What better way to celebrate the RHS’s Chelsea Flower Show, than with a bloomin’ delicious floral afternoon tea? Here’s five of our favourites:
Bluebird, Chelsea
If you’re a fan of doughnuts you’ll love this botanical-inspired afternoon tea.
As part of the Chelsea in Bloom event, Bluebird has partnered with Crosstown Doughnuts to create a special Bluebird in Bloom Afternoon Tea. Indulge in a floral feast including a Crosstown’s vegan orange blossom doughnut with pistachio. The selection of sweet and savoury treats made in-house also includes ‘the flower pot’ – dark chocolate mousse, yuzu curd & ‘soil’ and red velvet and rose petal cupcake amongst the traditional sandwiches and scones.
Cost: From £29.50 pp
When: Until 26 May
100 Queen’s Gate Hotel, South Kensington
Kensington’s 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel is celebrating the prestigious gardening event by transforming its traditional afternoon tea into a floral flourished tribute to the show.
Sweet pickled heritage baby carrots, baby beetroot and courgette flowers will sit among a selection of delicate and botanical-inspired pastries and cakes served on a bed of edible chocolate soil. Savouries will include gin and tonic smoked salmon and cream cheese on flower-shaped dark rye.
Hosted in Botanica – a tea room filled with plants and flooded with natural daylight – guests will be served the ‘Flora’ cocktail, a specially created tipple combining gin, prosecco and Aperol Spritz with an in-house blend of barrel rested Chelsea Flower and Bergamot tea.
To celebrate its Victorian heritage, the hotel will also be hosting a one-off afternoon tea and guest lecture event by modern plant hunter, horticulturalist and TV gardening presenter, Tom Hart-Dyke, on Thursday 23 May.
Cost: From £45 pp
When: Until 30 June
The special Chelsea Flower Show guest lecture and afternoon tea event will take place on Thursday 23 May and will be available to book via info@botanicakensington.com and priced at £55 per person.
Credit: Matthew Shaw
Petersham Nurseries, Covent Garden
Seasonal flowers are the centrepiece for every table and sweet and savoury delicacies are served on a beautiful hand blown Florentine cake stand.
Damian Clisby and The Petersham’s Head Chef Joseph Fox, have developed an Afternoon Tea menu that changes seasonally using the best, responsibly sourced ingredients. Enjoy British classics such as milk bun sandwiches and scones, alongside treats such as Italian dolci of crisp cannoli and warm bombolini.
To accompany Afternoon Tea, a tea tails menu has also been created, offering light, botanical, tea infused cocktails including elderflower and chamomile, and cardamom and rose.
Cost: From £45 pp
When: Thursday – Sunday, 3pm – 4.30pm
Brown’s Hotel, Mayfair
Treat your senses at this fragrant afternoon tea in honour of the flower show.
Brown’s have partnered with luxury British perfumer Ormonde Jayne to create a bespoke fragrance, ‘Brown’s Floral Blend’ for their signature afternoon tea. Guests can enjoy a selection of delicious pastries, each created with a nod to the Chelsea Flower Show by the hotel’s Executive Head Pastry Chef, Reece Collier, and a glass of champagne or non-alcoholic ‘Lavender Me’ cocktail. Each tea stand will also come with a bottle of the exclusive spring scent to take home as a gift.
The English Tea Room, where Victoria famously took tea, will be adorned with floral facies and petit posies put together by in-house florist Ellie Hartley Flowers.
Cost: From £65 pp
When: Until 26 May, 12pm-5pm
Sketch, Mayfair
From its Instagrammable toilets to the restaurant’s exterior and entrance, Sketch has been given a complete floral makeover in honour of the Chelsea Flower Show.
The transformation includes six colourful and immersive floral installations by Belgian florist Thierry Boutemy and London florists Rebel Rebel, JamJar, Figa & Co, Carly Rogers Flowers and Ricky Paul Flowers.
The Mayfair Flower Show Seasonal Afternoon Tea in the iconic pink Gallery will feature floral-inspired treats such as elderflower and lemon tart, a rose flower religieuse and orange blossom and milk chocolate macarons.
When: Until 27 May
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