AFTERNOON TEA @ SKETCH LONDON
You may or may not remember me mentioning in this particular blog post, but a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to go for afternoon tea at sketch in Mayfair, London. At the time I said I'd tell you lovely people all about it, so voila, here we are. Prepare to be amazed. I first heard about the existence of sketch a while back, via Ellie's Favourite Things, and was suitably intrigued, however with the rather high afternoon tea price tag (£39 a person), I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever have the privilege of going. Never in a million years would that experience happen to me.Well fast forward to summer 2015, and with my Ma's 50th birthday looming on the horizon, my Dad and I thought we really ought to do something rather special to celebrate her big day. She deserved spoiling absolutely rotten. And as we sat there one evening throwing ideas back and forth, I suddenly remembered Ellie's blog post about about sketch. We excitedly looked into it and were completely sold by the cool egg shaped toilets, gushing reviews and the free cocktails thrown in if you booked your table online. And now, having experienced that rather marvellous afternoon tea for myself, I can't say any of us regret our decision to go to sketch in the slightest.
You'll find sketch down Conduit Street, just off the world famous Regent Street, and it really is quite a sight to behold. From the outside it looks rather inconspicuous, you'd easily miss it if you didn't know if was there, but inside it's very bonkers, very creative and very endearing. You arrive at a set time, ours was 4:30pm, and a doorman greets you as you enter. Lots of different quirky art pieces adorn the black walls, as do technicolour light installations and a cut out of a pointing hand. You go down a set of stairs, handing in your excess baggage to a lady in an oval booth as you reach the end. Then you proceed around a corner, only to be greeted with a magical, classy, softly lit pastel pink re-incarnation of heaven, enclosed within four impressively illustrated walls, courtesy of the Scottish artist David Shrigley. You inform front of house of your arrival and soon a suited waiter, or a waitress in a pale grey shirt dress, comes to greet you and take you to your table. They also help seat you in the rather cool pink velvet chairs too. Once comfortable, and once you've sufficiently marvelled at the sheer amazingness of your surroundings, for the sketch tearoom is unlike anything else on this planet, a whole world away from reality, the waitress hands you your menu. We'd already booked to have the simple afternoon tea, at £39 per person, and whilst it's very hard to justify such an extortionate amount of money, we knew that it was for a very special, one-off occassion, as was the whole experience from start to finish so incredible. So we felt it was worth it, especially in terms of what it meant to my Mum, to do it just this once.
When we'd sufficiently perused the menu, our lovely waitress asked us each for our tea selection. I went for Assam, and it may just have surpassed my all time fave, the classic English Breakfast tea. It was soon brought out to us, along with our free cocktails, by a lovely gentleman, and everything we needed came in quirky David Shrigley illustrated crockery too. After that it was time for the best bit, the food, which we'd all skipped lunch for meaning we were ravenous by the time came to actually eat. The delicious food comes on a three tier stand which is shared between two people, so we had two stands between the four of us. The bottom layer is a mixture of sandwiches including smoked salmon and cream cheese, a cheese and pesto panini, cucumber and ricotta and finally an egg and mayonaise sandwich adorned with a quails egg and caviar. V. fancy indeed. The second layer is full of sweet treats like mini macaroons, marshmallows and meringues, chocolate cake, cherry choux (like profiteroles) and strawberry, tart. The third layer is a peach and lemon cheesecake, and if all that wasn't enough, you get scones complete with clotted cream and jam too. Oh, and did I happen to mention that everything is completely refillable?!?!? So essentially for your hour and a half slot, with the attentive but not overbearing waiting staff on hand, you can drink as much tea and eat as much food as you want, which in my books is pretty darn incredible. The only let down is that the little food portions are actually surprisingly filling, meaning you can't eat as much as you'd like and you'll get full pretty quick on all that delicious, varied, perfect food rather quickly. As will you drink a lot of tea too. But that's okay, if not ideal, because it means you have to take a trip to the best toilets you will ever experience in your life.
