
Award Winning Art Afternoon Tea: Rosewood London
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” The Portrait of a Lady
I couldn’t agree more with that quote by Henry James. Whenever someone mentions afternoon tea, I get excited and I just can’t resist it. This time, I tried the Art inspired afternoon tea at Rosewood London Hotel which won the Best Contemporary Afternoon Tea 2017. The rich and decadent afternoon tea is served in the equally lavish yet welcoming Mirror Room restaurant.
Rosewood
Rosewood has quirky interiors that represent and reflects the British history and culture. The eclectic mix of new and old art throughout the hotel works very well. Together it creates a unique balance of interest and familiarity. The attention to detail does not stop with the interior design, but extends to the modern and classic mix of crystal, china and silverware laid on the tables. Once you are able to drag your eyes off the prism mirrors covering the ceiling and prop yourself up from their lush long couches. You can start deciding whether you would like traditional tea and choose from their extensive tea selection or champagne (R de Ruinart/rosé) with your meal.
Executive Pastry Chef, Mark Perkins, has taken inspiration from London and the hotel and created 5 incredible pieces. Each influenced and crafted to resemble works of London’s most renowned and respected iconic modern artists.
Art Afternoon Tea
As with any afternoon tea, we always start with a selection of traditional sandwiches:
- Maldon smoked salmon, cream cheese and lemon
- Le Madru ham, Comté and wholegrain mustard
- Coronation chicken, curry and sultanas
- Avocado, tomatoes and basil
- Egg mayonnaise and chives
More sandwiches was kindly offered, but we politely declined and moved onto the scones. The plain and raisin scones were both a delight! They are one of the best I have had in any afternoon tea (in the world!). They are freshly baked everyday in their paastry kitchen and served with Cornish clotted cream, lemon curd and homemade strawberry jam. These are absolutely perfectly made in size, taste and texture and made my afternoon tea experience more complete.
What we really came for
It’s all about the art – the concept and the execution. The reason this afternoon tea was voted the Best Contemporary Afternoon Tea.
Yayoi Kusama
“All the eternal love I have for pumpkins”. Milk chocolate mousse, passion fruit cremeux with chocolate set on chocolate sable biscuit
Banksy
“Girl with a balloon”. Chocolate cube filled with vanilla cream choux, salted caramel, chocolate cremeux
Alexander Calder
Mobile sculpture. Pistachio bavarois, cherry jelly, pistachio sponge sprayed with red chocolate decorated as a Calder mobile
Damien Hirst
Spot painting. Cassis jelly, yuzu curd, white chocolate tart finished with Hirst dot decoration
Mark Rothko
Abstract Expressionism. Layered coconut sponge, raspberry, coconut mousse, decorated with raspberry chocolate
The pastries were all very rich and luxurious, maybe even a bit more than I had expected. This would be a great afternoon tea choice, if you’re a big fan of desserts and dark chocolate.
Verdict
Personally, this is not one of my favourite afternoon teas, but definitely one of the prettiest. If you love art and desserts with rich complex flavours, then you would definitely enjoy this. The ambience of the Mirror Room was comfortable, relaxing and classy. The staff were attentive and friendly and you get a dose of food and culture in a single sitting. What more could you ask for?


Price starts from £50.00, which is on par with similar afternoon tea’s in London, such as Ting at the Shard. You will find the Mirror Room restaurant open 7 days a week, but please book before you go. You can find out more on their website.
Have you recently visited the Mirror Room or tried their Art afternoon tea? What did you think? Do you think they deserved the award? And would you attempt at making your own Art afternoon tea?
Thanks for reading and until next time…
Love, MsMamaBean x
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Comments
Oh how I love to a good afternoon tea and I am over do!! It all really does look gorgeous even though very different from what I’ve experienced.
There are so many quirky Afternoon teas in London, you really got to try them all. 😊
Whoa, those desserts looked crazy but probably tasty or at least I hope they were. You had me at Chocolate mousse and the Banksy art thing was cool.
Darc & I had our first afternoon tea experience in Cardiff, Wales several months ago near Cardiff Castle and I was shocked how much food you eat…it was as much as a regular dinner. And looking at your feast, it seems similar. Though I would say the ambience though very eclectic and “cool” isnt really my style
The surroundings are amazing although not to everyone’s liking, it can feel a bit much. The food was absolutely gluttony and pure indulgence for all of our senses. Afternoon teas really do spoil you rotten!
This place looks so relaxing and amazing. Those deserts look beyond interesting! I used to have afternoon tea a lot back in Thailand, now that I am in America I kicked the habit but I miss it so much! Thanks for the kind reminder!
Aw no need to kick the habit, a once in a while treat would be equally amazing 😉
I love restaurants well decorated and this one look stunning! Everything is more enjoyable if the decor is proper.
It really is a beautiful venue and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
Wow! Everything about this is beautiful – the place and the food! I love afternoon tea, this place looks like it’s definitely worth a visit! Thanks so much for sharing with #Blogstravaganza xx
Wow! That hotel/restaurant is really beautiful! The dog looked so realistic I thought it was an actual dog! The food looks nicely decorated, I hope tasted as good too! 🙂
It really is a beautiful place and a feast for the eyes. The food was lovely but the pastries were a little too sweet for my liking. X
Lovely art, combined with teatime this makes it even more wonderful.
The desserts so yum, i would love an afternoon like that.
This place look so beautiful. The tea and the cakes look so delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I am impresses with this place. It looks so nice but yet relaxed. I will love to try afternoon tea.
Very nice! You’ve certainly convinced me to pop by for a visit. I also like the photography here, well done!
Thank you! I would love to hear what you think about this place when you do get to visit. X
Oh wow the cakes look incredible. Definitely little works of art. 🙂 x
#twinklytuesday
Goodness me those deserts look spectacular – in fact too special to eat! They sound delicious too although very rich I would imagine. It sounds like a very indulgent and fabulous experience and the photos are beautiful. Thanks for linking to #DreamTeam x
Oh wow! I need to visit this place! Not too far away from me either!
Oh wow, what a beautiful spot! Those desserts look so good – definitely worth the visit just based on those alone!
Hope you are having a lovely week so far 🙂
Away From The Blue Blog
I love me an afternoon tea session!! #blogstravaganza
Good post. It all really does look beautiful even though very different from what I’ve experienced.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear you had a very different experience. It would be great to hear your side of Rosewood was. Hopefully we can feed this back to them and improve where necessary. x