My 300th review goes to St. Ermin's Tea Lounge in London!
I was truly impressed by everything here including the location, atmosphere, food, and service. On my first day in London, I wanted to try authentic British Afternoon Tea. I love afternoon tea back in the States, so I was very eager to try out a couple of places in London.
After checking into my Airbnb, I decided to go get some high tea. I chose St. Ermin's because it looked very fancy, accompanied by good reviews and enticing menus for a fair price.
When I arrived, I was enchanted by the arch of greenery that greets you when you enter the hotel from the street, and by the beautiful architecture of the hotel itself.
I was honestly worried I would be treated poorly because I'm a foreigner, and wasn't dressed formally. However, the staff was so nice! They promptly seated me, brought me a menu, and answered all my questions. They even let me try two teas! Normally don't, but they were happy to make an exception for no additional cost. I chose these two teas:
1) Fruit Berries
It was quite sweet, and when paired with the sweetness of all the desserts, I think it got too sweet once I started eating desserts.
2) Jasmine Blossom
Love a good green tea, and this was very refreshing, along with being a great palate cleanser between bites of different foods.
Afternoon Tea Menu:
Savoury Sandwiches:
1) Prawn with lemon and dill
2) Cucumber with mint and chive cream cheese
3) Cumbrian ham, Montgomery cheddar and pickle
4) Carrot and raisin with mint, coriander and houmous
5) Coronation chicken
Sweet Desserts:
1) Blueberry mousse, lemon and mint curd, juniper sponge
This one is a favorite of mine, especially since it's so pretty and shaped like a tulip.
2) White chocolate ganache, hazelnut caramel, raspberry compote and vanilla sponge
So cute, shaped like a flower pot! Biting into it was overwhelmingly very chocolate-y.
3) Choux bun, cherry compote, whipped milk chocolate and vanilla cream
As pretty as this looked, it was much too creamy and heavy, and I couldn't finish this.
4) Peach and apricot mousse, cinnamon sponge, thyme cream
This one was cute as well, shaped like a peach. Unfortunately, it was so creamy, I couldn't stomach it much as well, and left a portion of this ruined and uneaten. :(
5) Strawberry jelly, vanilla custard and basil
Tasty! It's just incredibly sweet. It's also topped with a raspberry.
On top of all that, there were two freshly baked scones, with clotted cream and jam. I was so enraptured by everything, I almost forgot about scones until a waiter asked if I had gotten them yet. It was so nice of them. Clotted cream and jam on warm fresh scones is such a guilty pleasure for me.
They were also very kind to provide me with water at my request. I kept asking for water so much, they also left me a bottle at my table.
Although the menu has the tea listed at £30, the bill came out to £33.75 ($41.43 USD). It was very much worth it all for a very fair price, I'm so happy I chose to come to St Ermin's for my first afternoon tea in England! Everything was simply beautiful, even the ladies room! Highly highly highly recommended! read more