Amazing place in London. I love the food. can’t wait to come back here again. Congratulations to the staff.
For an experience that is truly out of this world - the science afternoon tea at the Ampersand Hotel comes highly recommended! Smoking cake-stands are stacked with space-inspired goodies including planetary macaroons, chocolate dinosaurs, mango mousse volcanoes and a medley of scientific instruments. Savoury gougeres provide a refreshing alternative to the traditional staid sandwiches offered up at traditional afternoon teas. This is all washed down with the widest range of teas.
Being a Londoner I don't usually get to stay in a London hotel, so when I was invited to take a look at some of the rooms at the Ampersand Hotel in London, I was pretty chuffed. Like the rest of the hotel, all rooms have a theme that reflects everything Kensington Borough has to offer. For those of you not in the know: There a loads of museums in the area, such as the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. Also the Royal Albert Hall is a short stroll away from the Ampersand Hotel. All of these famous London landmarks are represented in the hotel's decor.
One thing I've surely embraced since moving to the UK is afternoon tea and last week I was invited to try out this utterly English tradition at the Drawing Rooms. The Drawing Rooms is the tea room at the fairly recently opened Ampersand Hotel in the heart of Kensington, and I couldn't think of a cheerier spot to indulge in tea, finger sandwiches and scones.
Quite a small place, tastefully decorated with excellent service. Went to have afternoon tea with a few friends for my birthday and it was all rather pleasant. The sandwiches and pastries themselves are good, the coffee is great. The science afternoon tea is a treat with the liquid nitrogen - who doesn't love a bit of LN2?
It won't be the best afternoon tea you will experience, you can pay a bit extra and go to one of the fancier hotels for that sort of experience, but the Drawing Rooms does not disappoint. The service really helps to make it a special place.
I love a good Saturday Girl Date; take a friend – Emma, some Culture and Afternoon Tea and you are all prepared for a perfect day. The V&A Museum was our bit of culture and they currently have a new exhibition on about Pearls (totally worth a visit to ohh and ahh over some pretty pearls) and we decided to head to The Ampersand Hotel for a yummy Afternoon Tea.
Service at the Ampersand Hotel is seriously relaxed, now this won't be to everyone's cup of tea (pardon the pun), but for me I personally found this refreshing. Where you are quietly allowed to enjoy the wonderful food and the company of friends without being rushed.
Once seated we opt for the Classic Afternoon (£39.50) served with a wonderful glass of Champagne to start.
The Ampersand caters for vegetarians and also has seasonal offerings for afternoon tea: Halloween and Christmas.
First up was the Tartines:
Gloucester old spot ham, gribiche sauce. H.Forman and Son London smoked salmon (one of Britain's Oldest salmon curers), dill and cream cheese.
To read more of the review check out my blog...
I arrived a bit early to check out the hotel because I’ve heard it’s simply gorgeous. This was the room set up for our group. I bonded instantly with this stunning atmosphere. When our tea time began, the chatter and excitement in the room among the girls was another indicator the day would be fun. I made several new friends, including Jamie from Gunters Abroad . She’s lived a lot of places! Notice the camera there in the bottom right? We have the same one! So I was eager to receive some lessons from her during our tea. Bloggers are cool like that. She and I definitely formed a compound bond! Aside from being in the company of such talented bloggers, another catalyst to this great afternoon was starting with a glass of champagne. Next, we ordered
Inside the quirky modern interiors make you instantly happy regardless of the light rain and grey skies that London is so prone to. We were led into a room accented by wildflowers and artworks of Safari wildlife peering out of cocktails and it felt almost like a Mad-Hatter’s setting, except of course, as afore- mentioned, this was a Science Afternoo
The Drawing Room offers afternoon tea. The room itself is very attractive with pastel blue coloured walls. There are large teal, grey and printed chairs to sit on.
It has a very open and calm atmosphere and there is a small selection of cakes to choose from at the top of the room.
My friend and I ordered some tea and I decided to have the carrot cake. Our waiter was very friendly and the service was good, however it was overpriced and there are lots of cafes across the street, which offer the same thing at a lower price.
There aren’t many high class vegetarian English afternoon tea available so this is among the top of the list for vegetarians. Food is tasty and looks pretty but the cakes could be made less sweet. The cocktails are served with amazing visual effects mimicking chemistry experiments but all taste like syrup, so I would suggest to keep the visual effects and improve the taste of the cocktails.
We had afternoon tea (science theme) at The Ampersand and it was a great experience. My kids are 12 and 15 and still enjoyed all the themed aspects of the tea. Our favorite part was that the 2 gluten free members of our group enjoyed the exact same food (with a couple bread modifications) as everyone else. We didn’t feel like we were eating a different meal than our table mates.
Also, the atmosphere was trendy and fun, felt sophisticated but not stuffy. We were very comfortable and the service was great. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!
Had a great afternoon tea at the Ampersand. It was the perfect venue for my friend’s baby shower. She loves anything science related, and this was fantastic. It is probably the best, most creative, tastiest, freshest, memorable afternoon tea. The service was great, the staff explained everything properly, were very friendly and helpful, and were offering to bring out more food. Should we need some. Everything was delicious. From the cakes on the bottom layer to the scones with passionfruit jam in a tube, to the desserts on top that were so creative and colourful, but also tasted out of this world. In my opinion, this blows other afternoon tea spots out of the water.
Genuinely surprised by this afternoon tea, both a fun experience and good food too. The interactive bits are really enjoyable and add some fun to the afternoon tea. The savoury bits were all delicious, with generously filled sandwiches. Scones and cakes were all great too. Throughout it the staff were attentive and helpful. Plus the tea was excellent. Highlight recommend this as a treat
Not just any traditional English high tea. This is where when fun meets traditional; when art meets science. Mix your own experiment drink to start with and you continue to mix every bits and pieces to complete the set. Wonderful experience. Friendly, welcoming and helpful staff. Highly recommended!
Really loved it. The science afternoon tea is a gimmick, but it's a fun gimmick, and well worth a visit. There were a lot of children when we arrived, so I was a bit worried, but they were all well behaved and didn't bother our table:)
The service was superb, and the food was delicious!
My husband and I had a cream tea for an afternoon pick me up. The scones were delicious, we loved that they provided both plain and fruit. The addition of the passionfruit cream was very nice. I would definitely go back if we are ever in London again.
A welcoming, neat setup to meet with friends with children. food is delicious, instagramable and comes with very generous potation. Location wise, it's perfect! easy access to Kensington highstreet and V&A museum and natural history museum.
The science afternoon tea was SO much fun!! Not only do you get tiers of amazing tasting sandwiches, scones, and cakes, but you also get to complete little food science experiments whilst you wait (brushing sugar off chocolates like an archaeologist and making your own fizzy drinks in beakers)! The cakes are perfectly themed to science (I particularly loved the planet dessert which tastes incredible!) Staff are very friendly and attentive too, and the tea rooms are very comfortable and modern. As a scientist and an avid afternoon tea lover, I was very excited by this place. Also, having their gluten free afternoon tea was an added bonus. I would 100% recommend to any other people who require gluten free.
The Science Afternoon Tea was amazing! Cute projects meant for kids but fun for adults too. The food was excellent and my companions were so excited that gluten free menu was available and included scones. It was one of the top experiences of our trip
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