You ascend up a set of lit stairs to an all white platform, where a series of white eggs await you below a lit up discotheque ceiling. From there you choose your egg and go about your business to the sounds of tweeting birds. It really is quite something. And afterwards you wash your hands in a retro sink in front of a convex mirror, which makes your reflection look rather zany and adds to the whole bizarre goings-on too. You pay at the end of your meal before leaving (don't forget to ask for the bill before you leave, as we almost walked out thinking we'd paid it when we booked online), and it's pretty hard to leave that magical, wonderful, bonkers sanctuary behind. Being in the sketch tearoom feels like you're in a film, or some parallel universe where everything is pink, quirky and cool. Going out into the real world outside feels like you're leaving behind the best kept secret that no-one even knows about except you, and I can gurantee the rest of your day will be tinged with an ever present feeling of happiness, as will your belly be deliciously full. Afternoon tea at sketch is a lot of money, but boy do they put in the effort to make sure every last penny is so very much worth it. You want for nothing. They want you to have an amazing experience, one of the best you'll ever know. So if you're looking for something special or different to do in London, or if you just fancy living the high life for a couple of hours, or if you just want to throw caution the wind and spoil yourself, then I would highly, highly recommend a visit to sketch. I promise you'll adore it.
You'll find sketch down Conduit Street, just off the world famous Regent Street, and it really is quite a sight to behold. From the outside it looks rather inconspicuous, you'd easily miss it if you didn't know if was there, but inside it's very bonkers, very creative and very endearing. You arrive at a set time, ours was 4:30pm, and a doorman greets you as you enter. Lots of different quirky art pieces adorn the black walls, as do technicolour light installations and a cut out of a pointing hand. You go down a set of stairs, handing in your excess baggage to a lady in an oval booth as you reach the end. Then you proceed around a corner, only to be greeted with a magical, classy, softly lit pastel pink re-incarnation of heaven, enclosed within four impressively illustrated walls, courtesy of the Scottish artist David Shrigley. You inform front of house of your arrival and soon a suited waiter, or a waitress in a pale grey shirt dress, comes to greet you and take you to your table. They also help seat you in the rather cool pink velvet chairs too. Once comfortable, and once you've sufficiently marvelled at the sheer amazingness of your surroundings, for the sketch tearoom is unlike anything else on this planet, a whole world away from reality, the waitress hands you your menu. We'd already booked to have the simple afternoon tea, at £39 per person, and whilst it's very hard to justify such an extortionate amount of money, we knew that it was for a very special, one-off occassion, as was the whole experience from start to finish so incredible. So we felt it was worth it, especially in terms of what it meant to my Mum, to do it just this once.
When we'd sufficiently perused the menu, our lovely waitress asked us each for our tea selection. I went for Assam, and it may just have surpassed my all time fave, the classic English Breakfast tea. It was soon brought out to us, along with our free cocktails, by a lovely gentleman, and everything we needed came in quirky David Shrigley illustrated crockery too. After that it was time for the best bit, the food, which we'd all skipped lunch for meaning we were ravenous by the time came to actually eat. The delicious food comes on a three tier stand which is shared between two people, so we had two stands between the four of us. The bottom layer is a mixture of sandwiches including smoked salmon and cream cheese, a cheese and pesto panini, cucumber and ricotta and finally an egg and mayonaise sandwich adorned with a quails egg and caviar. V. fancy indeed. The second layer is full of sweet treats like mini macaroons, marshmallows and meringues, chocolate cake, cherry choux (like profiteroles) and strawberry, tart. The third layer is a peach and lemon cheesecake, and if all that wasn't enough, you get scones complete with clotted cream and jam too. Oh, and did I happen to mention that everything is completely refillable?!?!? So essentially for your hour and a half slot, with the attentive but not overbearing waiting staff on hand, you can drink as much tea and eat as much food as you want, which in my books is pretty darn incredible. The only let down is that the little food portions are actually surprisingly filling, meaning you can't eat as much as you'd like and you'll get full pretty quick on all that delicious, varied, perfect food rather quickly. As will you drink a lot of tea too. But that's okay, if not ideal, because it means you have to take a trip to the best toilets you will ever experience in your life.
