Turning back time to the Christmas of 2015, my blogger bestie Boo and I were due to visit Sketch London for afternoon tea.

Sadly for various reasons we had to cancel, with the intention of going at a later date.

Up until now we hadn’t managed to reschedule it, so when we talking about what adventures we wanted to plan for this year, Sketch was firmly on the cards.

As June was Boo’s 30th birthday, we decided that it would be a great way of celebrating. I duly booked tea for two on Saturday 3rd June.

Boo, in her wisdom decided we should make a full day of it, and suggested a trip to the theatre on the same day.

We decided that we would like to see Disney’s Aladdin and again tickets were booked.

Saturday morning arrived with the sun shining and an adventure to be had.

I had already decided to wear my white jersey slash neck top, pin up girl clothing Venice Print Jenny Skirt, Victory rolls, snood and a huge hair flower.

I also decided to debut a new red vanity case bag that I had purchased at the Enfield Pageant.

Train Time

Baby Bear kindly drove me to the station in her swish little mini and I hopped on the 1005 to Euston.

Planning to meet Boo at Kings Cross I got on the tube and arrived at 1130

The schedule for the day was pretty fluid, however we had tea booked for 1530, and the theatre was at 1930. I had expressed an interest in visiting a large vintage shop called Blackout2, situated near to Covent Garden.

We hopped onto the tube and got off at Covent Garden. It was a short walk away to Blackout2 and we walked into a vintage paradise! Hats, jewellery, handbags and clothing galore. I could have happily spent my mortgage in there, but sadly I needed to save my pennies for the afternoon ahead.

We then popped into a wonderful shop called Artbox; full of Pusheen, Hello Kitty, Tokidoki, Sailor Moon and more. Pens, stationery, cuddly toys, you name it they had it! I ended up picking up a bookmark and a set of post it notes. Well, you can never have enough Stationery!

We ended up making a new friend, a beautiful bedecked vintage lady who was working in there. Chatting for about 10 minutes we tried to convince her to come to LondonEdge in September and join a couple of vintage Facebook Groups!

Eventually we left and made our way towards Leicester Square. It was a scorching hot day so we may have stopped in Scarletts, a lovely drinking establishment I may have visited before. They had a very comprehensive cocktail list. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Scarletts for Cocktails

Carrying on down into Leicester Square we came along to The Lego Store. Now, we might be grown adults, but who could resist a trip inside. Queue us taking loads of photographs with all the displays including having a photo in the full size tube carriage next to Shakespeare and a Royal Soldier. Such good fun!

All Aboard

The Lego Store

A proper English Dragon

We still had a little time to kill before our reservation at Sketch so we popped along to Carnaby Street. It was heaving! More so than usual. Then we realised there was a massive food festival going on and we had wound up in the middle of it.

Carnaby Street

The sun was shining, the crowds were happy and the different smells coming from the food stalls were amazing. We ambled through until we hit some of our favourite shops, Irregular Choice, Pylones and MAC. I ended up with another red lipstick (Like I needed another one!)

Then it was time to head to Sketch. This was a long time coming and we were both super excited.

Art Installations

Arriving outside we were welcomed into a dark hall area with artwork and sculptures on all the walls, and a hopscotch grid on the floor!

The Entrance

A large curving staircase looked like it had paint tipped down from the top to the bottom. A golden Paperclip barrier stopped you from going up.

Paperclip Chain and Paint stairs

We walked though past a lush bedecked green forest like room, through double doors into a pink paradise.

The Glade

It literally looked like Barbara Cartland had designed the whole room. Pink velvet, chairs that looked like Charlotte puddings, art deco accessories and cartoon sketches on every wall!

Pink Paradise

Perfectly Pink

We were shown to our table and were told that our waitress would be with us immediately.

Beautiful Menu

On a table in the opposite part of the room were three vintage friends we had come to know quite well, Rhina, Chereeka and Kelly. What an amazing coincidence! We both went across to say hello and exchange pleasantries and have a couple of selfies.

Kelly and Chereeka

The wonderful Rhina

Then we popped back to our table to start our experience.

A beautiful young lady in a black morning coat came over and introduced herself  as  “The Cork Popper” and explained that the “Tea Master” would be coming over to discuss our personal tea choices.

The Afternoon Tea Menu

Well, I have never heard of a tea master so I was pretty excited.

The different people working in Sketch

I do love a good cup of Earl Grey, in fact it’s the only tea I drink. However I thought I would give something else a try instead. A stunning lady in what looked like a hand-painted silk dress came and introduced herself as Noshin, the tea master.

We had a discussion about tea and I decided to have a try of the Jasmine Pearls tea. Boo went with a fruit tea.

Sadly I wasn’t a fan of the Jasmine Pearls and swapped it for my favourite Earl Grey.

