I set myself a
Christmas watershed of 1 December 5 years ago as a way of managing the annual Christmas madness. For some reason I'm feeling quite festive this year so lifted it a day early, officially declaring the Christmas season open by celebrating Christmas high tea with friends today.
The Intercontinental puts on a spectacular
high tea (or
high coffee). This year they have a special
Christmas high tea available every day until Christmas Eve. The menu is extensive (17 items!) and drinks include the usual tea selection or coffee and either a festive mocktail or a glass of
Veuve Clicquot champagne.
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| An excellent start |
Half the fun of high tea is matching the extensive menu with the food
presented to you. Sure, it was explained to us by staff but 17 items is
a lot to keep your eye on. And then a bartering system began. "I'll
trade your asparagus roll for my ham slider" was followed by "you can
have my eggnog cheesecake if I get your cheese scone." We all passed our
pumperknickel with blue cheese to one person who declared that four was
enough!
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| Christmas high tea |
So what did we eat? The savoury tier included a cheese scone, asparagus roll, cucumber sandwich, smoked salmon blink, champagne ham slider and pumpernickel with blue cheese.
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| Sandwiches and savoury |
Things started getting sweeter. Eggnog cheese cake, strawberry tart, white chocolate choux, mini gateau, Christmas pudding panna cotta, a Christmas fruit tart and a cute little gingerbread man. I needed to pause during this tier.
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| Slightly sugary |
The finish was very sweet. Macarons, trifle slice disguised as a Christmas pudding, a welcome palette cleansing berry fruit salad and a fun chocolate and popping candy lollipop.
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| A sweet finish |
I didn't make it all through the menu (although my friends did!) so took home a takeaway box of four items to have for dessert tonight. What a deliciously decadent start to Christmas 2019!
