review: port-a-portea at the berkeley, autumn/winter 2012

Hello! Well it has been an exhausting week of excessive celebrations, including a dinner at Le Gavroche (and meeting the man Michel Roux Jnr himself), parties, champagne and of course, the long-awaited Pret-a-Portea at the Berkeley in London.

The waiting list is about 3 months long I believe - I booked a table online about 4 months ago. For a ridiculously long wait, I suppose the ultimate fashionista high tea experience was marginally worth the £40 per person price tag. The setting is lovely, especially if you're lucky enough to bag one of the plush sofa seats. The Paul Smith dining ware was a nice touch, but I could see bits of paint peeling off.

So, the food. There is definitely enough to go round the pair of us, thanks to free refills! We were asked three times if we wanted more food (we said yes twice), including the beautiful pastries on the middle tier. And the quality? A bit hit and miss. The sandwiches and the savoury snacks on the lower tier were average, and out of the pastries only the macaron really stood out to me. The beautiful green YSL bag felt more like playdough in my mouth and didn't really taste like pistachio as it's meant to be. The mousse cakes and biscuits were nothing to write home about either, and my sister didn't particularly like the mousses on the top tier either.

I know I'm sketching it as a rather negative experience, but to be fair, I went for the novelty of it. If you're looking to have a long girlfriend gossip sesh over a unique, swanky afternoon tea, then go for it. Just don't expect too much of the food.

Plus, we got adorable takeaway boxes, and I got the macaron, so no (overtly vocal) complaints from me.

All photos are my property.