Tea Time in Wonderland

Archive for the ‘J'ai comme un creux la / I'm feeling a little elevenish’ Category

The British are not particularly known for their cooking talents nor for their gourmet-attitude. They do however have nice traditions such as Sunday lunches down their local pubs…

Living in Farnborough – a very boring dorm-town – I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy a lovely roast dinner in a welcoming pub. We’re kind of lacking those around – let alone child friendly ones.

For that kind of situations, I know no better solution than blogger friends. Mindlegap certainly has quite a few addresses in stock!

We meet at the Black Swan, amidst the countryside. Lovely wooden notes, showing timbers, naturel light, lots of space between the tables, a few antiques here and there to give a nostalgic touch such as this wonderful old style cash-register. Modern and pure lines you expect to find in a gastropub bu a home feeling. As soon as you step in, a welcoming chimney, comfy armchairs in case your table is not ready yet and a pile of board games.

The place has an extraodinary feel good effect. Families do know the place – plenty of children and babies around. We’ll stay 3 hours and a half, chatting the afternoon away with not even a frown from the staff, our kids happily playing around the table.

The menu has a lovely range of British classics -  huge plates for the sunday roast (the lamb is fab), but also excellent fishcakes, wonderful mashes potatoes with spring onions…. and so much to try! Mindlegap strongly recommends the cheese platter. The bread and butter pudding is to die for -  although you could easily share it, I struggled to finish my very large portion! Oh and do steal a spoonful of chocolate-hazelnut icecream from the kids…

Plenty of tables outside for the sun days to come. A few countryside paths around too and a forest a few minutes drive away for a walk.

The place is so pleasant that time just flies. I can picture myself there every Sunday… But do book, as it is quite successful!

The Black Swan
Old Lane
Ockham
Surrey
KT11 1NG

If you read Elle or are a Eurostar fan, you obviously know of the macaron craze in France. These little treats are as usual these days as a real croissant. We have them as a treat when we need a reward, a gouter with girlfriends after an afternoon shopping, we serve them as a desert or with tea and coffee. They’re a natural part of any celebration.

When I was 18, a macaron was a regional treat. Very often, those would have originally bakes andsold by nuns, then a specific recipe become a trademark of a village, a town. The basis remains the same – egg white, sugar and almond powder. In St-Emilion, my region, the best place to enjoy them is an old cloister garden, sitting in the golden sunshine, dipping them in the local sparkling wine. Heaven.

Of course, Paris would make it more glamourous, more stylish, more… everything. Instead of one biscuit, they use two, add a little ganache or creamy filling in between. Tadaa. They come in a variety of colours too, pop-art or tender, like sweet confettis in your day.

Laduree was the first place to set the trend. THE place to get your macarons from, in exquisite collectable boxes. And of course, they have two addresses in London too. Unfortunately, I find they are too marketing-directed these days, the filling is a bit too heavy, the creations not so suprising anymore.

An ex-pastry chef from Laduree, Pierre Herme has taken them to the next level. Light a a cloud, innovative and exquisite taste. Bi-colours as well to add a little party effect.  Even better, he created a coeur de ganache – the sweet cream hides the treasure of a different flavour. I marvel each time (and believe me, I have tried an incredible number of those).

He has now opened an ephemeral boutique @ Selfridge’s and will open a proper shop in Knightbride summer-time. This is going to be such a hit!

You’ll find some traditional flavour – first quality ingredients, for sure. But I’m amazed by his latest combinations.

Try the Imagine - green tea matcha and black sesame. Oh, to die for. Even some grilled sesame seeds on top to add a little texture.

And the Fragola - basalmic vinear with creme fraiche with a heart of strawberry. You first thought is to feel realy unsure about this. The first bite give you such a smooth feeling that you get hooked until you find the sweet strwaberry and discover, that you have finished the treat in 15 seconds. You’re hooked.

Another marvel is the Magnifique - wasabi and stawberry, who else would have dares this? Not agressive a taste at all, more lemony than expected, and the strawberry center, well, it just melts you away.

Go on and put your tastebuds in  heaven!

Pierre Herme boutique
Selfridge’s
400 Oxford Street
London W1A 1A

£8 for4 macarons

Love fair!

- Gasp in amazement at the Wildlife photographs @ the Natural History Museum. This takes place every year and is a real marvel.

- Learn about forgery in art @ the V&A…

- Get to know the designer stars of the future…

- Into kinetic and robotic? The Kinetica art fair is for you….

- Don’t forget Valentine’s day is coming up! Find a vintage treasure @ this jumble and pearl sale or at this glassblown objects sale… Even more finds at this love fair!

- Or arrange to tour London in a mini-Cooper!

- Fancy a walk and some fresh air? Why not discover the Jewish quarters? Or an Indian food walk?

