The Ampersand Hotel — Hotel in London

We went as a group of six to an Ampersand Hotel Science Afternoon Tea during the week in January 2018. This would be my first afternoon tea experience. The drawing room was pleasantly decorated and comfortable with enough space between the tables so as to not be crowded.

Once we were settled and had ordered our teas we had an experiment to conduct! Components to make lemonade were brought to us in a metal kidney dish. A small bottle of water, a test tube of lemon juice, a syringe of glucose, a pipette of raspberry, a pipette of passion fruit and a sachet of powder to make it fizz.

Various attempts at lemonade were made. It was more on the traditional lemonade side so quite bitter, but that was fine for my palate. I know service is an important aspect of a five start hotel but a little warning that the sachet was already cut open would have been helpful as a couple of them ended up emptied over the table! They were replaced, of course, but I think we were all young and fit enough to have been able to open our own sachets in the first place. Nevertheless, a very playful way to start the science tea!

Along came the sandwiches, scones and cakes. Two sets came out first, followed shortly afterwards by the third set and a party trick to go along with it. The top tier plate with the cakes had a small dish of dry ice in it, which the waiter poured some water into to bring smoke cascading down the three tiers. It was a very good effect and continued the science theme. The timing could have been a little better. It would have been nice to have all three sets out at once and then immediately water poured over the dry ice. That would have been far more dramatic.

Tea arrived with or shortly after the food had arrived. The first round was mostly split between their breakfast blend and darjeeling. I was one of the ones having darjeeling and it was light, floral and refreshing, as you would expect.

The savoury tier consisted of smoked salmon blinis, roast beef and horse radish in a brioche bun, coronation chicken in a bun and a goats cheese and cranberry quiche. All were very tasty although the goats cheese was not to my taste. We had to have a second round, of course! Although we could have chosen which ones to have, we kept it simple and swapped amongst ourselves as our preferences dictated.

Plain and white chocolate scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam was the next tier. They were also good, if a little crumbly here and there. We missed a trick with the scones, however. There were test tubes of freeze dried raspberry, pineapple and caramel chunks on the table which could have been used to augment the scone toppings but they were never explained to us in time before we were onto the sweet course. I would have been good for a waiter to have explained those tubes either right at the start or when they noticed us start on the scones. A missed opportunity.

Around this point we had another round of tea. I chose jasmine this time which was, again, faultless and flowery.

Finally, the sweet tier. This consisted of a petri dish of processco and kiwi jelly, passion fruit planet mousse with white chocolate ring, orange and lemon half moon cake and a coconut macaroon with a pipette of blueberry jam. This tier, in the looks department, really made it a "science" tea. Especially the planet mousse. We felt the best was the passion fruit planet mousse and least was the macaroon.

Whilst starting to eat the petri dish a passing waiter exclaimed along the lines of "Urgh, you're not going to eat that, are you?!" we laughed along with him. It's good to see the staff having a sense of humour, it definitely adds to the experience.

We were all pretty much done by this point, all very much satisfied. Afternoon tea is more than just tea and cakes, it's a whole lunch and with a theme like the Ampersand has done it ends up an experience too! With my first afternoon tea under my belt I'm eager to check out more now.

Overall, very good afternoon tea although the service could have been a little...

The night receptionist was incredibly kind to me as I was struggling to sleep as the aircon wasnt working (for whatever reason, whether it was the sensor, it being on eco mode or it being faulty) the gentleman tried to fix it from the computer system and after some time I called back to say it wasnt working.

As the night was progressing and I was getting more and more tired, the gentleman was so incredibly kind and offered to switch me rooms.

Even though I was 5 floors up, I could faintly hear the tube trains running as they were doing maintenance that night (a rare occasion to hear them during the middle of the night as the tube closes) nonetheless I'm hypersensitive to noises and just wanted a cool and comfortable nights sleep.

Not feeling comfortable to leave the balcony doors open through the night, I was moved to another room with His help and kindness.

The next room was perfect! Everything was perfect! The receptionist offered me to have breakfast on them but as I was so tired and going to sleep through the morning they offered an alternative for complimentary room service for dinner. PERFECT! They also made sure that no one would call or disturb me in my new room and to make note of the situation for clear communication.

Unfortunately, the handover sheet of my new location wasnt received in time for housekeeping as they were already undergoing their checks by the time I had just settled in and got to sleep one hour prior. It was then that someone, a housekeeper I assume walked into my room in the early hours of the morning, waking me from my sleep. It startled me and is a great fear of mine through unfortunate PTSD to have an unknown person come into/attempt to come into my room. Thankfully, chain on the door gave me extra security and the receptionist was so so understanding after I had called. I wasnt upset or angry, I had so much faith in the hotel through my positive experience of the staff at the hotel, I knew I was safe.

They were so apologetic that I felt completely safe and comfortable in their establishment. From there, after a sleep deprived night and a very comfortable and well rested day in one of the most comfortable beds I'm a hotel I've ever had, I discovered their button control system for Do Not Disturb, Make My Room etc. Usually, in previous hotels that I've been in, housekeeping ignore the buttons and ask to make the beds anyway, often waking me up from a jet lagged sleep, this hotel however was wonderful!

Despite the mishaps, I had an absolutely fantastic stay from the staff being so kind and so understanding. Communication was flawless!

Their gym is really good too!

Oh and free minibar! What a...

This months afternoon tea with Jen was definitely our favourite and one that we’d been hoping to try for a very long time. You see the Ampersand Hotel like to alternate their afternoon teas switching it up for a different theme every two to three weeks but always coming back to the very popular Science afternoon tea.

Based in South Kensington about a five-minute walk from museum central it’s easy to see where the inspiration comes from. Tea is served in the lovely Drawing Rooms, a light airy room with a vintage feel and the perfect setting for a leisurely afternoon tea date.

There was a wide range to teas to choose and I was torn between two. The one that I tried to order actually wasn’t included which was actually a good thing as it made the decision for me.

For savouries there were gougères instead of sandwiches; tiny little savoury choux pastry buns which made a delightful change. Gloucester old spot ham, Forman & Son smoked salmon, dill & cream cheese, coronation chicken and cheese with fruit chutney. All of which were lovely but of course the salmon was my favourite as always!

The scones were a little different from usual as well laced with white chocolate chips rather than the regular sultanas a huge improvement in my opinion, you should know by now of my hatred of sultans, but it didn’t really add that much flavour to them over plain scones.

But what we were really looking forward to was the pastries! The smoke had long since cleared (for safety reasons, the dry ice was removed before we were allowed to touch anything) but it was difficult to decide where to begin. There was a small cake shaped like a planet. A beaker of citrus cocktail. A pistachio macaron complete with cherry sauce pipette. And a volcano made from chocolate cake and mango mousse complete with chocolate dinosaurs.

Now I’m not going to lie and say these were the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth, they weren’t, but they were delicious and the novelty value definitely adds to the experience. The hotel itself is also exceptionally beautiful and we had a little snoop around on our way to the bathroom before we left. The service could have been a little bit better (we had to ask for a glass of water twice before it arrived) but it was a really enjoyable experience and we’ve likely been spoiled for...