Guiltless, you say? As in…healthy? Yes. Yes it is. There is a healthy afternoon tea in London, and you know what, it’s pretty darn good. Back in December I reviewed the Intercontinental’s delicious Christmas Afternoon Tea, so when they invited me back to try their Guiltless Afternoon Tea at the start of the new year, naturally I couldn’t turn it down. Mainly because I was so intrigued about whether it would actually taste any good.
I invited Lotte along as we hadn’t had a catch up since a rather mediocre dinner at Rivington Grill a few weeks ago. We started with a tasty, and quite bitter, Guiltless Cocktail. It contained agave syrup and aromatic bitters as well as lime juice, cane rum, and fennel.
We then ordered our teas and started to try the alternative sandwiches. The butternut squash and balsamic caviar was Lotte’s favourite, while mine was the basil marinated manouri cheese with cucumber, and apple relish. All of the bread was gluten free, which was a little strange for us as we both love our gluten-packed bread.
Our tea arrived, and while Lotte had the Wellington Blend, I stuck to my usual; Wild Berries, a herbal infusion. We then tucked into the wholemeal scones, and piled them high with creme fraiche and homemade red berries compote. I’m usually not a huge fan of scones, and I tend to have one or half and leave the rest as I find them so heavy, but these ones I loved. They were so light, and the creme fraiche and berry compote was a fabulous change to the usual heavy clotted cream and jam.
After our feast of healthy (ish) scones, we decided to go all out and have a glass of the Moet and Chandon Rose, before finally trying the desserts.
How tall are these glasses! So cool, but also quite tricky to drink out of!
I actually wasn’t a huge fan of the desserts, I loved the red quinoa ball with cream cheese, and the polenta and almond cake was quite tasty, but the flourless chocolate and mint cake and blueberry and yoghurt chiffon cake really weren’t my thing.
Considering the entire afternoon tea is so healthy, you can’t really fault it! Often after whiling away an entire afternoon eating afternoon tea I feel so full and heavy and ‘bleh’, but I felt ‘comfortably full’ after this one, which was a really lovely change. We had such a great afternoon catching up and having a gossip over tea and cake!
You can find out more about the Guiltless Afternoon Tea here.
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*Our afternoon tea was complimentary, however as usual this does not influence my views.
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
What is this guiltless afternoon tea trend that's been doing the rounds lately?! Half of me is saying 'YES BUHBYE CALORIES', the other half is saying 'When this becomes properly mainstream (bloggers: such trend forecasters!) I'm soooo going to get judged for eating 'regular' cake and getting sloshed at tea time' haha. Not complaining though – the prospect of finishing an entire cake tier and not going into carb coma after is a tantalising one. Round 2 when I'm back in London? x
Jasiminne | Posh, Broke, & Bored
I knowwww! I'm so confused by it and don't know how I feel! I missed the calories, but I also felt…good…after?
C x
Wow this looks so amazing and different!
Yum.
Katie Loves ~ A Fashion & Beauty Blog.
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I know, I loved the variety of different foods!
C x
Your photos are absolutely gorgeous! Who knew afternoon tea could be so healthy?? I love you afternoon tea posts!!
Sed Bona
Thank you! 🙂 I know, I never knew you could have a healthy one, was so surprised that it actually tasted good as well!
C x
Disappointing about the desserts, because they look so pretty! In fact, it all looks pretty. Although, I must admit, I've never, ever, ever felt guilty about eating cake. I just love it so much.
I knowww, I was so excited to try them, and then really sad that two of them tasted so 'meh' and just a bit strange. I guess I'm just not used to desserts that are raw and healthy!
C x
I kinda missed the calories and have to agree that I didn't really get on with the puddings. I liked the chiffon cake but not the mint and chocolate and I didn't try the polenta annoyingly!
Katie <3
This looks heavenly, very jealous! Photos are incredible as well!
Lauren xx
http://www.thelifestylediaries.com
The food is like a work of art! Beautiful.
I'll be honest though, I NEVER feel guilty about my afternoon teas! Gotta splurge a little bit every once and a while. ;o)
V
Life+1
Shame that you weren't keen on the cakes. Your photography is gorgeous!
Lots of love,
Angie
SilverSpoon London