Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea @ The Sanderson Hotel

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Posted 2014-07-19 by Praneel Lal-Beadnell ⇒ follow

When you come to London on holidays, it is easy to get caught up in being an A-grade tourist. This basically means that Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and The London Eye are all destinations that you feel you must go to. If you take a step to the side and fall down Alice's rabbit hole, you will be pleasantly surprised by what else you might find. Keeping the very English tradition of afternoon teas alive, yet giving it a much needed re-vamp, are the amazing chefs at The Sanderson Hotel in London's Fitzrovia, they are the geniuses behind the the Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea, which is taking Londoners by storm.

The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea is an experience like no other. Each intricate detail has been thought out to perfection with the result being a creative Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon.

No stone is left unturned, the menu is placed in vintage books, the napkins are wrapped in riddles, creative crockery displaying ticking clocks, zebras and birdcages adorns each table. It does not stop there: there are also teapots highlighting kings and queens and a working ballerina jewellery box housing brown and white sugar. The item that ties the creative outlay together is of course the three tier set, filled with decadent sweet and savoury treats that make up the afternoon tea.

A selection of unique teas are available. When my friend and I went we were able to choose between: Strawberries & Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, Apple Pie and Rhubarb & Lime. These came out in gorgeous teapots designed by Luna & Curious.

Each item on the tiers has been eloquently placed with a creative twist. Instead of sandwiches that are cut into triangles, you will find these rolled with delicious fillings such as salmon & lemon butter on rye bread, cucumber & chive creme cheese on spinach bread and smoked Cumbrian ham with mustard on sundried tomato bread. You are able to order as many sandwiches as you like, however it is best to work through the tiers, as you do not want to find yourself full on the base one. There is also a selection of savoury and sweet scones that are accompanied with herb butter, clotted cream and fruit preserves. We each had a delicious Sundried tomato scone and apple cinnamon scone each, along with a vegetable quiche. Last to complete our base tier was the impressive 'Drink Me Potion', which allowed you to work through four layers of flavour - these being passionfruit, lemon curd, banana and strawberry.

The middle tier has a selection of a melting white chocolate cheesecake encased in a colourful rainbow design (all edible of course) there is then a luscious 'Tick Tock' traditional Victoria sponge, which was moist and perfectly layered and lastly a distinct chocolate tea cup filled with green tea and white chocolate mousse. Each item was mind blowing, the hidden mango in the cheesecake gave a sweet tang, while the green tea mousse provided a great balance to the dark chocolate.

The tip top spot was taken over by cute 'Carrot' shaped meringues on a bed of pea shoots, and adorable 'Strawberries & Cream' homemade marshmallows, shaped as mushrooms.

There you have all the layers (shown in the picture below). An additional treat on the side of the afternoon tea area is a choice of two Jelly Wonderlands. One was a delicious passionfruit flavour and the second a lime.

The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea at The Sanderson Hotel must be booked in advance and you have a total of two hours to complete the tea. Trust me, after this feast you will never want to leave the rabbit hole again.