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{Travel Tuesday} High Tea in London

Fancy a spot of Tea?

Fortnum & Mason. The Queen's tea store of choice.

Also the venue of our High Tea to celebrate my birthday. (I booked it the day before my birthday to celebrate my grandmothers birthday so that she could be there in spirit)

Mom & I

Being a traveller on a budget, we eat the cheapest food we can find.

Eating delicate sandwiches and a multitude of desserts while sipping tea out of ridiculously over-priced tea cups was a bit surreal.

The decor is simple and tasteful. 

There is a menu with your choice of over 80 teas! The tea choices are wider than the food choices. I really wished I was a tea drinker at that moment.

Our waiter placed a 3 tiered stand of food in front of us and assured us that we were welcome to order more should we like. (it looked so little, I was looking forward to ordering more)

I ordered a pot of tea (I don't drink tea... But when in London...) to accompany our glass of champagne and tower of eats; scones with clotted cream and homemade preserves, finger sandwiches - cucumber, salmon, chicken.
And Dessert - a whole variety!

Dessert

I was so stuffed by the time it came to dessert, but had to sample everything on offer. With just a bite from each I felt terribly wasteful, but I had to say I knew what they tasted like. 

As I was settling back in my chair to ease the pressure off my over-fed stomach, the waiter brought over a slice of cake topped with berries for my birthday. (noooo!) 

We politely thanked him and to not seem ungrateful I ate 2 mouthfuls of cake. I didn't touch cake for a long while after that trip!

Happy Birthday

After the meal we walked around the immensely impressive shop.

Shopping paradise

Complete with every possible flavour of tea you can imagine as well as Preserves (I highly recommend the Lemon Curd) and biscuits and fudge and toffee- it is British heaven!

The decorative tins of goodies make for a lovely souvenir for the special people back home (be careful though.... The pretty metal tins of tea are £12.50 -  more expensive than the standard boxes of tea)

I do recommend you buy yourself a box of the Butter Toffee. Worth it!

We took a few photos of the window displays and I snapped a quick selfie before returning to the real world... Of normal people.

But first - let me take a selfie

Clutching our Fortnum & Mason bags on the tube felt a bit ironic. I wonder what the locals thought of us... Too poor for a cab after spending so much money at F&M? Haha!

This is an experience I would definitely recommend if you ever travel to London. Save some money and treat yourself. The money you spend on this event can be made up for by following a strict budget for the rest of your trip.

I'll entertain you with more of that when I tell you more about my trip.

Have you had any memorable High Teas where you live?