Scents of Summer: Afternoon Tea at InterContinental London Park Lane
Intercontinental is one of our favourite hotel groups and their venues always impress with excellent service and 5* luxury. Cat Gray recently visited the Intercontinental in Los Angeles and enjoyed some old style Hollywood glamour; meanwhile, closer to home, we popped into the Intercontinental London Park Lane to try the latest Afternoon Tea offering.
The limited edition Scents of Summer is available right up until the last week of September. This Afternoon Tea heralds an exciting collaboration between InterContinental London Park Lane Executive Chef Ashley Wells and Edward Bodenham, 9th generation of the world’s oldest family-run perfumers, Floris.
The Scents of Summer Afternoon Tea
While it may sound a little unusual at first to combine a dining and perfume experience, this is actually a really wonderful idea because it enables a full sensory journey. With a floral theme running throughout, the Afternoon Tea combines perfumery expertise and culinary talent to celebrate the beauty of British summertime.
It would be rude not to accept the offer to enjoy a glass of pink champagne at the start of proceedings, especially when the Intercontinental has stunning glassware. We have never seen such tall and elegant champagne flutes!
Considering that this Afternoon Tea takes a couple of hours to fully play out, an ice cold glass of Moet Rose proved the ideal way to start.
The pretty sandwiches
The tea selection is extensive and whether you like to experiment with various types of green tea, opt for vanilla infused tea or try the rose bud style, there is one to suit every taste. However, during this Afternoon Tea, guests are actually encouraged to sample more than one tea in order to complement the food as best as possible.
The sandwiches were beautifully prepared and the bread was also coloured and presented in lots of different shades. The spicy chicken was a great contrast to the lighter salmon option, with feta and spinach also among the selection. This was followed by delicate scones that were accompanied by plain clotted cream, earl grey infused butter or a lemon curd choice. The scones were the perfect size and smaller than normal, which was great because you didn’t feel as though you had eaten too much before reaching the incredible finale.
Perfectly sized scones
As with the previous servings, an invigorating fragrance was sprayed over our table to mark the start of the final course. Floris fragrances maximise the Afternoon Team experience and include scents such as freshly cut grass, jasmine, bergamot, citrus, and rose. The selection of treats that concluded the sitting was definitely a highlight. An edible garden was positioned in the middle of the table, which featured pretty flower inspired treats, including the bit size cakes decorated with pansy leaves, macaroons, summer berries and even tasty chocolate ‘stones’. It almost looked too good to eat… almost!
As our Afternoon Tea experience came to an end, we sat back to relax in the grand and comfortable sofa seats while admiring the view that looks towards Green Park. The hustle and bustle of London life was passing us by and it felt as though we were enjoying a paused moment in time and wished that it could last forever.
Afternoon Tea is served in the Wellington Lounge and you can find out more here http://wellington-lounge.co.uk/our-teas/scents-of-summer/ It is £45 per person and available until the 27th September 2015. Telephone bookings: +44 (0)20 7318 8509
