Afternoon Tea at Gore Hotel

Writing a post that is laced with sweets and chocolates before dinner is probably not a good idea, especially now that I’m on a pre-Christmas diet, cutting down sugar, doubling up the greens, switching coffee to green tea, you know ….which is really more of an idealised way to mean “desperately trying to keep my ballooning waist under control” (yup, the truth is always not as glamorised.) By hook or by crook, I need to shoehorn myself into the new christmas dress. Nonetheless, I really want to blog about this afternoon tea at the Gore Hotel.

If you are a regular at this lot of feeling that, on certain days, you are just adamant to try something new, only want a pleasant yet familiar taste, then this afternoon tea is for you. It might not be as insta-famous as the fashion forward Prêt-à-Portea at the Berkeley or wacky as the Mad Hatter’s at Sanderson, but Gore Hotel’s very elementary yet exquisite afternoon tea really is a treat that every gelid soul deserves this winter.  

First image: Gore Hotel Gallery

So it was four o’clock, Sunday afternoon. After a stroll from Knightsbridge to South Kensington, we decided to escape the darkened sky and toddled off into the tea parlour of a quintessential British hotel a stone’s throw away from the Royal Albert Hall.   

It was a very cosy atmosphere, albeit opulently flanked by two oversized ornate brass mirrors and a collection of artwork. There was a long table full of giggly women, lots of chitty chatty and then there were a few soft-spoken couples brewing up their wintry romances. The shiny chandelier pinned to the sculpted ceiling at the centre of the room gave the parlour a concluding touch of luxury in a blend of British eccentricity.

I had a pot of rose tea to myself and waited cheerfully for the arrival of those cherubic goodies.

Starting with a tray of sandwiches – the mandatory crunchy cucumber with cream cheese, smoked salmon with a slather of dill crème fraîche in poppy seed bread, slices of honey roast ham with whole grain mustard, and my all-time favourite eggy mayonnaise. All gone within a tick. 

Then came the bride and the bridesmaids.

Not sure who’s who but I’ll take the liberty and crown the scone the big classy bride because she’s the only one dusted with icing sugar white like a veil. Yeah, my logic is also what you can call amazing humour. Thanks. 

So, starting from the bride, Sconey. I have been to a few tea places in London and honestly, Gore Hotel’s Bistro 190 is one of them that makes a really good old satisfying scone.

Everyone obviously has their own definition of the perfect scone but I can only have my own input here, which is one that is not too crumbly and has a texture slightly moist and airy. That’s a good scone for me and all that characteristics I succeeded to find in stonkingly good Sconey. However, the cake pop was a little bit of a spoilsport because I am never a fan of sweet (sickly) chocolate frosting. Apart from that, the lemon macaroon, the amaretto opera cake, the berries tartlet and the white chocolate cheesecake were as tasty and comforting as expected. 

All in all, it was a standard treat, exactly what we needed, a break to calm down our overly festive nerves. Oh all that glittering lights and shopping, have you bulked up your own set of christmas muscles already?

With love x