Ages and ages and ages (read: 6 weeks) ago, one of my best friends in this glorious world, Loreen, turned the ripe young age of 30. She was off on the Inca trail on this momentus day, proving her youth by trekking this hideously high altituded (oh yes, that is now a word) pathway sans any assistance from walking tools or her husband or most impressively, make-up. I know.
Since we weren’t able to properly celebrate Loreen’s birthday with her on the actual day, we kinda sorta tried to bend the time and space continuum and time warped back to the 1920’s to celebrate in style, albeit six weeks late.
Yes, I’m also confused.
Another one of my little buddies Christine (“little” is not a figurative term of endearment, we are just a regular bunch of midgets here) organised this unique and crazy party through Vintage Patisserie, an up and coming and utterly fabulous party business who turn various London venues into a thing of glamour and history, bringing the 1920’s to life with stunning maids, vintage crockery and most importantly, delicious tea party food.
I can’t begin to explain how inexplicably vintagely-cool Vintage Patisserie are. We rock up at the venue and it’s all set to go with personalised cupcakes and chocolates helping us declare our undying love for Loreen, because we’re there cos we love her right? Not because we want to eat, right? Right.
The tables were set with vintage crockery, beautifully laid out with roses and candles and all things that make you feel so disgustingly girlie that you almost want to run and hide but ah, what’s this they’re offering? A completely new concept indeed…
… tea with champagne! At. The. Same. Time. A deliciously refreshing combination of jasmine infused ice green tea, topped up with a little (or a lot of) prosecco….
Fizz away, m’lovely!
One awesome thing about Vintage Patisserie is that they’re not all about the eating. I know, I know, life is all about the eating. But sometimes, just sometimes, we have to pretend that it isn’t, ok?
The party comes complete with Sharon, Vintage Patisserie’s personal stylist extraordinaire, who will help you get in the 1920’s swing of things. She curls like there’s no tomorrow and when she’s done curling, she unleashes you on their treasure trove of dress-up goodies like pearls, feathers, head bands, gloves, fascinators and if you so happen to have boys at the party, they even have some top hats.
As you can imagine, we totally went cra-ZEE.
Gorgeously vintage and ready to eat!
Vintage Patisserie gives any other hotel style afternoon tea a run for their money. On the menu are fresh (and superbly moist) chocolate cupcakes, little shot glass desserts (including raspberry and custard, chocolate mousse, tiramisu, lemon cheesecake)…
… chocolate coated strawberries…
… and of course, the obligatory sandwich and scones. I know it totally looks like I anorexia’d on you guys here and only ate a cucumber sandwich but trust me, that is a lie. The usual afternoon tea suspects were on the sandwich menu and I tried every single one of them.
For the sake of the blog, of course.
And then there are the scones. Absolutely dahling all dusted in pink, these babies are more than just a pretty face. Fresh and moist, they probably would have been great just on their own but who the heck eats scones on their own? Drowned in strawberry jam and clotted cream, the scones were a little slice of glutton heaven.
Whoever invented clotted cream? Hi, my name is Cat, I love you.
So we ate and we drank (tea. and maybe a little prosecco) and had a fabulously girlie afternoon. For £35 a head, this afternoon tea sure beats paying almost twice as much to sit in a stuffy hotel although ok, I admit there is some glamour in sitting in a stuffy hotel.
Vintage Patisserie is a party idea I would totally recommend so seriously, if you want to throw a party with a difference, contact Angel now and get it sorted STAT!
Oh and happy belated birthday Loreen! *muaks*
Note: our little party was held at private member’s bar 93 Feet East down by Brick Lane but Vintage Patisserie have a selection of venues they operate in around London and they’re also happy to set up at your home or office. And… shhhh… a little birdie told me they are in the process of securing their own venue in Soho so *squeee!*
23-Jul-2010 update: watch Angel score on Dragon’s Den!
18-Oct-2010 update: watch Angel on Dragon’s Den Where Are They Now?