Down the Rabbit Hole...........Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea. at The Sanderson Hotel.

Hello my friends, I hope you are enjoying your weekend, my girls and I visited London yesterday for a spot of Christmas shopping, as a treat I took them to The Sanderson Hotel for afternoon tea.

This was no usual afternoon tea, it was a trip down the rabbit hole, ending up at The Mad Hatters Tea Party. I love going for afternoon tea and have been to a few but this was one on it's own, very quirky, just perfect for my girl's first experience of afternoon tea.

The staff were very friendly and helpful and upon been seated we were given the menu, hidden in a vintage book.

Next came the tea selection, which they bought in little glass bottles for you to smell the aroma, tea can be sweetened from a magical musical box, with a dancing ballerina, serenading you to 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' when opened, it's all in the detail !!!!

We went for Rhubarb and Custard tea, which was delicious, we got through two pots, tea and coffee were unlimited and the staff were very attentive and always there to get to you a refill. 

The teapot was adorned with kings and queens, wearing a crown, the sandwich plates, cup and saucers had a variety of images on, including this clock face, which all linked up to make a full picture.

Next came a wonderful array of sandwiches and cakes, not just your run of the mill cakes, it was a cross between Heston Blumenthal and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and it was definitely 'mad'.

We started off with the little 'Drink Me' potion, a tiny bottle layered with passion fruit, creamy coconut and banana puree. The waitress was saying last Christmas it was a three course meal in the bottle, starting with smoked salmon, roast dinner and finishing with Christmas pud, not sure of that !!!!

We started from the bottom tier going for the sandwiches, rolled to look like swiss rolls in a variety of wonderful colours, have you ever eaten a green, orange and chocolate brown bread before, I hadn't until yesterday. Next came mini quiches and homemade savoury and sweet scones severed with herb butter and clotted cream with jam.

Second tier was a mixture of cakes, we enjoyed a Melting Mango cheesecake, the outside was coated in a thin layer of multi coloured chocolate, when you cut into the centre, there was a ball of mango puree, which drizzled over the creamy filling, making it look like a runny egg yolk.

I went for the 'Tick Tock' Victoria sponge next decorated with a clock face and layers of cream and jam, finishing off with a chocolate teacup filled with green tea mousse.

The top tier was a teacup filled with pea shoots with meringue carrots and homemade 'strawberries and cream' mushrooms.

You could finish off with 'Jelly in Wonderland' a selection of fruit jellies, made in Victorian jelly moulds, by this time though we were all full so didn't get to try them.

It was truly a wonderful experience and would highly recommend it, I thought it was very reasonably priced too for London at £35 per head.One thing I will say children are very welcome but it isn't a themed restaurant, it is just the afternoon tea that is themed,  the restaurant is very modern and elegant.

Here's just a few more photo's of our day.

One of my favourite parts of London, Carnaby Street, I just love the eclectic mix of shops.

The Choccywoccydoodah shop, the chocolate scuptures are amazing, they really are works of art, this was the highlight of Jodie's day, she loves to watch the t.v programme and as we walked around she was saying, oooh i saw them make that, or Dave made that one, !!!!!

Liberty's my favourite store in London and after watching The Paradise on B.B.C.1, I was walking around imagining that I would bump into Moret or Denise, it hasn't lost any of it's Victorian charm.

Last but not least, we had a quick look around Covent Garden to see the wonderful lit Christmas tree.

Thank you for letting me share my day with you, it was a fabulous day spent with my two favourite girls.

xxxxDebxxx