With freezing weekends and rubbish weather at the moment, the Gentleman and I are enjoying feeling that little bit more cosy. It’s the best excuse the stay indoors, although with just a few hours of daylight at the moment, it’s a shame to waste it. The perfect solution is The Shard. With panoramic views of the London skyline and all the brightness from the daylight hours, there’s no better place to spend a romantic day date.
We started the day as high as we could; at the view from the shard with a glass of bubbles.
With glass panels providing a floor to ceiling 360 degree view of the city, it really is one of the best you can get. The rain swept across the sky like a wall, leaving half the city in sunshine and the other shaking off water droplets running between the shelter of buildings.
After an incredibly windswept visit to the open platform, we thought it was time for some tea to warm our cockles. Slightly ridiculously, we made our way to the bottom of the building, only to pop around the side and head back up a few stories to the beautiful Shangri La Hotel’s Gong Bar.
Virgin Experience Day’s sent Ben and I on a bit of a date so that we could spend a some time together. They sent Ben their list of Occasion gifts and let him choose where to take me – the funny thing is that he doesn’t really love afternoon tea but just pretends to love it because he knows how much I love it.
We were initially seated at a table in the back of the room. I’m not terribly good at hiding my emotions and on seeing my disappointment, Ben immediately got up and had a word with the waiter who reseated us at a table by the window.
Feeling much happier, we each ordered a glass of bubbles to toast the breathtaking view.
Wanting to impress my date, I wore a brand new beauty from Vesper*. The ultimate dress for a gluttonous meal. Stretch fabric and a giant bow covering my stomach, to ensure any inevitable food babies were covered.
And maybe a glass of bubbles…
As the clouds rolled ever closer to the windows, we snuggled into our little booth before the platters of delicious food were brought to the table.
To start; a beautifully smooth savoury mousse that cleansed the palette in preparation of the delectable sandwiches and mini quiche to follow.
My Favourite was the chicken, Serrano ham and tomato. The rest, usual flavours put together in extremely unusual ways to create incredible flavours.
As usual the scones and cakes followed. Beautifully elegant and delicate cakes. The chocolate obviously being my favourite. It’s funny, Afternoon tea has always been something I’ve loved doing. I never really knew why but it took attending this ‘experience’ for me to realise. Afternoon Tea is an art. One that takes a while to get through. It’s the time that afternoon takes that I enjoy the most.
If I’m totally honest, I don’t care much for cream cakes. But that art and experience gives me time with people I care about. Time with my favourite person is rare when we’re both so busy. For those few hours I have him all to myself.
The chocolate and caramel tart was incredible though.
Not feeling as though we wanted our day date to end, we moved from our table to a perch at the incredible solid marble bar to order each of our favourite drinks; mixed impeccably and served with beautiful garnishes.
The sun started to sink in the sky and we raced it home to spend the rest of the afternoon in our slippers. The perfect Sunday.
