When I Have More Money: The Burlington Arcade Afternoon Tea at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Burlington Arcade Afternoon Tea at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane

I was invited to attend this event at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane and our food was complimentary. I was not paid to visit and was not under contractual obligation to write this blog post or create content on any platform.

It was always going to be nerve-wracking leaving Oscar for the first time, but I knew I was leaving him in the capable hands of Mr S while I had some much needed time to myself.
The event was the perfect way to feel like myself again as I put on a party dress and heels (for the first time in eight weeks!) and headed to the beautiful terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane to a very fashionable afternoon tea hosted by super elegant blogger, Bonnie Rakhit. Bonnie, also known as The Style Traveller, had got together some of her favourite bloggers to celebrate London Fashion Week and to sample the hotel’s new tea inspired by the iconic Burlington Arcade.
I’ve written about the hotel’s beautiful terrace before and it’s currently a floral dream, perfect for al fresco drinks and light meals any time of day.

Bonnie had organised beautiful gifts from Thomas Sabo and The Organic Pharmacy and it was set to be the perfect day, with the weather on our side too.
I was also very happy to be sharing a table with Katie (who I have been friends with since I started my blog), Leah (who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting before) and Lauren who I was meeting for the first time. We cracked open our beautiful presents and toasted to the gorgeous day before getting started on the afternoon tea.

The Burlington Arcade is London’s original shopping mall and having been established in 1819, it is now celebrating the 200th anniversary. The arcade opened with 51 boutiques and was a place for buying the very finest hats, gloves and jewellery at the time. Some of these wares are represented by the pastries that have been crafted by chef David Oliver. There’s a Velvet Hat comprised of joconde sponge, raspberry jam and vanilla mascarpone cream and a Gold Nugget with passion fruit, chocolate and caramel.
The dapper little man is the Burlington Beadle, the official guards of the arcade who even today wear Victorian style uniforms and are the oldest and smallest police force in the world. This one is particularly sweet as it’s a blueberry and vanilla cheesecake on a sable Breton with blueberry compote. There’s also a Joss Flower with peach and jasmine jelly, pink pepper cream, almond sponge and gardenia mousse.

The sandwiches are very traditional for an afternoon tea and there’s cucumber, coronation chicken, crab salad, smoked salmon and curried egg. Plus the all important scones served with mandarin and pine nut marmalade, strawberry and vanilla jam and clotted cream and a bonus Burlington Battenberg made up of chocolate and bergamot.

As I enjoyed my tea, Mr S sent me pictures of his boy’s day with Oscar… it was good to know they weren’t missing me too much!

Bonnie hosted the most wonderful event and it was great to get some time to myself and probably good for mental health too. But I was also happy to get back to my baby… who is pretty fashionable himself!