Afternoon Tea for Men with Mr R – 108 The Pantry

I have often said that one of my favourite experiences is traditional Afternoon Tea, little finger sandwiches, tiny little cake replicas of larger pieces and of course tea, one of the only times I really want proper British tea.

I was recently invited to try Afternoon Tea with a twist – The Men’s Afternoon Tea. Slightly more substantial items and of course I took Mr R along with me.

We arrived at 108 Pantry on Marlebone Lane, W1 on a Saturday afternoon after an exhausting session at The Cruise Show at the Excel weary and ready to sit down and relax.

We started our relaxing afternoon with a Guinness for Mr R and a glass of champagne for me! That’s how I like to start things off.  This was to accompany the savoury part of our Tea.

We moved on to tea when we got to the scones with jam and cream.

The carrier was brought to our table looking inviting.

Some of the items were:

Grilled rib eye steak sandwich with caramelised onion and Shropshire Blue cheese
Free-range pork and black truffle sausage roll
Dorset crab on toast
Welsh rarebit
as well as:

Lemon meringue pie
Peanut butter and chocolate cupcake
Rhubarb and custard doughnut
Banoffee shots

and of course freshly baked scones, strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream.

Now some say jam then cream and some reckon it’s cream then jam (I am one of those!).  What do you say is the correct protocol?

The tea list is impressive and includes a selection of black tea, green tea and white tea as well as a range of caffeine free herbal infusions.  The tea is sourced from The RareTea Company, organic and hand picked best leaves from small mountain tea farms who work directly with The Rare Tea Company.

The venue is modern and up-to-date but also contemporary and understated. The lighting was subdued which was OK if you were just dining there but a bit too low for my photos!

We left feeling satisfied and happy to have experienced a new twist to a traditional favourite.

108 Pantry will be serving this unusual Afternoon Tea for the time period of  Friday 8th to Wednesday the 13th of January 2016 and will be priced at £28.00 per person.  Tea will be served from 12:00 noon until 17:00 on each of the relevant days.  To enjoy this or any of the other great food from 108 Pantry or 108 Brasserie phone in advance to book on 020 7969 3900.