Head chef: Hello Kitty Style of food: Afternoon Tea Location: Brewer Street Soho in London Price point: Forty pounds per adult head, twenty per child | When deciding what to do with a friend of mine, who is moving out of the country soon (sad times), the obvious choice was afternoon tea. Partly because it is so quintessentially British, and partly because we are major cake fatties. I stumbled |
across a pop-up happening inside a tea shop in Soho London, a three month only Hello Kitty themed afternoon tea. Yes immediately, take our money.
The first place to start really is by describing the actual place. Once you come into the shop, those who've booked for the tea (it is proabably essential to book as this event is super popular), get given a wrist band to go down into the secret Hello Kitty garden, and my oh my it is pretty fabulous. The world famous cat, may not scream sophistication but Cutter and Squidge certainly managed to create a super cute yet elegant set up. The whole area is covered in various plastic plants, really giving the feel of un unkempt but romantic garden, complete with some not so subtle nods to the character. complete with bow shaped decals marking a path on the floor, and plenty of cartoon scenes depicting Hello Kitty in London.
However lovely the decor is, let us be honest with ourselves about the true purpose of tea: food. Cake, more cake and a sprinkling of cake to help the cake taste come through. To say the menu was generous would be an understatement. We were completely stuffed by the end and unable to get through all the cake, though a valiant attempt was made. The whole tea was served in a stack of dim sum steaming baskets, like a leaning tower of Eat-sa (sorry everyone), and it just kept giving. It was completely rammed with Hello Kitty themed treats. The first layer contained Hello Kitty shaped sandwiches and some finger ones. |
Usually the savoury parts are just a guilt alleviating gateway to the feast that follows but I would say that here they were truly lovely. The sandwiches were followed by savoury cheese scones served with cream cheese and red pepper jam. This was a really fun alternative still looking the part. After this, came the long deluge of oh so yummy indulgences. We had, cakes, cookies, marshmallows, jellies, mud pies, whoopie pies, fresh fruit, dipping sauces (including a Matcha tea one) with pink lemonade and unlimited tea! To go in detail about each and every item would be a little absurd but you can access the full menu on the Cutter and Squidge |
website. My stand out favourites were the biskies (sort of whoopie pie-esk sandwich cake), the vanilla cookies and perhaps the most special of all, the apple pie mousse. This last one was a lovely cinnamon, appley, biscuity, creamy pot of yum!
Despite the fairly hefty price tag, I would definitely recommend this experience. The amount of food you get is completely fair for the price but you have to go in for the full kahuna. This is somewhat liberating. No one wants to be an adult and choose a sensible amount of cake, do they? Let cutter and squidge give you a thoroughly un-adult afternoon and a glorious excuse to eat copious amounts of cake. How could that ever be a bad thing?