When I Have More Money: The Festive Happenings at Aqua Shard

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Festive Happenings at Aqua Shard

I was invited to Aqua Shard on all these occasions with no obligation to create content.

As a blogger I’ve made some fantastic partnerships over the years but hands down one of my favourites has been with Aqua restaurant group, particularly Aqua Shard. Having made a very dear friend on the PR team, I’m lucky enough to be invited to lots of their events and even to bring Oscar along with me. Oscar has actually been to Aqua Shard four times now and he’s not even four months old! Over the past couple of weeks, little O and I have been sampling some of the fantastic celebratory offerings at that incredible restaurant in the sky and I’m excited to tell you more about them. To give a little background on Aqua Shard, it’s a British restaurant located on the 31st floor of the Shard with huge floor to ceiling windows boasting panoramic views of London. In my opinion, there’s no better place to go to get the true London experience… and there’s nothing more British than Afternoon Tea, the first of the festive happenings that I want to tell you about.

Last week Oscar and I met up with Christina, Binny, Sima, Catherine and D to be the first to sample the Festive Afternoon Tea.

We started off with a glass of Veuve Clicquot whilst admiring the view… if you can, make sure you get a window seat, my favourite is over Tower Bridge watching the boats on the Thames drift by.
Festive sandwiches truly mark the beginning of Christmas and who doesn’t feel a certain amount of glee when the shops start stocking up on turkey and stuffing sandwiches…
With a stacked tray presented to us and me being surrounded by vegetarians and people who don’t like or eat smoked salmon… meant I was able to have three of the smoked salmon crumpet bites… keeping with Christmas spirit there’s the classic cranberry, turkey and lettuce sandwich and a fig chutney and brie sandwich. There’s a touch of decadence in the shape of the egg and black truffle sandwich plus a more simple cheese and pickle and then a vegan roasted pepper, aubergine, hummus brown bread bite.
There is absolutely no stinging on the scones and they are some of the biggest and fluffiest that I’ve ever tried! There’s a touch of vanilla in the scones themselves and the spreads are Christmas themed with homemade cranberry and apple jam along with Cornish clotted cream.
Just look at those gorgeous festive pastries! My absolute favourite was the gingerbread, milk chocolate and coffee Christmas Tree which is two biscuits with a perfectly creamy filling.

The Clementine and prosecco trifle was a really refreshing option whereas the dark chocolate and cherry present is rich and gloriously indulgent. The Santa hat is made from pear and cinnamon and will delight lovers of this Christmassy spice! The tea is available from 18th November – 30th December 2019 on Monday to Sunday, 1:00pm – 5:00pm priced £49.

The next festive happening to mention is the Thanksgiving Menu at Aqua Shard. The restaurant is collaborating with two wonderful bloggers who I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know over the years. Emily Jane Johnston of Fashion Foie Gras and Jess On Thames are two American ladies who, missing the home comforts of a traditional American Thanksgiving, have collaborated with Aqua Shard to launch a menu themed around this holiday. The two ladies, along with fellow American Christina on the PR team, invited a host of bloggers, Instagrammers and myself and Oscar for the menu launch in the restaurant’s jaw-dropping private dining room.

The menu reflects some of Jess and Emily’s Thanksgiving favourites growing up in the states and represents a slice of home for the two of them. The set menu is available for dinner from Monday 25th until Friday 29th November (£75) apart from 28th November when there will a different set menu (£38) for a special Thanksgiving lunch. The starter is a perfectly delicate juniper smoked salmon with pumpkin and black truffle salad and great intro to the rest of menu.
On our table everyone order the traditional Thanksgiving lunch…roast turkey with mashed potato, stuffing, green bean salad and cranberry gravy. The waiters came round with even more mashed potato which I was assured have an equal potato to butter ratio… apparently the average American has 3000 calories for Thanksgiving Dinner! Other options for main course include grilled lobster with tarragon hollandaise and corn bread crumble or steamed onion purée with chanterelle mushrooms, spinach and parmesan foam for veggies. I spied these on other tables and they looked just as good as my turkey!

Mini pecan pies were served followed by the piece de resistance pumpkin pie, sweet potato ice-cream caramelized pecan nuts and charred marshmallows.

Finally, what’s Christmas without a tree, and in true Aqua Shard style the tree is beautifully unique! Last night I attended the unveiling of Deco Dance by Scottish fashion designer Holly Fulton – an event fuelled with more Veuve Clicquot.
The epic six metre high tree has an unmissable position in the restaurant’s atrium and is inspired by 1920’s glamour! The title of the piece represents the party spirit that inspired Holly along with the stylish Art Deco touches and sketched out dancing ladies surrounded by Christmas presents and topped with a large festive bow!