Victorian Tea at the V&A

Every Sunday for the last few months, the Victoria and Albert Museum has been hosting a Victorian afternoon tea in their restaurant - of course I had to go. So a few Sundays ago, a friend and I went to sample the delights. I wish I could have gone in costume, but unfortunately my historical clothing wardrobe does not currently extend to Victorian day wear (I am hoping it will one day). Also walking in costume through central London is not fun at the best of times!

So here is the lovely reproduction china and the delicious food. Actually some of the food was interesting, but not quite my taste, but most of it was yummy. :)

Closeup of the food :) 

The menu. every dish was made from a Victorian recipe.

Isn't this glass so pretty!

The tea was held in the original William Morris part of the cafe, so perfect location for a Victorian tea. 

A few more pics of the decor.

Malta Regency Weekend 2016

In April I spent a lovely week in Malta with some friends. It is somewhere I have wanted to visit for a while, mainly because my father was born there and my grandmother talks about there time there quite a bit.  We spent most of our time in the city of Valletta. 

The Grand Harbour

A very picturesque street

Georgian playing card stamps

We wondered around quite a few lovely museums. In one we found a sedan chair which rather suited Zack's outfit. :)

Meditating in the garden

Taking a boat across the Grand Harbour

Another view of the Grand Harbour

Old Mint Street - the steepest street in Valletta. 

Next - Regency Malta :)

Tea Update: Soho's Secret Tearoom

A few years ago I wrote a post on what was once one of my favourite tearooms in London  - Soho's Secret Tearoom. It was a fabulous 40's inspired tea room with beautiful china and table linen, delicious cakes, and polite staff who all wore 40's clothing, oh and there was 40's music playing. :) Suffice to say it was pretty fabulous. :)

However, a few months ago a friend and I decided that it would be fun to go back there. We were really excited, but sadly we couldn't have been more disappointed. The beautiful table linen, 40s music and clothing had all gone. The tables were covered in ugly plastic table clothes, the staff were dressed in modern clothes, the china was dirty and the chocolate cake I had was, well Mary and Paul would give it a thumbs down, (so not great!). Also my tea cup was particularly dirty, but when I showed it to one of the waitresses and asked for a clean one, all she said was "oh they are all like that, it's just a stain", and walked off!! I decided to try to clean it with my napkin, and surprise surprise it wasn't a stain! So I ended up having to take a clean one off another table!! The whole experience was pretty dismal. The only conclusion I have come to is that it must be under new management. It is so sad as it used to be such a lovely tearoom.

Tea at The Original Maids of Honour

It's been a while since I did a proper post on a tea trip. The main reason being that most of the tea places I have tried recently really haven't been worth posting about. However, a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I decided to try The Original Maids of Honour, which it turned out I couldn't not mention! It's is quite a well know tearoom which has been around since the mid nineteenth century, but I hadn't been to it before as it is all the way out in Kew. All I can say is that it was definitely worth the trek to get there!!

Proper sized tea cup. Not one of those tiny ones which can only hold a mouthful. 

Rather a pretty one too. :)

I would have preferred the tea pot and milk jug to have been china and not metal, but otherwise all was fabulous. :)

Delicious food. Fabulously light and fluffy scones, yummy chocolate flake cake, and lovely ham and cucumber sandwiches. (They usually give a wider selection of sandwiches, but I am rather picky when it comes to sandwich fillings, so they kindly offered to give me a plateful of only the ones I liked!) 

A Maid of Honour - the recipe is a highly guarded secret. Of course I had to try one. Not much to look at, but was a deliciously lemonny tart type thing with lovely fluffy pastry. Absolutely scrumptious!! :)

Outside they had two wonderful old delivery vans. 

So the curtains are looking very tattered,the carpet could be less psychedelic, and the loo needs to be refurbished, but those are just cosmetic things. The food is delicious, the staff are polite, friendly and efficient, and the atmosphere is fabulous. I half expected to see Miss Marple walk through the door as it looks exactly like the tearooms shown in various tv adaptations! It is the perfect place to go on a wintery afternoon, and without a doubt one of the best teas I have ever had in London.

Tea at the Lanesborough Hotel

At the beginning of November last year, I had tea with my family, to celebrate my birthday, at the Lanesborough Hotel. The Lanesborough is an interesting hotel, as up until quite recently it was a hospital! However, you would never guess now that it wasn't built as a hotel. I think they kept the original facade, and completely remolded the interior.  

Tea is served in the hotel restaurant, Apsleys

It has a sort of modern take on art deco style.

Have to take photos of the china. :)

The food. It was delicious apart from the cucumber sandwiches. They are usually my favourite but these ones seemed to have rice in them! Rather strange.

The all-important clotted cream and jam. :)

I didn't remember to take a photo of the scones until we had already started eating them! :)

One of the waiters overheard my family wishing me a Happy Birthday, and they brought me this. For some reason I cut out the cake, but it had a candle on it and was delicious (the cake not the candle!!!). :)

After we had finished eating I wondered around the hotel reception and found these amazing flowers

...and a lovely regency portrait. :)

Love the gown.

Apart from the strange cucumber sandwiches, it was a wonderful tea. Not only was the food good but so was the setting, and the live piano music. I also loved the fact that when the pianist went on his break, they put on the soundtrack from the 1980s version on Brideshead Revisited!!!! :) 

Though not the absolutely best tea I have had in London, it is right near the top and I would definitely recommend it. :)

Jane Austen Festival 2013 - Part 4: Bea's Vintage Tearoom and the last few days of a week in the Regency.

New years resolution - write posts, at the latest, a week after an event, not 4 months later!!!!!

My final post on JAF 2013.

Towards the end of the week I decided to go back to Bea's Vintage Tearoom and have a proper afternoon tea. The food was delicious, as was the atmosphere - 40s music, books on the 40s for customers to read and a few lovely 40's dresses in cabinets on the walls. The only thing that could have been better was the cake, they had rather odd flavours, and no victoria sponge (a vintage tearoom which doesn't serve victoria sponge!!). Apart from the cake it was wonderful and I would definitely go there again. 

Another event I attended during the end of the week was a talk on using modern make up to get a regency look. 

It was very interesting. I am appalling at putting on make up so I learnt lots of useful tips. 

I also attended a talk on using modern scarfs to make Regency looking turbans. 

Different turban styles

It was great fun trying to make all the different styles of turbans.

Barbara looking very elegant. :) 

A rather blurry photo of me. :)

I also attended a dance workshop, another ball and a friend held a fabulous card party. Bizarrely I didn't take any photos! I must have been having too much fun to remember to take any! :) But Nora and Aurora have some lovely photos, of a few of the events, on their blogs.