You walk in and you think absolute class. The Balcon is most certainly a classy venue. High gloss woods, all kinds of snazzy sofas and dramatic, contemporary lights - the bar area takes your breath away. Walking through the venue, they had other areas to be than the main restaurant, which was where we were. There was the St James' Bar which had a gentlemen's smoking club vibe, and the chintzy Rose Room, which was so feminine and you could imagine having a very sophisticated gossipy tea with your girls around you. Exuberance was the call of the day - even the route to the toilets had a few casual Jackson Pollocks lining the wall. As you do.
Well, no celebration would be complete without a glass of champagne. And top notch it was too. I know this is a peculiar aspect to fixate on, but my GOD were the flutes lovely. Nothing makes champers taste nicer than a very thing glass rimmed champers flute.
Not only this, but my mum and I required a vegetarian tray, which was also brought through with no fuss and was quite delicious!
However, I think it is time to go into the tea tray itself...
With multiple trays on the table, we swapped around. I had a couple of tomato and pesto sarnies on wholemeal bread, and traded a cheese sandwich for a smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber. Scrumptious.
Scones:
Well risen, with three varieties: plain, fruit and apricot. I have to say, I didn't think the apricot scones had the most pungent taste but all the scones were delicious - fluffy and warm and mmmm. The highlight of the scone show was most definitely the lemon curd. The jams were nice. But I have never had lemon curd on a scone and boy oh boy I have missed out - it was absolutely divine! And definitely something different. The strawberry jam had rose petals running thought it was a really beautiful touch.
Pastries:
God I love a good pastry. However, as always with pastries, there are going to be ones you adore and ones you can pass on. I had about a quarter to a half of each one, so I could give it fair verdict:
- Battenberg: This was a ginger cake and (I think) almond battenberg. Unfortunately, I wasn't really too keen on this - felt no need to polish it off, put it that way.
- Cheesecake: Nice - but not necessarily my favourite. Sharp with citrus fruits, I could have had it sweeter personally!
- (Not pictured) chocolate mousse delice thing....: SCRUM. But very, very sweet. BUT SO DELICIOUS.
- Frangipane cake/tart thing: Almondy flavours, slightly dense texture but still being very light... basically a perfect frangipane. Yum.
- Lemon tart: super sharp, super good pastry, basically delicious.
I think we get the idea here. Basically, everything was delicious. Absolutely scrumptious. You can't possibly go wrong with afternoon tea, it is just a wonderful, sharing occasion. There are things to mix and match, but it always has an air of decadence and sophistication - just that something more than a cup of tea and a slice of cake really, isn't it.
If you're looking for somewhere very special to celebrate a special occasion, I would a hundred percent recommend The Balcon. Great food, great atmosphere, and great staff.