Science Afternoon Tea in London
Northwest of the River Thames nestled between the Chelsea and Kinsington neighborhoods you can grab high tea… but with a sciency twist!
The main floor of the Ampersand Hotel hosts the Drawing Rooms where we enjoyed our Science Afternoon Tea. Instead of your normal delicate finger sandwiches and traditional desserts, you, and maybe your little ones, are treated to a delight of the senses based around chemistry, astronomy and even paleontology.
When we sat down, it was pretty much business as usual, we were offered a menu that covered the types of tea we could order. Anne had Earl Grey and Tim had Jasmine. A teapot was brought out for each of us, and we proceeded to pour ourselves a cup and take in the room which was full of art, sculptures and more.
Then our tower came. Three levels of delicious food for us to share. We had some things you’d expect like quiche and scones with a delicious raspberry jelly, creamy butter, and freeze dried raspberry, pineapple and caramel for toppings, but we also had the unexpected like a roast beef sandwich, smoked salmon and chicken salad in a nice hoagie roll. Everything was unlimited so we were even able to order extras.
The real treat was up top. Our desserts included: a petri dish filled with blood orange & cherry jelly that looked like something you’d see under a microscope, a custard apricot, hazelnut & almond cake shaped like the moon, a caramel chocolate & raspberry mousse filled “Saturn” that was presented over bubbly, smokey dry ice, honey flavored milk chocolate shaped like rockets and astronauts, and our favorite, blueberry, lemon & coconut macaroons shaped and decorated like Earth, with a syringe of “magma” that you injected into the core before devouring. Last we were presented with a brush, and a box that had chocolate and cookie dinosaurs hidden beneath a pile of edible “dirt” that you had to brush away to uncover.
Luckily for us there was a table full of kids that sat near us, and we were able to get a look at the children’s version of the lunch tower as well. The kids tower included some of the same items, but also hot chocolate, mini hot dogs, ice cream, passion fruit curd squeeze tubes, rocket cheese straw, a dinosaur jam sandwich, and a chocolate lollipop.
If you have a kid who loves STEM, and you want to try a more laid back take on a British classic, we cannot recommend the Science Afternoon Tea at Ampersand enough. They also have a Jurassic Afternoon Tea for you dino lovers out there. Complete the experience and visit the London Science Museum or the London Planetarium to really get your science geek on!
