Afternoon tea at Nicole's

You may have noticed that my location has changed from London to Hobart, marking the end of my six month adventure. Having a proper afternoon tea was something I had to do before leaving London and while high tea at the Ritz would have been nice, the budget was getting a little tight.

While scouring the internet for somewhere good, my sister and I came across a feature article on Time Out recommending more than 20 of London's best afternoon teas for a range of budgets. After dismissing ones with descriptions including 'piles of toys are a nod to the younger clientèle' and ones that sounded more like a place for old men and cigarettes, we settled on Nicole's. Time Out nicely described it as 'every size-zero fashionista's dirty little secret'. 

Nicole's is a modern European restaurant located beneath the Nicole Farhi flagship store on New Bond Street. The menu offers four different afternoon teas, including a healthy option (pfft!), but we opted for the Miniature Afternoon Tea for £16.50. This gave us a delightful array of bite sized delicacies and a range of beautiful teas. The teas came first, and the blackberry and vanilla and the fresh mint were both refreshing and delicious (on a side note, once the tea was gone we put the mint leaves into our glasses of water - perfect way to finish the meal).

A short time after, six dishes arrived on the table bearing a range of savoury and sweet treats. The savouries were a selection of open sandwiches with tempting toppings of smoked salmon, crab with lemon preserve, prosciutto with grape and apple chutney, cucumber and creme fraiche, and egg mayonnaise with micro cress. 

All the toppings were tasty but my sister and I were both surprised that we enjoyed the cucumber and the egg the best. The sandwiches came on both white and wholemeal bread, which unfortunately served to highlight one of the negatives about our experience. When following a white sandwich with a wholemeal one, there was a stark difference between the freshness, with the brown tasting a day or two past its prime.

The sweet dishes looked delightful and tasted accordingly. On the menu were a cherry muffin, chocolate tart, summer fruit tart and orange madeleine, plus six macaroons in chocolate and vanilla. We were starting to struggle halfway through the desserts and ended up taking the macaroons with us.

The décor was nice but oddly overcrowded. The beautiful wooden floorboards held just one or two too many tables for the room and it spoiled the feel of it. But nice touches, including a wall of mirrors near the bar and beautiful handwash and moisturiser in the bathroom helped to compensate. We finished our visit with a trip upstairs to the beautiful but out-of-our-price-range store.


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