You ascend up a set of lit stairs to an all white platform, where a series of white eggs await you below a lit up discotheque ceiling. From there you choose your egg and go about your business to the sounds of tweeting birds. It really is quite something. And afterwards you wash your hands in a retro sink in front of a convex mirror, which makes your reflection look rather zany and adds to the whole bizarre goings-on too. You pay at the end of your meal before leaving (don't forget to ask for the bill before you leave, as we almost walked out thinking we'd paid it when we booked online), and it's pretty hard to leave that magical, wonderful, bonkers sanctuary behind. Being in the sketch tearoom feels like you're in a film, or some parallel universe where everything is pink, quirky and cool. Going out into the real world outside feels like you're leaving behind the best kept secret that no-one even knows about except you, and I can gurantee the rest of your day will be tinged with an ever present feeling of happiness, as will your belly be deliciously full. Afternoon tea at sketch is a lot of money, but boy do they put in the effort to make sure every last penny is so very much worth it. You want for nothing. They want you to have an amazing experience, one of the best you'll ever know. So if you're looking for something special or different to do in London, or if you just fancy living the high life for a couple of hours, or if you just want to throw caution the wind and spoil yourself, then I would highly, highly recommend a visit to sketch. I promise you'll adore it.
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OUR AFTERNOON IN PHOTOS
Jazzy technicolour lights as you make your descent down to the awaiting tea room...
Gorgeous lights in the waiting room, where we spent five minutes waiting whilst our table was being prepared.
Beautiful vintage floral paper and wicker lampshades on the walls.
The glistening tearoom ceiling that greets you when you first walk in.
We waited here to be escorted to our table, glancing at all the other diners in absolute awe.
The awe continues as you walk in and are immediately greeted by these serene shades of soft pink as far as the eye can see.
Our lovely waitress handed us each a smart little matte black menu...
...which opened up to reveal the afternoon tea selections, as well as the insane variety of tea we could choose from (we ordered the £39 option online prior to our visit, meaning we got free cocktails thrown in too!)
Across from where me and my sister sat, were walls adorned with realms and realms of the most wonderful, witty, hilarious David Shrigley illustrations which kept us laughing the whole time.
My mum and dad, on the other hand, had a view of the stunning dining room decor.
The birthday girl looking very happy indeedy at her surprise present and also perfectly matching the decor!
When we ordered our tea, a waiter later brought it out along with these cute little illustrated mugs, much to our delight.
Our milk was also served in a jug of dreams, meaning pouring the milk into the tea became a rather whimsical notion.
Waiting for our afternoon tea to be served seem to pass in an instant, as we were so amazed by the sheer wonder of our surroundings.
The table became rather full after our lovely waitress had brought out our cocktails and refillable afternoon tea platters!
Some of our treats, taken from the desserts layer. We were allowed to have as many as we wanted!
Bubblegum marshmallows and meringues, served in the cutest little bowls.
More admiring of the stunning tearoom whilst we took time to digest.
The cosy little booths next to us. It was so tranquil and almost magical in that tea room. A world away from every day life.
Mum's complimentary birthday plate, adorned with chocolate and little sweet treats courtesy of sketch!
Stocking up on all that endless tea was a must do so that we had sufficiently filled bladders because...
... the toilets at sketch really are quite something. A funky discotheque ceiling above a series of egg shaped cubicles, which you enclose yourself with in, only to hear birds tweeting.
A photo to capture the best and most bonkers toilet experience I've ever had in my life.
The preparations for dinnertime which we saw the staff making just as we were leaving.
Oh my gosh this looks amazing! And I found this so interesting to read, your writing style is brilliant, you include so much detail it's lovely!
ReplyDeleteBecky Shannon xx - Life-by-Becky
Yes it was soooo amazing and thank you so much for your lovely, lovely comment Becky! You're too kind! I'm glad you enjoyed the post :) xx
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