Food Review: Hyatt Regency Christmas Afternoon Tea

Around this time last year, you may remember I was invited to try out the new festive afternoon tea at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham.

This year, I've very kindly been asked back again, and knowing how delicious it was last year, I couldn't wait to hit reply.

Weaving my way through the Birmingham German Markets, I was already feeling festive before I reached the hotel. Inside, the hotel itself is so beautiful, especially at this time of year. The Christmas tree in the foyer is huge! Here's a quick picture of the tree and my sparkly outfit.

Image c/o Hannah Love Icon Fantasy Ego

Sitting down at the table at the back of the foyer, I joined a number of bloggers including Emily from Emily's Recipes and Reviews and Hannah from Love Icon Fantasy Ego at a beautiful table that was laid out especially for us.

Firstly, we were treated to a glass of champers, followed by a choice of teas. I opted for English Breakfast, my favourite!

Next, the main event. We were served simultaneously, and an army of waiters and waitresses came out to bring our three tiered stands. Mine of course, was gluten free, so was slightly different to the others.

Here are some images of the standard Afternoon Tea

The standard festive afternoon tea includes:

Finger Sandwiches
Cured Salmon and Dill Mustard Dressing
Roasted Turkey and Cranberry Chutney
Honey Roasted Ham and Gherkins
Brie Cheese and Tomato
Prawns with Marie Rose Sauce

Scones
Freshly Baked Cranberry and Orange Scones served with Clotted Cream and a Selection of Jams

Hyatt Pastry Selection
Profiteroles with Spiced Cinnamon Cream
Dark Chocolate covered Gingerbread Men
Mince Pies

Full Afternoon Tea is £19, or £24.50 served with Mulled Wine

My Gluten Free Afternoon Tea included the exact same sandwiches on gluten free white bread as well as:

Freshly Baked Gluten Free Scones

Hyatt Pastry Selection
Cadburys Chocolate Bombe with Salted Caramel Filling
Bird's Custard Mousse and Strawberries
Lime Chiboust

I must be a traditionalist, because the turkey sandwiches were my favourite, but I also enjoyed the brie and tomato. The salmon and dill mustard sandwich was very unusual, and I have to say I'm not a fan of dill, but it was an inventive combination.

After the sandwiches, we were treated to another drink, this time, mulled wine. I don't know what they do to the mulled wine here, and whether it's down to the beautiful, relaxed surroundings, but I swear this tastes so much better than anything you'll find at the German markets.

My favourite part of the afternoon tea was the dessert. For someone with a huge sweet tooth, this was heavenly. I was given desserts from the special Birmingham Afternoon Tea menu, as you can see from the addition of Cadburys chocolate and Birds custard. The chocolate bombe was basically death by chocolate, and rather than eating this delicately with a spoon I unashamedly ended up with sticky fingers! The mousse was delightful and a lighter dessert to balance out the naughty bombe, and the lime chiboust was again, lovely and light.

Festive afternoon tea is a real treat, and if you can make the time to go before Christmas, I'd highly recommend a trip to the Hyatt Regency.

*I dined as a guest of the Hyatt Regency hotel.

Food Review: Marco's New York Italian Kenilworth - Afternoon Tea

Following a lovely meal at Marcos Kenilworth with the blogging gals, I was given the opportunity to come back to this gorgeous town and instead try out the afternoon tea menu.

Launched at the beginning of July, the afternoon tea is a recent addition to the lunch and dinner service offered at Marco's New York Italian Kenilworth. 

Sam, the Restaurant Manager, greeted us and made us welcome in the restaurant and offered us a cup of tea to start with. Impressively, we were offered a tea menu with no less than nine teas to choose from. From black teas to herbal teas and green tea, we sniffed out teas from around the world before coming to our decision. I opted for English Breakfast, being the traditionalist that I am, although I would have liked to have tried the Champagne Sencha and Vanilla Roobis; alas I needed the caffeine! The Champagne Sencha smelt exactly like Champagne despite being alcohol free and the Vanilla Roobis had a lovely rich, sweet scent. All of the teas are sourced from a local supplier in Wootten Wawen and were picked out by the team at Marco's Kenilworth which adds an authenticity to the offer.

Without further ado, we were presented with a three tiered stand full to the brim with cakes, scones and sandwiches. Of course, my selection was slightly different to everyone else's as it was Gluten Free, so here goes. The three types of sandwiches were cucumber, smoked salmon and cream cheese and ham and dijon mustard. I had two half sandwiches of each which makes a mammoth three sandwiches in total. The smoked salmon was my favourite as the salmon quality was so good and there was a good thick layer of cream cheese with it too. This was served on white bread.

Onto the next layer, the scone layer. This was my favourite layer of all! Sandwiches are lovely, and I actually don't eat sandwiches too often as I find them a bit much for everyday and try to eat rice and salad at lunch. Desserts are always fun but at the end of the day, there are so few places to get a really lovely Gluten Free scones.

Afternoon Tea

Gluten Free Afternoon Tea

My scones was fruity and served with lashings of clotted cream and strawberry jam. The best part of the scone was not just the taste but the texture too. At one bite I could tell these scones were different. The secret? The scones are finished off in a pizza oven which makes them so crispy on the outside! Helen had a plain scone whilst mine was a sultana scone.

Finally, the dessert layer. We were both treated to a mini version of a dessert from the A La Carte menu, the Vanilla Panna Cotta. With a sweet vanilla cream and tart fruity raspberry top, this was a delightful, not too sweet dessert. I was also treated to something else from the A La Carte menu, the Melting Chocolate Truffle Cake. If you read my previous post on Marco's New York Italian Kenilworth, you will have seen that I raved about this dessert. Gluten free desserts shouldn't have to be a compromise and here, they haven't sacrificed a thing to create this mountain of soft truffled chocolate. 

The Afternoon Tea menu is available to view here and starts at a very reasonable £15.95. You could always add prosecco or champagne for a special occasion for £20 and £25 respectively. Booking is advised but not required and I would definitely recommend booking if you are Gluten Free.

Thank you to the team at Marco's Kenilworth for looking after us!

There is also an extra bonus to this post, an outfit photo courtesy of Helen from Positive Fridays. I finally jumped on the sleevless jacket bandwagon, what do you think!? Shall I get a few more?

I was invited to dine at Marco's New York Italian Kenilworth as a guest of the restaurant in exchange for an honest review.