Strawberries, Champagne and Tea

Brian took me to London for Valentine's Day, and the highlight of our trip was going back to the Rubens for afternoon tea. The Rubens is a lovely hotel across from Buckingham Palace where the people of the court used to stay. The hotel itself is amazing! A few years ago, we had the privilege to stay there. These days, we just enjoy the tea. It all started with the chocolate drizzled strawberries, above.

Those were accompanied by champagne. Well, Brian doesn't like champagne, so he opted for beer. We relaxed and enjoyed the view. By the way, the best view in the house is the chaise lounge in front of the window. People watching is an exciting sport.

They have a new pastry chef there, which explained the lack of petit fours. In their place were these mildly sweet yet delicious desserts. The merengue swan was my favorite. Scones and clotted cream were tasty as usual. And of course, the starter tea sandwiches were simple yet provided a little bit of something savory that we needed. The tea I had that day was the chocolate tea. Very nice. They have a great selection--their berries tea is also good. My mom enjoyed that during her visit. Brian had to rebel and have coffee. He enjoyed the French press. All this tea talk is making me thirsty. Think a nice cuppa Yorkshire Gold should do the trick.