‘Theatre Not Afternoon Tea’ At The OXO Tower

If you are a regular follower of the blog you will know I love my afternoon tea and this month Harvey Nichols have launched Theatre Not Afternoon Tea, a new type of themed afternoon tea at the OXO Tower. The afternoon tea is an array of sweet treats and cocktails carefully paired with a theatrical theme, taking inspiration from some of London’s top West End productions.

I popped down or is that up to try out the new afternoon tea. The OXO Tower restaurant, bar and brasserie is located on the eighth floor of the OXO Tower on the Southbank, which gives you an ample view across the river. It’s lovely and light inside and has a great vibe, we went on a Sunday afternoon and there was a female singer performing. Theatre Not Afternoon Tea as it suggests is not your usual afternoon tea. There are no sandwiches and no savoury options, this is all about the sweetness and the alcohol, so if either of those are for you then you will love it. 

The tea starts off with the Hamlet’s skkull and poison which is inspired by the Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, just a short walk away on the Southbank. This came out beautifully presented, it was definitely a wow moment. Served on a slate is a skull shot glass filled with a white chocolate skull and sour cherry parfait. I’m not a big fan of cherry but this actually didn’t have the usual obvious cherry taste and I really loved it. It was a light way to start the tea. Paired with the skull was a goblet of cider which I’m pretty sure had vodka in it, a strong way to start the afternoon.

I hadn’t finished my first cocktail before the main event arrived, again beautifully presented and they looked amazing. It was easy to see which musicals had inspired each design. You had Wicked which was a mint parfait and chocolate crisp in a witches hat design, Phantom of The Opera a rose and raspberry meringue tart, The Lion King a coconut and mango mousse and Matilda a honey and chocolate cake.

With each sweet was a mini cocktail which complimented it, the brandy espresso worked well with the chocolate cake and the passion fruit rum really made the passionfruit of the mousse flavours heightened. It was hard to choose a favourite but the chocolate cake was just so delicious, I actually wish I’d gone right to left and had the lighter cakes first as I was completely stuffed by the end of it. You can really see how much thought had gone into each design.

However I made room as to finish we had a pot of tea each, I went for fresh mint and also homemade gingerbread biscuits. We had the red heeled shoe and a bat, can you guess what they were from?

The experience doesn’t end there as you will also be given a box of chocolates to take home, six theatre treats, including Rum Truffle Tart inspired by the Rocky Horror Show and a Swan Macaroon inspired by Billy Elliot.

We had such a great afternoon trying this tea at the OXO Tower. The service was brilliant and the tea really is something a little bit special and so different from the usual afternoon teas. If you love cake and the theatre then you will love this. It could also be a great way to start a theatre break in London.

Theatre Not Afternoon Tea at the OXO Tower Brasserie is priced at £38 per person and £18 for the children’s menu. It’ s available Monday to Friday 3pm – 5pm and Saturday to Sunday 2pm – 4.30pm. Click here to book.