The ultimate festive afternoon tea
Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, London
Fortnum & Mason has been a British establishment since the early 18th century, so it is a classic destination for afternoon tea, 1._____ is served in the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. The menu has been given 2._____ festive spruce-up in time for Christmas and there’s nothing that makes you feel quite as festive as exceptional service and a pianist playing carols.
The tea starts with traditional finger sandwiches, including coronation chicken and cucumber with capers and mint, but 3._____ highlight of this course is the huge trout topped with caviar.
After this come the scones, both fruit 4._____ savoury. These are followed by patisseries. The oeufs Drumkilbo (a decadent dish of soft-boiled eggs and lobster that King Charles is a fan of) comes served 5._____ an eggshell and topped with more caviar. It is rich and delicious, and the lobster is beautifully cooked. Other sweets include sweet chestnut mousse and the sublime tonka bean and Caraibe chocolate bauble.
Cédric Grolet at the Berkeley Restaurant, Knightsbridge, London
You cannot talk about luxury patisserie without talking about Cédric Grolet, the visionary French pastry chef famous 6._____ his magnificent croissants and desserts.
When he opened his shop 7._____ the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge (his first permanent patisserie outside of Paris), there were queues, just as there have been — and still are — at many of his shops 8._____ France.
Guests can buy all manner of delicious, delicate pastries to go, from pain suisse to Grolet’s bestselling “hazelnut dessert”, 9._____ ball of chilled hazelnut mousse with an oozy vanilla middle, dipped in milk chocolate and covered 10._____ gold dust.
The icing on the cake (quite literally) is the Goûtea menu, the chef’s take 11._____ afternoon tea, which can be enjoyed in the Berkeley Café. This Christmas the five-course menu includes mini cream-cheese salmon caviar tarts, a truffle egg croissant, foie gras arancini and vanilla flowers. You won’t find an afternoon tea in London — or Paris — 12._____ like it.
abridged from: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ultimate-festive-afternoon-tea-times-luxury-9bt0k7937
