Sugar and Grain-Free Banana Bread Recipe

It's been eighteen months now since I gave up sugar. Yeah, you heard it right; this previously cake-obsessed afternoon tea addict gave up sugar. Actually, that's slightly misleading. I gave up eating all sugar except for a couple of small bits of fruit a day. I had realised I was just eating far too much of the sweet stuff, either in cakes, biscuits or desserts, but also, more insidiously, in the supposedly healthy things I was eating: dried fruit, maple syrup, honey and even an abundance of fruit. It's shocking how many equivalent teaspoons of sugar you're eating when you tot up a few day's worth. Many of us are busting the WHO's guidelines on daily sugar consumption by the end of breakfast time without even realising it. The time came when I didn't feel happy ignoring my spiking and crashing blood-sugar levels so I just cut my sugar-eating right down.

East Frisia: Tea Drinking Capital of the World

On our way to Berlin, where we have been spending the summer, we decided to take a little detour for a few days. After some consideration we chose a place that can quite rightly call itself the tea capital of the world. No, we didn't detour via Turkey or Morroco, but East Frisia. Where, I hear you ask? If like me the most you knew about Frisia was that it was somewhere that produced a lot of black and white cows, prepared to be amazed.

Review: Butter, Prenzlauer Berg

 
There was a time when Berlin was full of cafés like Butter: large, airy, bright, lots of wood and great lighting. At some point those cafés started to disappear and get replaced by trendy coffee shops and fancy restaurants. Now, it's not like I'm not a fan of those too but sometimes when I'm in Berlin I just want to go to an old-fashioned corner café that serves good coffee and great cakes.

Review: Kensington Palace Orangery

Before heading off on my summer break to the Midwest of the US of A (where I had a wonderful time but drank very little tea worth writing about) I was lucky enough to be invited to sample the relaunched afternoon tea at Kensington Palace's Orangery. Now, the Orangery is somewhere I've always intended to visit but being located in a part of town I don't venture to very often, I have somehow never quite managed it. To make even more of a treat of it, I took my sister H along.

Review: Anderson & Co, Peckham

I've written before about how one of the nicest things about having a blog is the opportunities it creates for meeting like-minded people. So when Jess of Knitting on Trains mentioned that she lived in my neck-of-the-woods and wondered whether I'd like to meet up for afternoon tea I jumped at the chance. I was really keen to re-visit a café I'd had lunch at a few months ago - especially as I'd spent much of the meal looking longingly at their rather good-looking cake selection.

Review: Bond & Brook, Mayfair

BOND AND BROOK HAS NOW CLOSED

From time to time I get asked to go along and check out a new tea venture. It's always very nice to be asked but between work, trips abroad and life in general it rarely seems to work out. So I was pretty pleased to be invited to visit the Bond & Brook restaurant in Fenwick on Bond Street recently, and on a day that I was in London, not working and, joy of joys, already in the area. The fact that they had a new pairing with Tea Palace - whose cafe closure I have lamented previously - just made it all the more interesting.

The Perfect Scone Recipe

Much as I love baking there has always been one sizable chink in my armour: the ability to make good scones. On the occasions when I have decided that nothing but a homemade cream tea will do I have attempted to make scones, but something always goes wrong. They're either too small; too hard; or too biscuity - always edible but just not right. More often than not I just throw in the towel before I even begin and opt for rock buns instead. Yesterday though I had the most delicious homemade cream tea and this time the scones were perfect. OK, I need to fess up. I didn't make them. It was actually my supremely talented sister but I have been given step-by-step instructions and I'm pretty sure I could replicate their deliciousness all on my own.

An Art Deco Delight

I really love the idea of pop-up restaurants. The chance to visit someone's home and have them cook for you is exciting and definitely satisfies the nosey-parker in me. Although I'd only been to one pop-up afternoon tea before I have been keeping my eyes open for any others that looked appealing. Then, out of the blue, I got an email from my lovely friend B who told me about an Art Deco inspired tea party that her and her partner S were going to. Frankly, the words Art Deco and tea put together in a sentence are enough to make me go just about anywhere but when she told me it was in Peckham - just up the road from me - I was beyond excited.

Review: Soho's Secret Tearoom

Do you ever find yourself in that situation where you discover something and wonder how you hadn't known about it before? That's what happened to me a couple of weeks ago when my friend M had a stopover in town on her way from Tokyo to Düsseldorf. I was wracking my brains trying to think of somewhere to take her when I decided to do a bit of Googling for inspiration. Narrowing my parameters to Soho, Covent Garden and Piccadilly (nobody wants to spend a stopover trekking around town) I saw a couple of references to Soho's Secret Tea Room. At first I ignored them not realising this was the actual name of the place and then I did a little bit more digging. Here, apparently, was an old-fashioned tearoom in a hidden room above one of Soho's most traditional pubs. Why had I not heard of it before? How long had it been there? Was it any good?

