London: Tea Time in Wonderland

British are not know for their chocolatier, bur believe me my friends this one steps aside.

Instinct usually guides me to complex, poetic, floral alliances: jasmin… orange and geranium… basil… Moroccan mint… Here you’ll also find starwberry or fig marshmallows. Enought to get your radar mad! But classics are a little piece of heaven too.  Do fall for the chocolate and liquid salted caramel. Oh, I have to close my eyes even now.

Decoration is retro, comforting. A bunch of flowers made with colourful sugared almonds here, chocolate laybugs there. The packaging was inspired by an French engraving of 19th century chocolate mould an declined in different colours – butterflies cut out of it fly away on the walls.

As Petra from the Choc star van, Chantal Coady was led by her passion for chocolate. A punkish art sudent, she just jumped for adventure in 1983 – only with a few weeks experience at Harrod’s. Well, that’s a lesson: always follow oyur dreams, especially if they’re 70% cocoa made.

Do prefer the Knightsbridge boutique.  A window in the floor gives a view of the workshops going on. You can take chocolate lessons here, whether you’re a grown-up or a junior chocoholic.

This is one of my secret hideaways. There is a tiny garden behind -  a lovely court, only a handful of tables, white walls, mosaics and a few white roses… Blue sky above you, round mirrors reflecting details… So peaceful! Get rid of your watch and iphone, get a coffee and one of their marvelous truffles and just forget everything.

Rococo Chocolates
Belgravia/Knightsbridge
5 Motcomb Street
London

Vegans will find their heaven here too.
Cross the street and gasp at the huge meringues and splendid tarts from Ottolenghi.
Macaron-fans will be delighted to learn Pierre Herme will be opening his boutique a street away from here in September 2010. You’ll have to beat me there!

A whole week of sun, even a mini heat-wave… guys, it’s barbecue-time and Pimms: let’s celebrate!

- The pianos are back! pretend you’re Mozart, improvise, make everybody dance…

- Oooh, it’s time for the V&A late night, on architecture this time. And there will be jazz too…

- By the way, it’s the festival of architecture with plenty going on!

- Be zen this week-end with taichi and yoga workshops @ Greenwich park…

- The summer festival is back @ the National theatre and there will be plenty of free shows on the stage on Southbank…. check out the program!

- Great, the beach is still there!And the appearing rooms also are back at the Southbank centre – the kids love those…

- Make your bets for the dragon boat race!

- Have a taste of honey @ Barbican…

- Rediscover London with songs …

- Are you ready for Wimbledon? I’m not but this tennis themed afternoon tea looks just perfect to me….

- Take your little ones to see the Charlie and Lola exhibition…

How will you enjoy the sun? I’m escaping to Paris for the week-end, ohlala!

Booking a gorgeous afternoon tea in on the 5* hotels in London can drive you close to tears – you’d better plan weeks (if not months for the top ones) in advance.

An alternative to cope with the frustration is to try the Wolseley, neighbour to the Ritz. Of course, the addess is well known and often full but I have always been lucky around 14.00-15.00.

The atmosphere takes me back to the cafes in Vienna. The attention to detail, the golden touches, the art deco style, the amber light… Do prefer the small room on the left to the entrance. Cosier and you can glimpse at the bigger room’s counter through the window and see the afternoon tea towers all ready to be served. Mouthwatering and so elegant…

In the center, a round table presents today’s cake, all sheltered under a glass bell, like pretty jewels… Raspberry tart (my favoury, pastry, a layer of raspberry coulis, thick vanilla cream, a crown of raspberries), battenberg, kougloff, apple and poppyseed cake… I’m amazed you cannot see a round circle IN the floor where customers have circled this again and again, unable to choose.

The list of teas is not extensive but is of premium quality. You’ll only find classics here: Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Assam, Jasmine, Green Tea… but the pleasure is in serving it. A huge silver teapot and silver milk jug, silver forks and spoons, silver tea strainer…

You can of course go for a cream tea (£9.75, fruit scone and tea), an afternoon tea (£19.75 – scones, sandwiches, pastry, tea), the champagne afternoon tea (£27.50, same as before but with a sparkling glass of Pommery champagne).

