littlemsamanda: Tea Time | Sketch Gallery

Recently, I've been going to different places for afternoon tea. After all, I am in London, so why not make use of the abundance of afternoon tea choices and go British? This first post is going to be about my favorite tea place so far: sketch Gallery.

Let's talk about sketch itself first. Dishes are French inspired, and overlooked by restaurateur Mouraud Mazouz and chef Pierre Gagnaire. Gagnaire has a 3 Michelin-star restaurant in Paris, and adapted his expertise into the sketch menu. The atmosphere in sketch gallery is generally pink: pink walls and pink seats. Drawings that cover all 3 sides of the gallery are interesting and artistic, not your usual elegant and pretty drawings.

By far the best afternoon tea I've had, I'm guilty to say that I've been twice in the past 3 months...

I absolutely love their finger sandwiches: cucumber with ricotta; smoked salmon with Jacob's cream; egg mayonnaise; croque monsieur. I love that you get 3 refills, not that you need any with all that food but it's a great value for your money if you are able to finish that. For both times I was there, I got a refill for the sandwiches. The pastries where good, but the sandwiches are the ones that stand out to me.

Finger Sandwiches + Pastries selection

Scones are an integral part of afternoon tea, so is clotted cream and jam. Their scones are quite massive, and they come inside a napkin to keep them warm. Butter soft in the inside and firm on the outside, they are pretty good scones. Clotted cream is the reason I eat scones. It's an indulgence for me. I'm not a big fan of jams in general, but their fig jam is to die for.

Scones with clotted cream and homemade fig and strawberry jam

What is afternoon tea without some good tea? My standard tea is always Earl Grey, but they also have a selection of black, green, white, and fruit teas. I'm not an expert on tea, so I won't comment on that much. Their tableware though, is so adorable. If I had the money and the use for them (certainly not while I'm a student), I would totally buy some. Sugar cubes are nice, but it does not give room for customizing amount of sugar, which is the only complaint I have.

Cutest tableware ever

You cannot go to sketch gallery without checking out their toilets. This is probably what they're known for (featured in quite a few websites and reports). Literally, you get your own little egg pod, and they play weird sounds and music in there.