Review: Mariage Frères, Paris

A few weeks ago Coffee Boy and I popped to Paris on our way to Berlin. It sounds very extravagant but actually, because for once I was organised, the journey cost us less than our usual flights to Berlin (perhaps I could learn something from this...). It gave me the perfect excuse to visit Mariage Frères - the mother of all French Salons de Thé. Sixteen years ago we used to live in Paris but I had no more than a passing interest in tea in those days so I'd never even heard of Mariage Frères at that time, let alone visited.

Konditor and Cook - My Saviours

 

Leisurely afternoon teas have sadly been out of the question for me lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been making the effort to indulge in a quick cuppa and little something sweet. Thank goodness then for Konditor and Cook. From their fantastic mince pies to their tangy Black Gingerbread, their shops shops really are a sight for work-weary eyes. I could write a post on pretty much any one of their cakes (yes I have tried most of them...) but I'm here to tell you about their amazing brownies.

Last Impressions Count

PLEASE NOTE THAT BOU TEA HAS NOW CLOSED DOWN

I like to think I've got pretty good instincts. If I meet someone and don't warm to them I rarely find that we end up becoming good friends. Likewise, if I go into a shop, restaurant or cafe and get a bad vibe there's not much hope it's going to become a favourite. But sometimes first impressions can be misleading.

Review: J&A Café, Clerkenwell

The other day I had agreed to meet the lovely Miss O for a little afternoon get-together. She was coming from Islington and I offered to find us a delightful spot to have afternoon tea in the area. I was determined to cycle as it had been so long since I'd strapped on my rather chic helmet (yes, that's right I said chic!) so I started to do some research. I had a vague memory of a cafe I'd heard about in Clerkenwell, incidentally my favourite bit of town and the area that contains my familial roots (perhaps the two things are connected..?), and after a little bit of research I found it and arranged to meet Miss O there.

Review: Bake-a-Boo, West Hampstead

My quest to sample afternoon teas beyond zone 1 yesterday took me out to West Hampstead and back to the 1950s. I had arranged to meet up with Miss O and remembered hearing about a place not far from her called Bake-a-Boo. To make sure I wouldn't be disappointed after my journey up the Jubilee Line I phoned the day before to see if I could book a table. I was told I could but if I wanted the Afternoon Tea, I would have to book in advance and pay a deposit. I was somewhat taken aback but we were keen to skip lunch and make an afternoon of it so I went ahead, reserved and paid the 50% deposit.

Review: High Tea of Highgate

Living in the centre of London, it sometimes feels like a little bit of an effort to travel anywhere for afternoon tea. There are so many nice cafes right on my doorstep, even heading out to zone 2 can seem unnecessary. But there are tea shops with quite a different feel when you move away from the hustle and bustle in the middle of town: less swish and corporate and more family-run in atmosphere, which means it's always worth seeking them out. This week I had the perfect excuse to make, admittedly only a small, journey to meet fellow blogger Caroline of Caroline, No. Once I discovered that she lived in north London I remembered a tea room I had heard about not far away and suggested we meet there to give it a go.

Review: The Wolsley, Piccadilly

I've always heard people mention The Wolsley but have never really known what or where it is. I vaguely assumed it was a hotel and had an idea it was on Piccadilly. So it actually came as something of a surprise to discover I have walked past it thousands of times without really noticing it. Far from being a hotel it is actually a former car showroom and bank and only actually opened as a cafe and restaurant in 2003. It says something to its success that it was nestled in my subconscious as a grand old establishment even though it's only recently celebrated its sixth birthday.

Review: Covent Garden Hotel

A couple of weekends ago, Coffee Boy and I decided to treat ourselves to a posh afternoon tea. The weather had just started to turn and we felt like dressing up and having a pleasant afternoon out - although in truth I don't really need any kind of excuse to go out for tea. It being a last minute decision we had no chance of getting into one of the usual suspects on the afternoon tea circuit, so we opted for the Covent Garden Hotel. Although we hadn't been there before we know a few of its sister hotels and really like their laid-back vibe.

The Best Tea Shop in London

I don't know why it's taken so long for me to write this post. I have been visiting this shop for quite a while now but something has stopped me writing it about it. Perhaps in some deep part of my soul I wanted to keep it just for myself; or maybe I was wary of sounding a bit too fawning. Either way, it can't carry on. I cannot write a blog about tea and not talk about the wonderful Postcard Teas.

Review: London Review Cake Shop, Bloomsbury

When I recently visited the Hidden Tea Room one of the great pleasures was talking with other guests about our favourite tea spots. The birthday girl who was one of our number recommended the London Review Cake Shop to me. She told me it was near to her work place and was one of her regular haunts. I mentioned it to my tea buddy Miss O and she confirmed that she had heard great things about their cakes so we decided to meet there and sample their wares for ourselves.

Review: Yumchaa, Soho

I'm never happier than when I'm having a good cup of tea, except perhaps when I'm having a good cup of tea with a good friend. One of my favourite spots to meet for an unpretentious afternoon tea is Yumchaa in Soho.