The Art Afternoon Tea at the Rosewood was a new, modern twist on the traditional tea. Served in the beautiful Mirror Room and also recently voted as the Best Contemporary Afternoon Tea in the UK, it is well worth a reservation. Executive Pastry Chef, Mark Perkins’ collection of pastries are inspired by artistic movements, Cubism and Pop Art, making for an exciting experience to enjoy both with taste and sight.

My family actually joined me for this experience and it was a lovely afternoon after a long flight from Atlanta. We started off, as is my favorite way to start off any tea (or meal for that matter!), with a glass of champagne. With selections of both a sparkling rose champagne and a brut, we went with the classic brut. Moving into the first course of sandwiches, we also made our selections of black teas to accompany. Between the group of us, we sampled everything from a classic English Breakfast and Earl Gray, to a more adventurous Queen Victoria Darjeeling. My personal favorite of these teas was actually an herbal called “Brume de Jasmin”.

The sandwiches were a definite hit with selection of:

• Corn-fed chicken, tarragon mayonnaise, basil bread
• Kentish egg mayonnaise, truffle, caramelised onion bread
• English cucumber, cream cheese, heritage wheat bread
• Open-faced Scottish smoked salmon, capers, pickled shallots and
  keta caviar

Moving into the scone and first pasty course, the art came into play. The first pastry course was inspired by Cubism and Pablo Picasso. Cubism is an abstract artistic style of the early 1900s. Along with classic scones, the pastries featured work of Pablo Picasso including the Blue Period (mango and lime macaron), Weeping Woman (raspberry choux) and the graphic, geometric features of cubism (jivara chocolate tart). To go along with these treats, we selected herbal and green teas. My favorite of these was actually a more fruity red tea, Rouge Opera.

The last pastry course was specially designed in the “Pop Art” style. Connecting the dots, Cubism is one of the aesthetics that later inspired iconic artists such as Andy Warhol in the 1950s, and the entire Pop Art movement. The three final delectable pastries featured Roy Lichtenstein (Banana cheesecake, passion fruit and caramel mousse, chocolate brushstroke decoration), Yayoi Kusama (Yuzu mousse with a strawberry and yuzu jelly insert, green tea sponge cake, pink sable) and of course, Andy Warhol. The Warhol inspired pastry was actually my favorite bite of the day. Designed to mimic the iconic Americana “Campbell’s Soup Cans”, the pastry itself was filled with Cherry jelly, white chocolate, milk chocolate mousse, vanilla crémeux, flourless chocolate cake, cherry ganache.

While not the traditional afternoon tea, this was a fascinating and delicious culinary adventure with excellent service and scenery. Highly recommend scheduling this into your next trip to London!

-MAL