Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London is celebrating tradition and motherhood with the launch of the Royal High Tea in the elegant TĪNG Lounge and Restaurant.
The luxe afternoon tea features treasured family recipes from the hotel’s pastry chefs and is available from March 30 to May 12, 2019.
The Royal High Tea features a delicious selection of British cakes and pastries celebrating cherished family recipes the chefs grew up making with their mothers and grandmothers. And for those looking to celebrate their own forthcoming motherhood, this afternoon tea is taking baby showers to new heights with panoramic views of London and a variety of royal-themed cocktails and zero-proof cocktails such as The Little Prince and Rock-A-Bye Baby.
The hotel will also offer a special surprise gift for expectant mothers.
Each pastry and cake in the Royal High Tea is a treasured memory of childhoods spent in familial kitchens and gardens instilling a love of cooking. From three generations of Executive Pastry Chef Benoit Defait’s family making wild berry jam together, to Commis Chef Lucy Wall baking British classics with rhubarb and strawberries grown in her grandmother’s garden, and Pastry Chef Emma Watts learning to weigh ingredients at her sister’s side, the memories of love and family are baked into the Blueberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Mousse, and Victoria Sponge.
Growing up in the countryside, Executive Pastry Chef Benoit Defait recalls picking wild berries to make homemade jam with his mother and grandparents.
“It took three months for each jar of jam to be ready, which I was very impatient about,” said Chef Defait. “I would help my grandmother carefully place each label on each jar and then once three months had passed, we would eagerly open the jam together and eat it by the spoonful.”
The Defait family lived close to a farm who would give them cheese, and together with the berries and jam, they would make a whole range of different cakes and tarts including Chef Benoit’s Mother’s Blueberry Cheesecake.
Commis Pastry Chef Lucy Wall remembers baking crumbles and cakes every Sunday with her mother and grandmother.
“My grandmother used to grow rhubarb and strawberries in the garden which we would use to make crumbles, cakes and pies,” reminisced Chef Wall. “I was responsible for rolling the pastry and I used to love getting really stuck in, although of course my favorite part of baking when I was little was always licking the spoon!”
The Royal High Tea features Chef Wall’s Granny’s Strawberry Mousse, which when recreating the recipe, took her right back to her childhood.
Pastry Sous Chef Emma Watts was inspired to become a pastry chef by her grandmother who she baked with from a very young age.
“My granny had a stack of cake cutters and cake decoration tools which my sister and I loved to play with,” recalled Chef Watts. “We were responsible for weighing the flour and sugar on the old scales and we would constantly fight over who was right.”
Chef Watts’ favorite cake to bake with her grandmother was a Victoria Sponge and the light fluffy cake is served as a sweet treat after the Royal High Tea.
MENU ITEMS
PASTRIES
Head Pastry Chef Benoit`s Mother`s Blueberry Cheesecake
Executive Sous Chef David`s Mother`s Passion Fruit Cream
Chef Lucy`s Granny`s Strawberry Mousse
CAKES
Executive Chef Jeremy`s Mother`s Bara Brith
Chef Emma`s Granny`s Victoria Sponge
COCKTAILS
Little Miss Royal – (Pink) Vodka, Ratafia, Isake Classic and egg white
The Little Prince – (Blue) Gin, Blue Curacao, Pineapple, lemon and Pastis Glacial Mint
ZERO-PROOF COCKTAILS
Rock-A-Bye Baby – (Pink) Very berry, condensed milk, apple, raspberry and lemon
Cloud Nine – (Blue) Butterfly pea flower tea, coconut cream, lime, ginger
PRICES
To book the Royal High Tea, please contact: +44 (0) 207 234 8000
