Afternoon tea – TING at Shangri-La, at The Shard

I love Valentine’s Day – for me it is just another perfect occasion to spoil my amazing boyfriend, Phil, and also the perfect occasion to get spoiled!  Between Phil and I both working, meeting up with friends, work outings and family it’s sometimes not easy to try and find some “us-time”.  Valentine’s Day sorts this all out! Every year, on the 14^th of Feb, it’s our time.  Magical.  And this year Phil made it extra special because not only did he take me out for a lovely local Italian on Valentine’s Day itself but he also asked me to keep the following Saturday free.  It was a surprise! He asked that I be ready on Saturday at 2pm, there wasn’t going to be a lot of walking involved (always good when you’re choosing what shoes to wear) and a smart-casual dress would do nicely.  

Saturday 2pm came, we had a short walk to the station and ended up at London Bridge Station.  After a very short walk we were stood in front of the Shard.  It’s a magnificent building and towers above London at 95 storeys high.  We were welcomed with beautiful flowers in shades of pinks, reds and whites filling the entrance. Phil was taking me for Luxury Afternoon Tea by TING, at Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard – I could not wait to get to the 35^th floor and spend my afternoon eating sandwiches, scones and all things nice whilst just absorbing the views!

Our coats were taken and we were led to our table over-looking London where menus were laid out.  We both decided to start off with champagne – after all, this was a special occasion and there is no better way to start the experience.  I went for the Duval Leroy, Prestige, Premier Cru, Rose Brut NV and Phil had the Veuve Clicquot, Yellow Label, Brut, NV.  We mostly went for different champagnes so that we can taste more variety and I have to say that I preferred Phil’s choice today (that is the case a lot of the time!).  It was crisp and a bit more sparkly with lots of bubbles.

We were then presented with a palate cleanser on a wooden slate filled with infused dry ice – it was beautiful and lemongrass infused “smoke” filled our table and brought pure delight! It was so pretty.  The palate cleansing tea was nice too, light and refreshing.

As with all afternoon teas there was a set menu of sandwiches, scones and mini desserts to finish.  The waiter made sure to let us know we could have an unlimited supply of everything we are being served. 

The tea selection spanned two pages and was filled with black teas, green teas, white teas, oolong teas, rooibos teas, Shangri-La signature teas, infusion and fruit teas.  I tried very hard to make my way through as many of the teas as possible and my favourite tea was most definitely the Rose Buds Tea with a floral aroma and delicate rose flavoured infusion.

The sandwich selection included a ham sandwich with English mustard mayonnaise on granary bread, a cucumber sandwich with soft herb cream cheese on rye bread, a verbena poached chicken sandwich with soft herb mayonnaise and a Scottish smoked salmon sandwich with lemon butter.  The ham sandwich stole the sandwich show!

An afternoon tea just would not be the same without scones served with clotted cream and strawberry jam.  There is this age-old argument on the order that clotted cream and strawberry jam should be should be served on a scone.  I tried both ways and controversially can conclude that I prefer cream first followed by a dollop of jam.  I view the cream more as butter and that way you ensure that the jam can be spread more evenly on top of the cream to make every bite of your scone pure heaven.  Do try both and let me know what you think!

The four little desserts were next and beautifully presented.  My favourite was a chocolate and blood orange dessert closely followed by the matcha tea and raspberry choux.  I have had many a macaron and found the raspberry and rosewater macaron a bit overwhelming.  There is a trick to working with rose infused desserts and this time round the rosewater filling was overpowering and took away from the rest of the subtle flavours.  It was still very edible!  Phil’s favourite was the apple tart with basil.  I think the presentation of these little desserts was superb but more work is needed mastering them and the flavours they intend to exude.

In between all of this I managed to make my way to the ladies which in itself was something to witness!  There were magazines to read, an array of chargers in each cubicle and seats in each cubicle were warmed.

We left feeling very full, I felt very spoilt and very lucky! I have been to a few afternoon teas and I’d most definitely recommend you swing by TING for an awesome experience. 

Overall rating: 8/10 (I am a harsh critic!  Marks deducted for the fizz needing a bit more sparkle and the chicken sandwich needing a bit more flavour)