Afternoon Tea: Catching up at Criterion Restaurant

  'Timeless Opulence in the most spectacular Dining Room in London' - words taken from website below
http://www.criterionrestaurant.com/

This is Criterion Restaurant, and I came here to catch up with a friend over Afternoon tea. Check out the elegance of this place! It is exquisitely designed - not pretentious at all but almost subtle in it's elegance in comparison to The Ritz.  Having said that, I don't get the choice of the chair colours - burgundy and mustard - these chairs look like something out of the 1970's and clash with the Neo-Byzantine architecture.

Check out that ceiling!

As soon as I walked in, I got a feeling that the architecture was influenced by 'Russian elegance' of some sort and after researching about the history of the Criteron, I found out that the restaurant was influenced by a 'neo-byzantine' style of architecture i.e. mosaics  archways and marble - we learn something everyday people! As described on the website of the restaurant, 'Lush extravagant and utterly compelling, the interior seduces you with the glint and wink of gold and marble. Look around and absorb the gilded ceiling, the grand windows and imposing arches, the fascinating recesses and mirrored walls.' They definitely took the words right out of my mouth. 

Check out the menu for Afternoon Tea:
http://www.criterionrestaurant.com/sites/default/files/Afternoon%20tea%20Menu%202012%20September_0.pdf

I really became a fan of the box in which the little jars of tea came presented in. I thought it was a really nice idea for us to get an idea of which tea we wanted to drink by getting a whiff of the aroma.

So I went for a '2nd Flush Assam' because I like the full-bodied earthy flavour.  Check out this link for further information about 'flushes of tea'
 http://twinings.co.uk/about-our-tea/twinings-tea-tasters/second-flush-
assam-tea-twinings-tea-tasters

'2nd flush Assam' and a little-lemon-flavoured-yellow-creamy-pot-thingy. I thought it was a palette cleanser but since no-one explained what it was, I ate it all (because it was actually really tasty).

One cupcake?! Nah mate. 

I had a really good catch-up with my friend but I was actually disappointed with the quality of the food and service. The tea came out almost an hour and a bit after we ordered it  and the scones were really hard to slice, almost rock hard. The selection of desserts was not great and there was only one cupcake between the two of us! How can you share a cupcake? Come on! It wasn't even that busy on the day we went but for some reason, the waiting staff seemed to be really unattentive. It is possible that maybe they were having an off day of some sort. 

Thumbs up for the interior, the box in which the tea came in and the creamy-yellow-lemon flavoured-pot-thingy.  I have heard that this is a nice place to have dinner, so I will be trying that too one day soon.

Disclaimer: This is simply my opinion of the restaurant based on my experience that day in February. Its April today so perhaps things have changed since then. Life is about hearing what people have to say about something and ignoring them anyway, or something like that!!

Don't just be inspired, be Twinspired :)

Mucho Te Queiro, 

Sukhman