The cork popper arrived back with Rose Champagne for me and sparkling grape juice for Boo. Poured from a great height with much aplomb, it really was a spectacle.

Our first course arrived courtesy of “The man in Grey” who announced he was called Arnaud. It was Egg and Soldiers!

Egg and Soldiers

Unlike any other I have ever had, it was a ceramic pot which looked like a cracked eggshell, which was filled with a Comté cheese mornay and a quail egg yolk. Two little pieces of toast sat to the side.

We were told that “The Caviar Man” was now going to come over and to await his arrival.

A very dapper man in a pink suit and white trilby, Carrying a large silver dish filled with caviar, he introduced himself as Matt the Caviar man and proceeded to tell us all about the caviar itself.

Matt the Caviar Man

He took a mother of pearl spoon and scooped up a portion of the Oscietra Caviar and explained how it should be eaten.

“Swill it around your mouth a few times then push it to the roof of your mouth. With your tongue press hard until all the pearls burst. It will be slightly sweet, nutty and quite creamy”

Well I have never had Caviar before, so in for a penny in for a pound.

Eggs and Fish Eggs

I followed his instructions to the letter whilst Boo took photo’s. I think you can see my reaction quite clearly.

The egg and soldiers however, were amazing! Literally one of the nicest things I have ever eaten. I could have had two or three more!

Next came a tower of sandwiches, pastries and little pots of yummyness.

Tower of delight

Boo had asked for the vegetarian option, so had different ones to myself.

The sandwiches were divine. Coronation Chicken on malted bread, Smoked Salmon on Arctic bread, Tomato Chutney on pumpernickel bread and Goose Egg Mayo on white bread.

The prettiest sandwiches ever

They literally were the prettiest and tastiest sandwiched I had ever eaten. We could have ordered as many more as we wanted but decided to give the pastries a go first, then have a break and more sandwiches.

Goose Egg Mayonnaise

My pastries consisted of a Pistachio Petit Choux, Lemon and Strawberry Battenberg, Chocolate and Caramel Gateau, Malabar Marshmallow and a little glass vial filled with Rhubarb Cheesecake.

My pastries

Boo’s pastries were mainly chocolate based, and there was a raspberry and coconut tart instead of the marshmallow, and a tropical fruit salad in place of the cheesecake.

Boo’s selections

As there was so much to try, we decided to share and try little bits of each others. I have to admit, everything I had was just superb.

The next course was fruited or plain scones with clotted cream, raspberry or fig preserve. They were huge, warm and so soft. Splitting mine up I went with Raspberry. It was literally the best scone I have ever had.

Scones, Jam and Cream

Already I was starting to get very full, so we decided to have a breather and went to explore the Pod Toilets. They literally feel like something out of a science fiction film. Big white eggs in a white room. The only hint of colour is the multicoloured glass ceiling tiles.

Pods!

Peeping out of a Pod

Under the staircase of the toilet was a bar with erotic drawings on the ceiling. Literally every room is as different from each other as you could get.

Going back to our table, we were approached again by Arnaud who offered us cakes from their trolley. A Victoria Sponge and a Fudge Banana Loaf were placed before us.

More Cake

I honestly didn’t think I could eat another morsel, but I had to try. The Fudge Banana loaf was amazing and I wished I could have eaten more.

But that sadly is where the story ends. I could not fit any more food in me, so I decided to order a cocktail to finish things off.

Cocktail Time

I asked for a “Gilbert Grape” which took a little while to arrive due to a mix up, however the Tea Master explained there would be no charge due to the delay.

Cocktails for one!

Overall we were there nearly three hours. The time was just so chilled out and relaxed and I for one loved every second of it (apart from that Caviar)

The Tea Trolley

Whilst the experience isn’t cheap, it is worth every penny. It is something that you might only do once and the building alone warrants the cost yet the food is simply divine too.

I have to say I was quite sad to leave the beautiful pink room. The staff couldn’t have been nicer, and we felt so welcome there. If the opportunity comes to go again, I would certainly do it!

String Trio

The day was still not over.

We had the theatre to go to, so we walked through Carnaby Street again, back towards Soho. We were stopped several times by people asking to take our photograph and everyone was just so complimentary.

Carnaby Again

It was then that I saw a vintage lady walking on the opposite side of the road. She looked amazing and I wanted to tell her so. I walked across the road and told her I though she looked beautiful. As we chatted for a few minutes, it only turned out that I was chatting to Miss L Fire, the owner of the shoes that I literally lust over! I immediately started fangirling. I have to say though, she was an absolute sweetheart.

It was then time to go and get into the theatre for the performance…. and there will be more on that in my next post.

What do you think to Sketch? Would you like to go for tea? Were we big kids for having our pictures taken with the Lego characters?

Till next time,

Txx