Weekend Cooking: Afternoon Tea Diaries - The Library at County Hall

The last few times we have been away we ended up doing foodie walking tours. I have posted about our walking tours in Paris, Naples and in Victoria on Vancouver Island previously. This time we didn't manage to do a walking tour, but we did fit in two afternoon teas. 

We love an afternoon tea, and so I thought I would starting an infrequent feature called The Afternoon Tea Diaries, where I can share some of the afternoon teas we have. I say this will be infrequent because afternoon tea is, and should be, an occasional treat, not least of all because it is an expensive exercise. Having said that, we do have our next afternoon tea booked in for October, although we call it a high tea here.

First of all, what is an afternoon tea? Traditionally it is a light meal which includes sandwiches, scones and cakes served with tea, traditionally served between  12 noon and 4pm.  I saw something which suggested that if you add a glass of champagne it becomes a royal tea, but I've never seen it advertised as such anywhere. Even though we in Australia would call afternoon tea high tea, technically they aren't the same thing at all. Traditionally, high tea was what the servants ate after they had served the afternoon tea! Might explain why some Australians called dinner tea I suppose!

I knew when we were going to London I wanted to do an afternoon tea, but there are literally hundreds of different options. There are the very formal afternoon teas at hotels like The Ritz, afternoon teas in amazing locations like The Shard. There are whimsical afternoon teas and fantastical afternoon teas. Some have a dress code and others aren't so strict. There's even afternoon tea on a sightseeing bus. And the cost can vary from quite reasonable to more than 100 pounds, so it is quite a treat.

There are so many options that there is even a website called AfternoonTea.co.uk to help you find the right option. I wish I had of found this website earlier.

When I was trying to decide which one I spent a lot of time researching, and I came up with a short list. The first was afternoon tea at the National Portrait Gallery, which at the time had an Audrey Hepburn theme. The second option was afternoon tea at the British Museum and the third was The Library at County Hall, which is the one we ended up choosing because ..... location, location, location and also Library!!! 

County Hall is situated right on the River Thames, right next to the London Eye, so in this picture we would be on the first or second floor on the very right hand side.

So, here's the menu:

One of my favourite things about this afternoon tea was this box of different flavoured teas. We were able to smell each of the teas and pick what we wanted to drink. I chose a chocolate infused tea, to go along with our champagne!

While we waited for our tea we had a chance to take in the ambience. Of course, there were the views out of the window, but the decor inside the room is great too. As the name suggests, this used to be the library at County Hall, and the way the book filled shelves have been left in place it makes it feel very intimate, almost booth like.

Once our tea arrived in lovely matching china, it was time to start tucking in to the savoury part of the afternoon tea. I was surprised that we could have as many of these as you wanted. We went back for seconds on the goat's cheese tart and the truffled egg mayonaise brioche buns, they were so good, but you do have to be careful. After all, you need to leave room for the scones and cakes. Unfortunately, apparently I completely forgot to take pictures of the scones, but but they were fabulous too. I

Unfortunately, apparently I completely forgot to take pictures of the scones, but but they were fabulous too. I would never have thought to put lemon curd with scones, but it went so well with the sweet basil scones!

And now....the main event!

The hardest part is deciding which one to eat first. They were all delicious, but if you made me choose my favourite then it would be the Raspberry and Passion Fruit Delice, but they were all good! It was a really lovely afternoon!

Needless to say, we didn't need dinner after this feast.

We shared this afternoon tea with my step daughter who is now living in the UK, and it was so great to spend this time with her! The next day we headed to Brighton to see where she is living and had fish and chips on the pier, which is about as far from the formal afternoon tea as you can get!!

Weekly meals

Saturday - no dinner
Sunday -  Meatballs
Monday - Honey Garlic Chicken with cauliflower fried rice (new)
Tuesday - Sesame Garlic Vegetables with rice (new)
Wednesday - Pork Nachos
Thursday - Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake
Friday -

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page