Saturday 5 August 2017

The Afternoon Tea Club Reviews: Pret-a-Portea at the Berkeley, London



The Berkeley's Pret-A-Portea has been on my afternoon tea hit list for as long as I can remember. Based on the key catwalk trends for the season ahead, the hotel's expert patisserie team have crafted a menu fitting for LFW itself, with a whole host of treats to satisfy everyone's inner fashionista. Located near Harrods in the well to do area of Knightsbridge, the hotel itself is highly regarded as one London's top five star establishments and is the perfect setting for sweetness and style.

The lounge where tea is served, is decorated throughout in airy grey shades, with comfy armchairs throughout and impressive statement lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling. From what I could tell, the tea room is split across two distinct areas - a lounge and an adjoining conservatory (which looked incredibly light and an ideal scenario for photo taking, if you're of the blogger variety!)




Upon arrival, you are presented with a beautiful lilac menu displaying the SS17 selections alongside a really comprehensive overview of the tea's influences and inspirations. Menu highlights for the Spring/Summer collection include:

Gucci’s pink candyfloss summer berry sable Breton jumper in a rhubarb mousse, accentuated with a golden sugar bow.

Ralph & Russo pain de Gênes dress cake with velvet lavender cremeux and beriolette jelly, romantically topped with a showstopper sugar frill.

Stella McCartney’s brilliantly British chocolate and vanilla Battenberg cake inspired by her chequerboard summer pumps.

Emilio Pucci’s playful colour-blocked jumpsuit reimagined as a caramelised pineapple compote with coconut jelly and strawberry bavarois, crowned with a psychedelic chocolate wave.



Charlotte Olympia’s high-kicking ‘Chiquita’ banana pump biscuits to channel your inner Carmen Miranda.

Dolce & Gabbana’s hazelnut daquoise pasta-print midi dress with praline croquant and Gianduja chocolate mousse, finished with a fun farfalle.

Mulberry’s ‘it’ Pembroke bag in a Valrhona ivoire chocolate-glazed cake, inspired by British collegiate stripes.

Balenciaga’s new perspective on street style, recreated as a raspberry bavarois and blueberry compote, topped with a kinky, slinky pointed stiletto biscuit.

Miu Miu’s retro bikini lime biscuit – the must-have swimwear making a splash on the seaside this summer season.




In addition to the sweet treats, we also had a savoury selection to die for, which consisted of delicate finger sandwiches, alongside a trio of small plates which included a tomato macaron, gazpacho with cheese croutons and grilled mackerel.

At this point, it's probably worth mentioning that whilst dietary requirements are willingly catered for, you should definitely call ahead to have these arranged in advance. My friend who's a non-mayo eating vegetarian, proved to be something of a challenge to staff on the day and whilst we eventually managed to get some veggie/non mayo sandwiches sorted for her, it proved to be a little more problematic than we had at first imagined. There also seemed to be some confusion over the difference in dietary requirements for vegetarians, pescatarians and vegans, which I have to say was a little surprising at an establishment of this calibre.




However, this aside, the food itself was excellent and I can wholeheartedly recommend the standard savouries to each an every one of you. The finger sandwiches were clearly prepared to order, whilst the small plates and macaron were presented to perfection.

Perhaps the only surprise was that the Pret-a- Portea afternoon tea doesn't include any scones. You don't exactly miss them, because there are so many other cakes and savouries, however I feel like they're needed as part of the traditional afternoon tea make up - even if it's just one each. I'll leave you to decide your thoughts on that one!



When it comes to the cakes, you can see the beauty for yourself. Out of the selection available, I think my favourite was the Dolce & Gabbana hazelnut cake, which I can only describe as a Ferrero Rocher cake and dreamy as anything you'll ever have. Coming in a close second was the chocolate Mulberry handbag because who doesn't love chocolate?

All in all I was pretty pleased with the Berkeley's offering and would be keen to visit again in the autumn to sample their AW menu. It's towards the higher end of the London tea price bracket, but the theme really makes the experience and if you're looking for somewhere to visit for a special occasion or are a die hard fashion lover then I would recommend this to you in a heartbeat.


For more information and booking, please visit:

Have you ever visited the Berkeley? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

- Caroline


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2 comments

  1. You posted at 02:06? Couldn't sleep? Anyway this looks amazing. You must have been stuffed.

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    1. Oops looks like we need to adjust our time settings for the blog - don't worry we got plenty of sleep!! It was delicious, we just really missed the scones! -C x

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