I haven't been for an afternoon tea in a little while. Yet I do love the chance to go for a fancy lunchtime treat with one of the girls. Even better when it's in a beautiful location, which is chilled and quiet so you can have a proper catch-up! I went for an Afternoon Tea at The Green Room in Shoreditch with Kim a couple of weeks ago and it was just that. A fab experience...
The Green Room can be found on the ground floor of The Curtain hotel. It radiates sophisticated chic, with its emerald greens, deep blues, magenta pinks, velvets, metallics and simple silhouette-style floral prints. It's a beautiful location. The neon sign above the bar gives it a bit more of an edgy Shoreditch vibe. It was quiet when we visited, which is perfect for a proper catch-up and relaxed visit.
From the moment we entered, the service was friendly, attentive and efficient. Our host was knowledgable, recommending teas and describing the flavours and where they came from. We were checked back on throughout the afternoon. He was always keen to know our favourites from each tier as we made our way through. He even poured our teas for us! After brewing for 7 minutes as recommended.
On the subject of tea...
The afternoon tea menu at The Green Room comes with unlimited speciality tea included. The Green Room has collaborated with local social enterprise Hackney Herbal for the tea menu - a company all about community and wellbeing, both physical and mental. There are eight teas including the classic English breakfast and an earl grey. These are alongside The Curtain Blend, a herbal created specifically for the afternoon tea, and three teas focused on wellbeing; named Dream, Breathe and Unwind.
The Curtain Blend is a mix of spearmint, echinacea, sage and liquorice, and is a softer take on peppermint and liquorice. An elegant flavour. We really enjoyed the Breathe tea too, with lemon verbena, passionflower, oat straw and lime blossom. Again a light herbal with a beautiful lemon/citrus touch.
The teas were a fab accompaniment to our feast...
The afternoon tea at The Green Room consists of the expected, savoury, scones and sweet tiers. The savoury tier currently features finger sandwiches with a spring-summer touch, featuring gin & tonic infused cucumber sarnies, and a ham, cheddar & mustard finger. Alongside these, there are little devilled eggs and an open-top mini bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and tomato.
The ham and cheddar finger was a fave. Fantastic flavour with the mustard shining through and just the right amount of cheese. We couldn't quite taste the G&T on the cucumber, but it was super fresh, almost with an extra refreshing touch - perhaps that's the difference. The devilled eggs were creamy in the middle and pretty tasty. It was nice to have the smoked salmon and cream cheese on something different alongside, topped with fresh and juicy tomato too.
The scones, which come in plain and fruit, were sweet and kept slightly warm until we started indulging after the savoury tier. If we'd been able to fit in both the fruity and plain ones, we might have needed a little more clotted cream and jam, but I'm sure the team would have brought some over had we asked. The fruity scones were sweet, soft in the middle and delightful with the thick clotted cream and fruity strawberry jam.
On to the sweet treats and this is where the stakes were raised...
The top tier when we visited consisted of mini version of lemon meringue pies and victoria sponge, a strawberry macaron, a raspberry mousse slice with pistachio sponge, and a millionaire cheesecake.
The lemon meringue pies had a firm but crumbly buttery pastry case and a fantastic zingy filling. It was absolutely delightful. The raspberry mousse slice was another fave. The raspberry flavour was strong, the mousse creamy, and the light, super-thin layers of sponge gave it a nutty, cake edge. It was an awesome addition to the sweet treat layer!
The strawberry macaroon was VERY soft in the middle and had a great flavour too. The victoria sponge was light and fluffy, whilst the millionaire cheesecake was extremely rich and creamy, but any chocolate lovers dream.
We fitted in as much as possible, before giving in on taking the last couple of scones away to eat at home the next day. I loved the fact nothing actually went to waste as that is often my worry when ordering an afternoon tea. What a fantastic afternoon tea. We felt relaxed and well looked after the whole way through, and not once rushed - even at the end when we were finishing up.
Summary:
- Price: £30pp including tea, or £40pp including a glass of champagne. Pretty good for the whole experience!
- Food: There's plenty on the afternoon tea, and it's all delicious. Highlights include the finger sandwiches (which were super yummy), the raspberry mousse slice and lemon meringue pie.
- Drinks: The Green Room has collaborated with local social enterprise Hackney Herbal for the tea menu - a company all about community and wellbeing, both physical and mental. There are eight teas, all the ones we tried were light and elegant.
- Atmosphere: Relaxed chic, with awesome service from the team. We felt really looked after!
- Wait: Definitely book ahead if you can, although when we visited it was very quiet - I always recommend booking ahead for afternoon tea.
What is your favourite part of an afternoon tea?
Chloe xx
* I went along as Kim's plus one, receiving a complimentary afternoon tea. All views my own.
