A Royal Afternoon Tea fit for the Queen

We popped along to enjoy samples of the Royal Afternoon Tea that Nathan Outlaw is hosting at his restaurant in the Capital Hotel this month, to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday. The menu has been created by Will Torrent and his head chef Tom Brown and has been designed to make a trip to the Capital for afternoon tea an experience fit for a queen!

The whole menu is a nod to what the Queen herself likes, and given that she is rumored to enjoy afternoon tea every day, there's plenty of scope for picking out her favourites. The menu changes slightly depending on when you visit, such as the variations on the cakes served; this could be an "Elizabethan" Sponge a nice lemon and lavender twist on the Victorian classic, or a recreation of Will and Kate's chocolate wedding cake.

Our top three things on offer were:

Smoked Salmon on crumpets. Letting the ingredients speak for themselves is just unbeatable.

St Clement's posset. Lovely hit of acidity and sweetness on top of a velvety smooth and creamy posset all served in a shot glass.

Chocolate and marmalade "teacakes". These looked too beautiful to smash to get to the marshmallow and marmalade filling.

So if you want a quintessentially British afternoon go and have some tea and treats at the Capital hotel. Our recommendation would be to finish with gin & Dubonnet. The Queen has one every day before lunch, so it would be rude not to...