- Enjoy a day @ Kew Gardens -  as lovely in winter as in summer – and get some exotism in the conservatory presenting collections of colourful orchids and tropical flowers…

- Have teenagers dreaming of making movies? Take them to the BFI Future Film Festival!

- Have a look at the possible sculptures for the Spittafield Market and vote for your favourite…

- Try a restaurant with a difference – dinner and circus show!

You’ll find me wandering through the Russian festival, having a lovely Chelsea Chai @ Yumchaa and enjoying French electro music with Anne B’s concert (thanks to Le Petit Journal). How about you?

Oh, and if you have the time, go and check out this giant ice cube in front of the Tate next week. 3 days only!

I recently discussed the concept with colleagues. This was completely unknown to them, the idea felt kinf of obscure. They visualised a kind of crypt, dimmed lights, a gothic theme maybe?

This trend is fascinating. Forget formal restaurants. People like you and me, passionate about cooking decide to take it a step further. A restaurant is a big risk, a huge responsability and they’d rather have the fun of it while still having a financial security. Do it wheneever they feel like it, whenever they’re inspired. But also share the experience with the fans rather than being locked in the kitchen all the time, slaving over dishes. They’re breaking away from the cold business side of it, injecting fun back into it.

Curiosity already took me to the Hidden tearoom for the most wonderful afternoon tea. I still can taste the cheddar biscuits… I spent three hours chatting happily with strangers.

I’m taking Celine along with me this time to test the most famous London one: the Underground restaurant. MsMarmite Lover loves to juggle with ideas and recipes so check dates and themes on the website. Be quick! She’s full in not time.

Tonight’s based on the Realm of Senses. I must admit I always feel a bit shy before ringing the bell. An evening with strangers could be boringly long. I have always been proved wrong: the only fact that you’re there proves we all have a sense of curiousity, adventure, a love for London and good food and that is enough for hours of conversation on end. You’ll find a great mix of people. around our table, we chatted over travels, blogs, books, cinema, cookin, we laughed and compared and commented and shared.

What was on the menu? Ceviche to start with with seashore background noises. I am used to the Tahition way of using raw fish – in a sweet coconut milk sauce. This is surprisingly refreshing, vary fragrant with yuzu and ginger. As for the music? I’m afraid we were chatting way too much in our enthusiasms to notice it…

Follows a selection of Indian dishes – coconut dahlt, indian salad with cucumbers and pomegranate (could have eaten bowls of this), creamy curry with aubergines and a delicious but intriguing vegetable that kept us wondering for a while (a tinda, an exotic kind of squash), fragrant rice… We are to eat with our fingers as you would in India. laughs explode – we’re obviously not that gifted… It is true that you savour the food more, think about it more, notice the colours. With a fork, it’s easy to separate easily abit of rice with that sauce or that one. Eating with your fingers forces you to mix more ingredients together, some you would not have mixed usually. It’s a success. we’re hooked. And the greatness of it all? You can have seconds!

Guests now hold their breath – here comes the smell experience. A huge slice of durian, which smell is almost pleasant and lemony but which will be faithful to its reputation. We all happily try, plunginh our fork in the white flesh and are unanimous: vade retro satanas! Interesting though as we all wanted to try, never would have bought the fruit (huge and expensive – £30 for one!) but really were curious about it. another thing to tick on “to do before I die list”. Also comes a huge Stinking Bishop. very mature, actually running and escaping on our table. The smell is strong but any cheese lover woul fall for it. The taste is cremy, a bit nutty and… well, it didn’t last long on our table. Nice touche to have served it with almonds too!

The desert is welcomed enthusiastically. We are blindfolded for this dish. Not easy to find your ramequin, oops, that was the table, the neignour’s hand, ah, here it is! Always easy to find a taste when you’ve seen it written down before. Here you have to think. Rich chocolate for sure… A different layer on top – I’m a creme fraiche addict, and recognise it immediately, creme fraiche ice-cream, elegant and fresh on the heavier chocolate cream. But the base? Ah, a complete mystery. It’s caramel like, and crunchy, and popping? A clever mix of peacn nuts and popping candy… Not knowing how much is left you really make the pleasure last…

This is more than just dinner, it’s an evening, an entertainment, a fun taste adventure. All thanks to the amazing MsMarmiteLover who reminds me of th fairies in Disney’s version of Sleeping Beauty: cheeks pink with pleasure, sparkling with happiness and joie de vivre, almost flying from one table to another, interested in everything and everyone, happy to sit down and chat and share with you. She’s so contagious! Add to this that she has lived 7 years in France and speaks perfect froggie. I can only take pride in that.

An occasion to be renewed as often as possible!

MsMarmiteLover’s blog: http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/
This way for tickets!

