is there anything more british than afternoon tea? maybe. probably. who knows. what i do know is that i really wanted to do afternoon tea while we were in london, and it took very little internet research before i stumbled upon sketch. a boozy afternoon tea in a blush pink room with velvet pink chairs? yes, please!

the place is definitely weird and wacky in all the best ways, with each room doing something different in a different theme. the gallery where afternoon tea was everything i hoped and dreamed it would be.

we did the champagne afternoon tea, which started with a choice of sparkling or sparkling rose. i obviously opted for the rose. we also each got to pick out our own pot of tea, with well over 20 to choose from.

the first course was served by the caviar man, in a wondrously pink suit and bowtie. the eggs and soldiers were freaking delicious - very rich and creamy, and the egg “white” was really a cheese mornay. i could eat this every day.

eggs and soldiers: comte cheese mornay, 63 degree egg yolk, comte cheese soldiers, sturgeon caviar. — *eggs and soldiers*: comte cheese mornay, 63 degree egg yolk, comte cheese soldiers, sturgeon caviar.

from there, a bowl of gougeres and a tower of assorted cakes and finger sandwiches made their way to the table. as someone who doesn’t love sweets, i didn’t really care for the cakes, but the gougeres and sandwiches were amazing.

eggs truffle gougere

gougere with egg mayonnaise and black truffle mix.

petits gateaux

coconut and cranberry marshmallow, pineapple & coriander tart.

petits gateaux

vanilla and hazelnut battenberg, passionfruit opera cake, chestnut and lemon choux.

sandwiches

cucumber and ricotta black bread, coronation free range chicken.

tart and sandwich

foie gras tartelette, salmon and jacob’s cream.

lastly, we got fresh baked scones with clotted cream and some sponge cake. overall, it was a really lovely experience and i’m so glad i was able to get reservations.

one last note - the bathrooms are weird. we didn’t even need to use them, but our server said that we should definitely visit them. when you enter this very white room, there is a big pod in the middle with a bar inside. but if you go up the stairs around the bar pod, there are many mini pods that are individual bathrooms. and lots of people taking pictures (yes, i know, myself included). it was all very odd, but all very instagram-friendly i guess.