Winter Wonderland Afternoon Tea at Rubens Hotel, London

With the exception of last year, the past few years have become a new tradition to take afternoon tea during December with friends. Our reservation at the Savoy was cancelled last year for obvious reasons. Due to a mess-up with the reservation there this year, we ended up visiting Rubens at the Palace hotel for their Winter Wonderland Afternoon Tea, which comes with bottomless mulled wine. I had previously visited Rubens for the bottomless Prosecco afternoon tea, which I had in June (Bottomless Champagne Afternoon Tea at Rubens at the Palace).

The mulled wine came out first, and it was not too strong at all. It was also not as warm as I would have hoped. 

This was followed by the plates of sandwiches, scones, and pastries.

The hotel offers several different menus for diet requirements: gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and standard. On the standard menu is roast turkey with cranberry and pomegranate sausage roll, smoked salmon with horseradish, beetroot and pastrami (or goat's cheese), truffle egg and ham mayonnaise, and cucumber and lemon cream cheese. There was also a jackfruit or nutroast with the vegetarian menu.

There were two types of scone provided - a plain and a speculoos. Clotted cream and a seasonal fruit preserve were included, and the preserve was plum. 

Now, on to the themed pastries.

Santa's Log: Mascarpone cream, poached vanilla apple, ginger honey sponge, and a biscuit create this red pastry that is topped with a white chocolate golden buckle.

Cherry Choux: white chocolate whipped ganache, cherry and yuzu compote, and cherry cream create this choux pastry. The cherry on top is soaked in liquer and quite boozey-strong unexpectedly.

Clementine: Dark chocolate mousse, orange curd, Madeleine sponge, orange marmalade, and a crunch base make this glossy orange pastry. It is topped with a white chocolate leaf.

Christmas Pudding Tart: This is a cranberry jam frangipane with custard cremeux. It is topped with a couple of berries and a white chocolate leaf.

On the way out, we spotted a hot chocolate bar in the entrance.

We saw some Christmas decorations at Victoria and on the way back to the underground.

Overall, the service was very good for our afternoon tea, and there were bottomless sandwiches. We enjoyed afternoon tea at Rubens at the Palace hotel.