Afternoon Tea - The Carnaby, Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton, Great Marlborough St., London

Carnaby Room's Chocolate Indulgence Afternoon Tea

Next one up is a biggy, a real feast of food and drink that I would be doing an injustice to if I only selected certain bits to talk about.  Therefore, I'm going to talk about every item you see in the mouthwatering picture opposite, but will give scores for the tea as a whole.


The Carnaby is situated within the Couthouse Doubletree by Hilton hotel on Great Marlborough Street, off Regent Street, in London.  The tea room/restaurant itself is relatively small and modest in it's appearance and the paneling from the old courthouse remains, incorporated into the fresh modern style.  It was kind of understated and, in that respect, very welcoming to the average Joe (me) walking in.   


We supposedly went for the Chocolate Indulgence Afternoon Tea, but I'm sure there wasn't enough chocolate to describe it as a 'chocolate indulgence' so there may have been some mistake there?  The tea consisted of: a cheese twist wrapped in prosciutto; a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich; a roasted courgette (zucchini) and cream cheese sandwich; a slice of almond cake; a profiterole; a chocolate and coffee slice; a mini chocolate torte; an almond 'horn'; a glass of champagne; and a choice from their selection of teas - I went for Earl Grey.

Presentation - Score: 8/10

The tea was beautifully presented on a silver cake stand with savoury on top and sweet underneath.  There was also a separate plate with scones, jam and clotted cream on.  As the tea was for two, there were two of everything.  I'll start describing at the top and work my way down.


The cheese twists were laid side by side on the top of the stand, perched carefully atop the sandwiches.  They were both wrapped perfectly in the prosciutto with an inch or so of cheese twist sticking out at either end.  The sandwiches had the crusts removed and were cut into a thick rectangular finger each.  The topping, visible at the sides was layered beautifully, with equal amounts of cream cheese and smoked salmon/roasted courgette (zucchini).  The smoked salmon sandwich was served on wholemeal bread, while the roasted courgette (zucchini) one was on white.


On the bottom tier, the cakes were laid out in a wheel.  Being slightly anal about patterns, I was resisting the urge to swap the almond cake and almond 'horn' round on one side to make the wheel completely symmetrical, as I assumed was meant to be the case, so I'm afraid there's a black mark there!!  Otherwise, the cakes on the bottom tier were well presented, perfectly sliced cake, crisp edges on the chocolate and coffee slice, and great sized profiteroles.  The mini-chocolate torte looked a little like an afterthought, as though they realised they would have a bit of space and needed something little to fit in.  In fact it reminded me of something, and I'm going to be a bit mean in saying it, but it looked like something out of a bumper pack of party desserts from Iceland.


Finally, the scones - the most essential part of any afternoon tea!  What first caught my eye was the cream, and if you've read my blog on the Butterfinger's cream tea, you will know why!  A beautiful round scoop of clotted cream sat upon an interestingly curved, silver spoon on either side of the plate.  Result!  Unfortunately, that was the highlight for the scones.  The scones themselves, one fruit and one plain each, looked almost fake they were so perfectly round.  Now I understand the thinking around crisp lines and shapes in a modern hotel tea room, but if that's the case make the scones square, or triangular or something that doesn't look like they are made of plastic just to look the part.  Me personally, I'd rather a scone that has sprawled across the baking tray in the oven, full of lumps and bumps that make each one unique - like the Butterfinger's ones!


Anyway, despite my few little grumblings, this was quite a spread and very much a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth.  Therefore, The Carnaby afternoon tea scores a very good 8 out of 10 for presentation.

Taste - Score: 7/10

Again, starting at the top and working my way down, we travel from savoury to sweet.  I must first, though, mention that the champagne was lovely and crisp and tea was delicious, but, not being anything resembling a wine or tea expert, I'll leave those at that!  The cheese twists had a beautiful texture in that they crumbled and melted in your mouth and the prosciutto complemented them very well.  The sandwiches were soft with lovely subtle flavours brought by the salmon and courgette (zucchini).  Before I knew it, the top layer was gone!


On the bottom, I quickly removed the offending piece of almond cake which was much lighter and more moist than I was expecting - a pleasant surprise.  The almond 'horn' as I refer to it, as I'm not quite sure exactly what it was, had a much more dense and sticky texture and tasted more like amaretto.  The profiterole was topped in a wonderfully rich, thick chocolate, the pastry was soft and the plentiful cream oozed out when you bit in - so far the best piece on the plate!  The coffee, chocolate slice was again, rich and offered another strong flavour, though I did probably make the mistake of eating it straight after a mouthful of tea and I'm not sure if the two went together too well!  Finally for the cake stand was the mini chocolate torte.  I have to say, the chocolate filling was a little too rich, and the pastry rather too hard for my liking so I was a little disappointed that in addition to not adding much visually, it added very little in terms of taste.


Last, and by no means least were the scones, well that was what I was hoping any way!  Unfortunately, beyond the wonderful, thick, sweet clotted cream there is very little to shout about.  The scones were, if anything, not crumbly enough and, not realising that there was one plain and one fruit, I was very disappointed to cut into my second one and find no sultanas!  Each to their own there I suppose?  The jam wasn't anything special either, with a pot each of Tiptree strawberry jam, the same as is served in almost every hotel in the country at breakfast.


There were a few disappointments in the mix, but on the whole the standard of the food was very good, so The Carnaby afternoon tea scores a good 7 out of 10 for taste.

Overall - Score: 7/10

All-in-all I was hoping for a little more from afternoon tea at a central London hotel.  The food was good, as was the drink, but there was nothing to really raise the bar.  Also, if that was meant to be the chocolate indulgence afternoon tea, it was significantly lacking in chocolate.  Like I have already mentioned, a little effort to do something a bit different like square scones, or even chocolate ones, would have gone a long way and subsequently I left The Carnaby rather under-whelmed.  Therefore, with no half points, The Carnaby afternoon tea scores a rather under-whelming 7 out of 10 overall.