I prefer to come for breakfast. The pastries are deliciously French… croissants with butter, sugay bread wit Normandy butter, even my childhood pastry from Bordeaux, a cannele… Or go for a brunch! This is where I first tried haggis and I fell in love with their peppery version served with fried duck eggs. Alternatively, go crazy, ask for the caviar omelette (£55 though)!

However the Wolseley was never meant to be an trendy cafe/restaurant. In 1921, this beautiful marble on the floor, those decorated arches and pillars sheltered a car showroom for the Wolseley brand. They bankrupted quickly – 1926 – the sold the palace to the Barclays Bank who settled there till 1999. This sweet oasis only welcomed hungry customers in 2003. Good for us shall I add. Now, will you want a cloud of milk in that tea?

The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly
London W1J9EB

Count £10 for a tea (the teapot serves 3 cups) and a lovely slice of cake. But oh! The luxury and pleasure of the moment!
Would you rather go for chocolate heaven? Try La Maison du Chocolat, just opposite Fortnum and Mason, a 5mn walk from there.

Bubble tea lovers, rejoice! Here is another bubble tea address!

My friend Melody found it for us. Hidden in a corner of Chinatown, you could actually walk past without noticing the colorful sign leading you to the first floor. Take the table near the window – lovely view one of the sculpted doors of the neighbourhood!White walls, modern, lots of light. Not your expected Chinese cafe. But do not worry, the menu certainly is exotic enough and we were the only two European looking sitting there. Everything is trasnlated in English of course and the staff is adorable and discreet.

You now get three different options:

o Bubble juice – fruit juice and tapioca pearls

o Bubble tea –fruit juice, black or green tea and tapioca pearls

o Bubble milk – that one’s new to me, flavoured milk and tapioca pearls

Even better, those can be served cold or hot. By 25 degrees, the choice was pretty obvious but I can’t wait for a rainy day as an excuse to go back and try the other version.

And 30 flavours to choose from! Watermelon, honey peach, coconut, kiwi, passionfruit, green apple…

Verdict : the mago bubble tea is very velvety and you could drinks liters of the red plum bubble juice. Somehow you could stay there all day. the drinks are served in sundays kind of glasses are certainly are the best I have tried so far.  Even the tapioca pearls are just the way they should be, chewy but not too much.

The menu also proposes a wide range of Eastern deserts I will need to come and taste -  this makes me so curious: soya milk with jelly? Tapioca pearls desert with syrup? Coconut jam? It looks straight out of a manga and even if you are not convinced, your mind switches on the I wonder how its tastes? mode…

Add to that the free wifi -  I’m surprised they don’t propose fidelity cards yet!

Candy Café
3 Macclesfield St
Chinatown
London
W1D 6AU

Bubble Milk: £3.55 to drink in, £3.40 to take away
Another address? Jen cafe, two streets away.

So many times, I had stumbled upon Lola’s cupcakes stand @ Selfridge’s or read in magazines that they were indeed the best cupcakes in London. The crowd had always stopped me. From a distance, I could see colourful cupcakes, but well, you see those everywhere these days. It held no wow factor over me. I felt blasee, and had a few good addresses to satisfy my sugar cravings already.

But pregnancy, you see, has this effect on you: it seems you’re hungry all the time. Like, there, just in front of Lola’s counter and oh joy! no customer for one. I mean, isn’t that a non-disguised call? Have me, eat me, now! Why resist, right?

It’s late afternoon – most of the flavours have gone. One of their strengths is to bakes them in several batches throughout the day (hence always proposing moist cakes) rather than a sole morning delivery (and dry sugar by midday). I hear Cheryl Coles has a weakness for this brand.

Not surprising. *munch-munch*. They’re pretty gorgeous. Nice and melting as a they should. And the cake is flavoured too – I get bored with the endless vanilla – the carrot cupcake is a treat! The icing is butter based and the dose is just right for the mini-ones. I do not think I could manage a full size one without feeling a bit sickened at some point. But all the better: I’m much happier trying a few miniature flavours instead! Do try the banana one, it’s the perfect comfort food for grey, rainy days.

