The Sheraton Grand Park Lane: Magical Afternoon Tea! | GIFTED

Now, I have seen some food porn in my time, but this is a whole new level. As you will know if you follow me on Twitter and Instagram, I was invited to the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel for afternoon tea last weekend and my goodness was it good!!!

I don’t really even know where to start with writing this post! As it was Halloween weekend there were a few special additions to their traditional Afternoon Tea including an amazing champagne cocktail that changed colour as if my magic in place of the traditional glass of fizz, the incredible Tony Middleton (www.magichourshow.com) doing card magic for us that I still cannot get my head around, a fantastic halloween themed chocolate centrepiece, and even some halloween themed cakes and bakes too!

Magical additions are all very well and good (and lots of fun!), but when writing about an afternoon tea, for me, there are certain boxes that you simply have to tick. These, for me would have to be;

1. The Tea (obviously!)
2. The Fizz (all afternoon teas have to be a bit tipsy and giggly, right?!)
3. The Sandwiches
4. The Scones (with jam AND cream!)
5. Some kind of dessert/pastry yumminess

…..so, bring on the food porn, because The Sheraton Grand Park Lane ticked every box with so much gusto and brilliance, I couldn’t stop myself taking hundreds of photos!

The Tea

The Hotel was build in 1927, and as such, the hotel now serves 27 different types of loose leaf tea, from the traditional to the obscure – and having tried 3 during our visit, they really are brilliant! I also absolutely loved the beautiful tea cups, following the bird theme of the gorgeous Palm Court Afternoon Tea room.

The Fizz

Proper Champagne (Moet, darling!) mixed with a blue tea extract made a gorgeous purple coloured champagne cocktail, perfect for halloween weekend. We didn’t know what to expect when the glasses arrived with the dark blue in the bottom and it was such a brilliant effect – they changed colour when the champagne was poured in – like real magic!

The Sandwiches

Such a variety of flavours! We were presented with a selection – Free Range Egg Mayo & Watercress; Confied Chicken Curried Mayonnaise on Basil Bread; Honey Roasted Ham with Celeriac & Mustard remoulade on beetroot bread; Crayfish Marie Rose & Avocado with Rocket and Smoked Paprika; and my personal favourite, Severn & Wye Smoked Salmon, Caper Cream, Dill & Seaweed Scone. The Seaweed scone was completely amazing – I could have eaten it without anything on top and I would still have loved it! The rest of the sandwiches were all fantastic (the curried chicken in particular!) – we did have one of the crayfish sandwiches that was missing some crayfish, but regardless, the quality of the flavours were so beautiful, it’s clear some real thought has been put into this delicious selection – YUM!

The Scones

Oh my good god! Seriously. I’ve never been a huge scone girl. I mean I like them, but these were a cut above the rest. The scones themselves were so light and fluffy, and they didn’t just come with Jam and Clotted Cream but also a Lemon Curd and an Apple Jam too – The portions are fantastically generous, there was enough for each of us to have 2 full scones (with extra to split between us!), and we completely smothered them in all the toppings – the homemade jam in particular was absolutely spectacular!

Serious Food Porn incoming!

Dessert/Pastry Yumminess

Following the magic theme, these dessert were all created as a tribute to the oldest forms of magic tricks. Sawing a Lady in Half (Carrot Cake), Pulling a Rabbit from a Hat (Chocolate deliciousness!), The Crystal Ball (Gin & Tonic Jelly on a Mini Sponge) & The Classic Card Trick (White Chocolate & Raspberry Cakey yum!) – such a great idea and a fantastic way of bringing the whole day together into a proper spectacle.

The whole afternoon was so very special – the setting of the Palm Court room was completely gorgeous, we were treated like royalty (Big thank you to the incredible Maria who waited on us and made us feel very very special!), the magic tricks honestly made us question everything we considered to be true in this world, the extra halloween cakes that we were given in a goodie box as we left were delicious (Particularly the little ghosts below – how cute!), the amazing chocolate centrepiece was completely remarkable – the whole set up has been so brilliantly thought through! We had a fantastic afternoon; the perfect girly afternoon!

Thank you to all the staff and team at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane for making our afternoon so brilliant – We will definitely be back!

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*This fabulous Afternoon Tea was gifted to me, however all views are my own*

The Sheraton Grand Park Lane can be found on their website, on twitter and on instagram!

A Few Extra Photos (I told you I took a lot!)

The Incredible Magic of Tony Middleton (www.magichourshow.com)

The Extra Cakes and Bakes – All Halloweeny – TOO CUTE

Chocolate Centrepiece – Amazing!