I know what you’re thinking, “Mothers Day? That was in March!” Yes, indeed it was, but due to availability the earliest we could spend the day in London was last week.
The plan for the day was to first to go Selfridges for lunch and a spot of shopping and then on to the Shard to have afternoon tea at Aqua Shard.
The lunch was at a restaurant called HIX which happened to overlook the handbag hall – perfect (great for people watching!) They offer a range of food from sandwiches and salads to fish pie and grilled lobster. Basically something for everyone.
As we were having afternoon tea later I went for the ham and cheese toastie and my mum went for the eggs benedict, which looked delicious.
If you’re planning on going to Selfridges, I would definitely recommend going to HIX for your lunch/dinner. I booked well in advance and it seemed pretty full when we were there, so it may be best to book rather than take your chances!
We obviously couldn’t leave Selfridges without doing a bit of shopping! I bought a couple of things which I’ll share with you on a haul blog that I’m going to be doing later on in the week.
We of course had to swing by Lola’s Cupcakes, I don’t think my Mum had seen Lola’s before and was shocked by the vast amount of cupcakes they had, especially loving the larger cakes that had smarties spilling out of the middle. I have requested one for my Birthday – fingers crossed!!
So after we’d wandered around Selfridges, we made our way on the tube to the Shard. I was extremely excited myself as I love heights and taking in the different views, and London does looks amazing from high up.
I know there are a couple of places at the Shard that serve afternoon tea, but we headed up to floor 31 to the Aqua Shard. Walking out of the lift and seeing the view was breath taking, we were nearly above the clouds and the sun was beginning to shine.
We were shown to our seats which we perfectly positioned for a fantastic view of Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and St Pauls Cathedral.
We were given menus that had lots of variety’s of tea and two different types of afternoon tea; regular or champagne. We opted for the classic afternoon tea as I don’t drink and I chose Roobios tea and my Mum had coffee.
The sandwiches were brought over and they looked soo delicious, and they were beautifully presented.
- Staffordshire leg ham, grain mustard and Bermondsey hard cheese
- Early Grey tea smoked Loch Duart Salmon, cucumber, Oscietra caviar and dill scented cream
- Chicken perfumed with lavender mayonnaise
- Neapolitan; organic hen’s egg, smoke curry mayonnaise and mustard cress (my favourite!)
These finger sandwiches were delicious. When I read the menu I was slightly scared and worried that I wouldn’t like any of them, but they were all really nice.
Once we were finished the cakes were brought to our table, and oh my gosh, they looked amazing!
The cakes consisted of:
- Vanilla scones
- Golden raisin scones
- Homemade jams and Jersey clotted cream
- Passion fruit cheesecake
- British Victoria sponge
- Milk chocolate mousse
- Red velvet & dark chocolate shard cake
I don’t eat chocolate for health reasons so had to dismantle a couple of the mini cakes, but they all tasted so nice, and the scones were amazing. You could tell the jams were homemade as they didn’t taste like the normal old jam you buy in the supermarket, they were super tangy and fresh – just delicious.
The service was brilliant and the staff were soo attentive. The one thing I noticed is that they didn’t rush you, they let you relax and finish in your own time – I think we were in there for about three hours in total, ridiculously full by the time we left!
We both had a really good day out and I would recommend both the HIX restaurant and the afternoon tea at the Aqua Shard. The links are below if you’d like to reserve a table.
Which restaurants would you recommend in London?
Louboutins & Lemonade 