The range also counts some classic flavours and some appetizing one: peanut butter, banana-chocolate, vanilla-coconut… Also this month, a limited edition with Gu - a 70% cacao ganache, brownie effect for the cake. Come early, they sell like mad!

A birthday coming up? Try those giant cupcakes… (£45, though)

The best ones for me still remain Ella’s @ Covent Garden. To better sabotage your (or your worst ennemy’s) diet efforts, try those:
- The Hummingbird Bakery
- The Buttercupcake Shop
- Treacle
- Primrose Bakery

LOLA’s Cupcakes Bar
Selfridges Foodhall
400 Oxford Street
London W1C 2BU

Prices to go: £2.25 foor normal ones, £1.10 for a mini
A few tables on the side – enjoy with an espresso! Prices to eat in: £2.65 for a normal one, £1.30 for a mini.
Two other addresses, one @ Harrods food court, another @ Mayfair. However those sadly do not propose any table.

The Columbia Flower Market is one of our favourite haunts. Bunches of colourful flowers everywhere, vintage and design boutiques… Such a treasure!

Zigzag-ing endlessly, you quickly feel a little elevenish, though.

Do try Columbia Cafe for their fab range of bagels. Out the boring BLTs, pastrami, cream cheese and salmon! hoooray for crayfish and cress, English Breakfast or the sweet strawberry version!

A really friendly service and very satisfying for a mere £3-4.

Feeling like a real dessert?

• Walk up the street for a yummy cupcake @ Treacle.

• Or step into Vintage Heaven. Passed the vintage china hides a tiny tearoom with a lovely selection of cakes…

Columbia Cafe
138 Columbia Road,
Bethnal Green,
London,
E2 7RG

I discovered Bubble Teas in Toronto, while strolling through Chinatown. At the time, it was unknown in London: an iced drink, made with black tea and flavoured to your choice, with tapioca pearls (boba) at the bottom to be drwan out through a large straw. Refreshing, soothing, slightly sugary. Ideal to take away.

A year later, I tasted my second one in Sydney. Oh, bliss! A watermelon one, I recall. Still none in London.

Since then, Ping-Pong has added them to their menu. Sadly, they’re a bit bland, the bubbles having no taste at all.

So when the Londonist published a post with a few addresses, I jumped in joy and rushed to Jen Cafe.

The post mentionned a milk pearl tea and 20 combinations. Slightly misleading – only one actually has tea – the best ones as far as I’m concerned – the others are a mix of fruit, ice and bobas: pearl drinks. Not as satisfying as the original ones. Still a pleasant option if you are fed up with smoothies and colas. The tapioca pearls are the right consistancy and you happily chew away. Banana and green apple remain my favourites and are worth stopping at this o-so-tiny cafe. The dishes are relatively cheap, smell heavenly.

Looking at the menu, I know I’ll be back: sesame? Peanut? Unusual flavours. According to the Londonist, we’ll also have to try HK Diner for their alcoholic versions.

Jen Cafe
4-8 Newport Place
London WC2H 7JP

£3.30 for a pearl drink
Beware: no card accepted, get some cash first! No space for a buggy in this mall cafe, better to take away!

There’s spring in the air, get your snickers ready!

- Go and enjoy the East London Festival – so rich in music festivities, world culture, architecture, guided tours…

- Play with words @ the London Word Festival

- Add a splash of colour with this Hindu festival

- take the kids to a different week-end @ Barbican – poetry, Indian lanterns, bollywood dances…

- Since you’re @ Barbican, try a little alternative music. Yep, those are real birds. And it’s free!

- Fancy a little Alice in your week-end? Here a Mad Hatter Ball, here a little bit more about Lewis Caroll’s talents, and there a colourful tea-time…

- Oh, don’t forget, it’s National Pie Week! A few tips here and there…

I’m planning an easy week-end – cinema! Spoilt with both the new Tim Burton and Banksy’s first film, Exit through the gift shop. Which by the way plays @ Barbican, in case you feel like a whole day there. Oh, and maybe I’ll go and try those Asian sweets too…

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

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