Whenever my stomach start grumbling, I inevitably go back to Wardour St. Such a choice in that street! Will it be… Yauatcha’s dimsums? Flavoured rice @ Busaba Eathai? Finger-licking humus @ Hummus Bros? Cupcakes @ Hummingbird’s newest branch?

…or will I just rush to Princu’s, a fabulous Milanese bakery?

You will, like most passers-by, stop in your tracks and look through the windo at the bakers at work, or loaded with brownies, pannatones…

Just jump in! The choice there is incredible… Entire trays of fruit tarts, delicious cheesecake, olive foccacias, huge portions of Italian salads, scrumptious ricotta and spinach rolls… For a fairt price too. You can have lunch there for less than £10 and without the usual restaurant 12.5% service charge.

So delicious, you’ll just have to come back the following day to try some more.

Don’t forget to take some of their fragrant bread home with you (made with organic flour)!

Princi
135 Wardour St
Soho
London
W!F 0UF

Snow, icy rain, a ray of sunshine? Just get a hazelnut hot chocolate at the nearest Starbucks and off you go!

- Play the culture card with the latest Van Gogh exhibition…

- Knit yourself a scraf while enjoying a lovely cup of tea…

- dream of a long gone Covent Garden…

- try an afternoon tea – new style…

- Hunt for art deco @ the decorative antique fair…

- Take a garden fan to the potato fair!

- Get your 70ies outfit for the projection of Mamma Mia on a giant screen @ the O2…

- Toast the famous Scottish poet Burns…

- sprinkle with some alternative art…

You’ll find me @ the Underground restaurant Friday evening for curious experiences… What are your plans?

Oh, feeling so lazy these days. But come on, plenty to do!

- Admire extraodinary ice sculptures @ Canary Wharf Friday and Saturday…

- Enjoy the V&A newly openedMedieval and Renaissance galleries. You think you’ll just walk through them and end up staying an hour!

- Redecorate your house thanks to the London art Fair…

- Learn about 200 years of North-American rituals and traditions @ the British Museum…

- See something new @ the Saatchi Gallery: Richard Wilson’s new structural art work, 20:50…

- Turn slow movement into art…

- Take the kids to the mime festival…

- try the new pie and mash restaurant in Covent Garden…

- Find a colourful way back home, at nightfall, through Jubilee Park…

- and sleep @ the Natural History Museum! £45 for 5 children 8-11 and 3 adults. A night visit, torch litof the galleries, a film projections, talks about insects… Ideal for adventurers!

You’ll find me instead… cocooning in front of a roaring chimney fire with a mug of cocoa in Cheshire. How about you?

My friend Benoit is going back to Paris shortly. He hasn’t experienced an afternoon tea yet! It’s hard to find one at the last minute, a quality one usually needs to be booked 2 months in advance. We thought we’d take a chance and step in the Athenaum – a five star hotel, rewarded this year by the Tea Guild Award of Excellence. This sounds promising and the tearoom does not look overwhelmed with customers.

I’m not sure we have any table left…

We point at one behind the young woman. Two free seats. Confused, she asks us to sit down.

We ask for the afternoon tea menu. The waitress brings one  for two – so much easier to choose… but this only shows alcohol and cocktails. We call her back, she exchanges it for the correct one. For some reason, it is not possible to have one per person.

We select the Mistletoe afternoon tea – £34, usual price for such a standing.

Tea arrives, served in silver teapots, lovely China cups, refined flavours.

Here comes the Golden Fizz cocktail. The side of the flute is sticky as if it hadn’t been cleaned properly. Mmmmh.

A larger table is available, we are asked whether we would like to move. We’re delighted. However it proves to be close to the entrance with icy air coming in when the hall door is opened. A cup of tea gets cold within two minutes. We adapt.

The waitress brings a plate of sandwiches: roast Turkey and Seasonal Berry Chutney; Honey Roast Ham with Red Onion Marmalade; Free Range Egg and Cress; Scottish Smoked Salmon and Cucumber with Cream Cheese. I am asked to choose. I’m surprised – the whole set has always been included in the upmarket afternoon teas I have tested before. I ask one of each. I’m even more perplex when I notice a whole plate being offered to a nearby customer without asking him to select anything. These are nice enough, each finger sandwich having a different kind of bread.

15 mn pass. Ah, here is a tower of treats. First level: an elegant scoop of clotted cream. Second level: two servings of jam, a strawberry and a blueberry one. The menu stated “mixed berry and vanilla jam”. Mmmm? Which other berries? Which vanilla or is it incredibly discreet? How come the top of the jam is so solid it comes away with the spoon? How long has it been sitting in this bowl? Third level: three tiny scones -  cranberries and spices, well baked, tender and fragant, the highlight of the tea.

