Sweet Reasons for: Afternoon Tea at The Ham Yard Hotel

We consider ourselves pretty expert when it comes to the world of afternoon tea – the whole concept of Sweet Reason was built around my love for the tradition & ritual of afternoon tea.

I can’t think of anything better than sitting down and relaxing with a cup of tea and something sweet. The feel good factor that it brings is so comforting. My husband & I have always had a yearly ritual to pick a top London hotel and sample their champagne afternoon tea, which I of course now do with The Sweet Reason team too!

 

I’ve been sharing with you our gorgeous Sweet Reason brownie & afternoon tea gift boxes for quite some time now, so I’d love to also start sharing with you my favourite afternoon tea spots… starting with our most recent visit to the gorgeous Ham Yard Hotel in Soho.

 

 

 

Soho (as a lot of places in central London) is a great place to find a pulsing nightlife and is definitely very diverse, fun-loving and hardly ever described as quiet… however, The Ham Yard hotel is an oasis of serenity right in the heart of all this.  The hotel revolves around a tree-filled garden with a bronze sculpture centrepiece - you definitely don’t feel as though you’ve just stepped out of Piccadilly Tube Station when you first walk into the courtyard!  

 

 

The interior of the hotel restaurant is just as beautiful as the outside – a quirky mixture of patterned furniture and colourful walls. The restaurant and bar were certainly bustling with afternoon tea visits and after work diners & drinkers which created a vibrant & stylish atmosphere… 

 

So how was the actual afternoon tea….

 

For those of you who know Sweet Reason well, you’ll know that we like to accommodate our delicious gift boxes for all tastes and dietary requirements (we have recently launched our vegan range and have been expanding our increasingly popular gluten free range!) so we were happy to find that over the past year The Ham Yard Hotel has pushed forward with its afternoon tea offering by including alternative menus including savoury, healthy, reduced sugar, gluten free and vegan options. So, of course we had to try as many as we could! 

We opted for 2 normal afternoon teas, one healthy/ low sugar/ vegetarian afternoon tea & one vegan. We were very impressed by how easy it was to organise this before our visit and pre-order to avoid confusion on the day, which you can never usually avoid when you have such specific requirements, but this time we were pleasantly surprised!

 

 

The actual afternoon tea was just delicious and great value for money – I don’t think any of us were able to finish everything on our plates! To start, a traditional savoury selection of finger sandwiches & mini tarts, followed by (my favourite part for sure) the sweet stuff!

A variety of oh-so-cute mini desserts which definitely looked as good as they tasted. The standard afternoon teas had pretty-in-pink macaroons, the mostindulgent profiteroles I’ve ever seen, a fluffy strawberry cheesecake & swirly green cupcakes which definitely bought out our inner children! The low sugar and vegan options had mango cheesecake & banana cupcakes, accompanied by a fruit kebab for the healthier option and a chocolate dome of cake with a gold leaf topping for the dairy-free. Then of course, to top it all off, scones with cream and jams (all in dairy-free options too!). Although, by the time it came to scones we were all struggling to find room.

 

 

 

We had enjoyed our afternoon tea, champagne & surroundings so much we decided to stay for a couple more cocktails on their roof terrace – as it was a surprisingly warm evening for London! The fourth floor roof terrace can certainly only be described as magical – adorned with olive trees, lavender and vegetable beds, once again, you feel as though you are anywhere but the heart of Soho!

I almost forgot about our favourite addition to the roof terrace, and perfect way to end our evening - a build your own Gin & Tonic bar! This really was great fun as one of the expert mixologists helped recommend which gins, tonics & garnishes work best together for certain tastes.  

 

One of our expertly crafted 'Build Your Own' Gin & Tonics alongside a delicious berry cocktail - the perfect way to end an evening.

 

So, all in all, we would all definitely recommend an afternoon tea trip to The Ham Yard Hotel. The food was exquisite, the drinks elegant, the surroundings vibrant and the staff friendly - afternoon tea here is such a luxurious experience you never want to leave!

Even if it doesn't sound like your cup of tea, The Ham Yard Hotel offers a wide variety of dining options in their restaurant and garden, or maybe you'd just prefer to pop along for a drink on the roof terrace (you have to book though!) Oh, and did I mention they have a bowling alley there too?! That's next on our list for sure... 

Book your afternoon tea at The Ham Yard Hotel here!

Bye for now,

Suzie x