We went to the Chesterfield Hotel near Green Park this weekend for Charlie and the Chocolate afternoon tea. I have to confess that I was as excited as a child about the wonka-tastic delights that might be on offer.
We were greeted by an enthusiastic and enigmatic host who showed us to the afternoon tea room. I was full of anticipation about what was to come.
We were seated in the main room, not the conservatory, which was very dark. We were given menus to decide which tea we wanted.
I was pleased to see that a chocolate tea was on offer. It was good, slight bitter chocolate flavour. We were told we could change tea if we didn't like it.
The trays of food arrived with very little expIanation of the content. It was from here that my special feeling started to diminish. The waiter didn't share my excitement and the selection in front of me didn't match my expectations.
The sandwiches however were really tasty. My favourite was ham and cheese, the egg was also a team favourite. We tried to catch the eye of the waiter for more sandwiches, but we must have waited about 15 minutes, until I actually had to ask. The tea waiter didn't arrive again for us to ask for alternatives. Attentiveness was not the order of the day
Onto the second layer. Although most of the patisseries tasted OK, for me they were not "out there" enough for Willy Wonka. Imagine what Willy Wonka's afternoon tea would look like! That's what I was expecting.
Onto the scones. Not the best I've had. Not enough chocolatey flavour in the chocolate one. The homemade jam seemed to be missing the sugar or it had chocolate in it. Very strange and not nice.
Ok, so you may be wondering about the Wonka bar in the picture. Had I turned the bar over you would have seen that the label was not wide enough to cover the bar and it was fixed with sellotape. Attention to detail!!! I opened it expecting to find a golden ticket of some kind. But this came later....
If anyone is intending to go to the Chesterfield, I have an unopened golden ticket you can have which is likely to give you a discount on your tea or free champagne. If it's the free hotel room, I'll have it back. I wouldn't mind being welcomed by the host again.
