Due to my fabulous friends informing me (yes it seems I've been out of the loop recently), that for…read morethis month, and this month only Harvey Nichols are presenting a chocolate afternoon tea created by a chocolatier called Mr Paul A. Young.
With my heavy addiction to chocolate it was clear that this was something that I just HAD to have. Turns out that this special is only on offer between 3pm and 5pm Monday - Friday, thankfully though I had two and a half days left of annual leave at work, so I decided to take a Tuesday afternoon off and well and truly treat myself.
This chocolate afternoon tea was not served in the usual way, on a tiered plate stand, it was actually served in a wooden case, which had designated slots for each item (I have uploaded an image of the display as I cannot do it justice using just words).
The menu was filled with chocolate, which of course you would expect, however I was pleasantly surprised when the finger sandwiches came out and the end one was filled with savoury chocolate and gorgonzola cheese, a sandwich which previous eaters had dubbed as a 'show stopper' according to our server. I cannot disagree with this statement in any way, shape or form, it truly was a flavour sensation and pieced together two things that I never would have even thought to use as sandwich fillings.
Two different types of scones were presented, one of which was the standard scone with fruit and the other of which was a brown sugar scone. Within the box there was both fresh strawberry jam and clotted cream as well as a salted caramel sauce. It was suggested that we use the jam and cream for the standard scone and that the salted caramel sauce was used as topping for the brown sugar scone - this was excellent advice as I still got a sense of traditional afternoon tea, as well as trying something totally different (and also to die for, as the salted caramel sauce was pure heaven).
The other cakes and treats were heavily influence by chocolate, there was a Moroccan spiced chocolate pot where every spoon full just melted in your mouth, a chocolate and pecan tart, which was a crisp pastry base filled with rich chocolate and topped with crunchy nuts and a carrot and chocolate chip cake (sadly this was not to my taste as I have an aversion to cinnamon, in which was heavily present here). The other cake sample was a rose crunch cake - at first I found it odd that something with no chocolate in it was used in a chocolate afternoon tea, however it worked perfectly as a pallet cleanser with its fresh flavours and soft texture.
I absolutely adored the cocoa nib and mint tea - it was so delicious that I actually asked our server if they were selling it. I was informed that it wasn't the standard loose leaf tea or tea bags, it was exactly what is it called, fresh mint leaves mixed with roasted cocoa nibs with hot water poured over the top and left to defuse. I was lucky enough for the server to head back to the kitchen and bring me a small parcel of the ingredients (enough to make around three cups of the tea at home). Bearing this in mind, I would say that the service was exceptional, although with this being Harvey Nics, you would expect that in the first place.
I did opt for a glass of champagne with my afternoon tea, which upped the price from £20 per head to £28, this of course is rather steep for one glass of champagne, however when you're treating yourself there's no reason not to push the boat out a little.
I booked our table in advance, however I'm not 100% sure it was necessary as with it being midweek and during work hours, the restaurant wasn't especially busy, however as this is a limited offer, it might be worthwhile if you really don't want to miss out.
This was one of the best afternoon teas I have ever tasted (and yes, I have tasted a lot). I'm hoping that this chocolate based afternoon tea returns to Harvey Nics in the near future. A massive well done to Mr Paul A. Young for creating such a masterpiece.
