a long wait between getting our drinks and getting our food. (So brace yourselves if you're ever going to take a trip to the W Hotel for their afternoon tea.) When our vinyl record stand of cakes and sandwiches were served, there was an instant "woooooow"from us girls.
God Save The Queen The Sex Pistols - vanilla and almond batternberg cake. The visual impact of this was great. But the taste wasn't anything special, in fact it was way too sweet.
Shut Up - The Stranglers - frozen strawberry and basil parfait. This was my favourite of the set. Probably because the name made me laugh so much. The outside was a white chocolate shell, like a kinder egg. Inside was a strawberry flavoured mousse, and a chocolate sponge bottom. Very creative, but again not that great tasting.
The Mowhark - inside of this were two separate layers of mousse, raspberry and lime. There was again the chocolate sponge at the bottom. Apart from the blue rice paper, shaped like a mowhark, I don't think this dessert was very creative.
Going Round In Circles Alternative TV - a studded dark chocolate roulade. This was probably the tastiest of all the desserts. The sponge was soft and the cream was velvety smooth. A thumbs up from me!
The Jam - currant scone, clotted cream and jam. You can't have afternoon tea with the scones right! These were a bit of a disappointment though. They weren't quite the fluffy type - more like crispy and very very flaky. The clotted cream and jam still made it taste good though.
Gang Of Four Finger Sandwiches - smoked salmon, cream cheese & pea shoots / roast beef, horseradish & watercress / cucumber, sour cream & black pepper / aged montgomery cheddar, red onion marmalade.
I had a fun afternoon at the W Hotel's Anarch'Tea. Whilst the food wasn't bad, it wasn't exactly great either. But the concept was really cool and I'll them points for them!
Website: http://www.wlondon.co.uk/afternoon-tea
To book, call 02077581060 or email afternoon.tea@whotels.com