Another 15mn. Again, I am asked to choose from a selection of cakes. To my knowledge there is no “or” in the menu. And the portions are small – understandable and usual for a selection, not if you are to select only one. I request one of each. Ok, but nothing transcending. A slice of chocolate yule log. A tasty mince pie. A star shaped shortbread, each branch dipped in white chocolate, sprinkled with dried tasteless strawberries. A snowflake cupcake: that size actually is referred to as a fairycake. A dollop of icing, not enough to cover the cake, a little coconut. Not much taste to it. I know where to find better ones! I actually can cook better ones!

That’s when our waitress suddenly disappears. We chat, we finish our tea. We grap our coat – it’s getting chillier as the temperatures drop outside. Most customers have left. Some arrive and ask for dinner.

40mn wait. I am now pretty fed up, ask a waiter for the rest of the afternoon tea. He brings an extra teapot and a plate of pastries. An ok stollen cake, a cupcake and a mince pie (already got those), mini chocolate Santas in foil paper – supermarket treats? – a hard marshmallow dipped in chocolate.

The Aberfeldy Single Malt Whisky Fruit Cake and the candy canes are nowhere to be seen. I’m pregnant, tired, annoyed and really cold. I ask for the teacake and crumpet which were supposed to arrive between the stollen and the chocolate santas. The waiter tries to bluff his way: oh, we usually bring them last. Sure. Entirely credible. Nice try.

Here they come. Only half a toasted teacake and a crumpet. Both lukewarm. The butter will not even melt on them! The crumpet is still cold inside…

I just want to be out of here. We arrived at 16h30, it is now 18h45. I ask for the bill, refusing to pay for the service. No one will bother asking why. No sign of a manager. Not even an excuse or a compensation. This is a joke of a 5* service.

The quality of the food is nowhere close to luxury. Neither is the service. Since when are the customers cold in such a place? Left aside to wait and check what should be on the menu? On what is this Tea Guild of Excellence based, exactely? We definitely haven’t had the same experience.

This was Benoit’s first experience of an afternoon tea. And of a palace.  He’s not likely to try it again.  What a dispappointing time!

You want to impress a lover, a mother in law? Stay away from this address. Prefer Yauatcha. It will not be a 5* but at least the service is correct, the treats exquisite, the wow effect really close to luxury and the portions bigger: one of their scones is bigger and tastier than the 3 presented here. Oh, and it costs £10 less.

A definite lack of elegance, taste and care towards the customer.

The Athenaeum
116 Piccadilly
Mayfair
London W1J 7BJ

Fed up with the Xmas spirits, the enless chase of the perfect gift, the false beards on Santas? Would much prefer to press fast forward to your ski holidays?

Well, I have the perfect break for you – climb up to the Rooftop Alpine Lodge. Chalet atmosphere, very cosy, wooden decoration, fur on the stools, bowl of nuts with a nutcracker on the side, open fire, logs… have a look outside – the mini-terrasse is covered in snow, the trees are silvered and there’s even a mini helicopter.

You forget everything instantly. Take your shoes off, indulge with a pair of thick socks – plenty available for free when you come in.

Order a mulled wine – peppery, lots of orange notes, the best I have had in years. But be warned: you’ll feel so comfy, hypnotised by the dancing flames of the fire that there are high chances you will either spend the whole afternoon there if not fall asleep!

Mulled wine is at £4 – other cocktails (including some caramel vodka) are available. Or order some charcuterie, tartiflette, fondue to share (for £2, count £18/£20/£20).

The rooftop Alpine Lodge
2a Tabernacle Street
London EC2A 4LU


Booking: 07000 847876
Open till the end of February 2010

Fed up with Xmas shopping? A few ideas to forget all about it…

- Well first, you need energy. Carluccio’s has a special -10% on their deli this Thursday. Best of all, you’re welcomed with mulled wine and canapes…

- T’is the season to be eating finger-licking good treats! Head for the chocolate festival on Southbank.

- Don’t forget the new exhibitions: question your identity @ the Wellcome Collection or test artistic technology @ the V&A.

- More of the street art fan? Head for the Flying Eyeball.

- of course there is the pop-up of the week-end: Elton John’s clothes and stage outfits on sale, profits going to his AIDS foundation. Not whithin your budget? Try Barnardo’s vintage shop on Carnaby street to pack a bargain!

- Rediscover England with fascinating landscape pictures @ the National Theatre…

- Take the kids to a panto: there will be a toy Aladdin one @ Covent Garden on Sunday…

-… or pet an ice polar bear on Trafalgar Square….

- … or your toddlers to a Baby disco party on Saturday! Shake it, baby!

- Why not an interactive Treasur Hunt?

- a last festive note: the Tate Britain is setting up its artistic Xmas tree this Friday.

Did I forget anything? Leave me a note!

You’ll find me @ the Earth exhibition (then trying to choose from one of the gorgeous cakes at the Sketch Pop Up) and at the strange and amazing House of fairy tales