St. Valentine's Day Enchanted Rose Afternoon Tea @ Kona Taj 51 Buckingham Gate

Kona at Taj 51 Buckingham Gate (located between St. James' Park and Victoria) have hosted a St. Valentine's Day afternoon tea this year. They have named this special afternoon tea "The Enchanted Rose" to pay a tribute to this special day St. Valentine's Day. Upon arrival, guests are shown to their tables where a rose behind a glass dome awaits. The afternoon tea is themed with special Valentine's Day pastries and scones.

A glass of Prosecco could be added for five pounds more for this afternoon tea and some of their other themed afternoon teas (including the Alice in Wonderland and Sherlock Holmes teas). I also had the Taj Earl Grey Blue Flower Blend tea (made with dried cornflower petals) to start but then changed this to the First Flush Darjeeling Casteton, which I felt was the surperior option. I love Earl Grey tea and Darjeeling tea, but Darjeeling is slightly my preference, and in this case, it was the better tea.

The sandwiches included cucumber, smoked salmon, egg, and smoked duck.

The pastries included passion fruit meringue tart (Valentine Blush), a strawberry mille feuille (Pink Passion) with hazlenut chocolate, pink champagne jelly with minted foam (Scarlet Desire), lavender macaroons, and red velvet pastry hearts (Red Blossom). All of these tasted delicious, though my least favourite was the champagne jelly. I'm not keen on red velvet cake or white chocolate typically, but the Red Blossom hit the spot, and the passionfruit and strawberry mille feuille tasted delicious. 

My favourite part of the afternoon tea (which was a tough call to make as it all tasted delicious) were the 'Love Me Do' scones. These heart-shaped scones were dyed pink and tasted of rose and filled with flaked almonds and raisins. The scones were served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. 

The only problem that we had was that the attentiveness of the staff was a bit lacking in the service department and the presentation of the food was not great, but the food and drink was spot on, and I could not fault any issues with it.