I always had a fond love for afternoon tea and cakes, and was squealing with excitement when my friend “V” asked me to join her at Tom’s Kitchen in Canary Wharf.
Tom’s Kitchen rang a bell to me, it took a while to figure out that I seen the Chelsea branch often filmed for the reality show “Made in Chelsea”. Tom’s Kitchen new branch Canary Wharf opened recently near Westferry Circus.
Upon arrival you notice the venue us large, spacious, walking deeper to back of the modern British restaurant you notice it is very relaxed and casual environment.
The set up feels like you stepped into open planned kitchen and dining area, green plants, steel lamps hanging from the ceiling, the beech coloured wood tables.
Once seated, we specifically asked for the afternoon tea menu, to our disappointment the £13 deal was not there as advertised on the website.
What was given was completely different to the one we seen online. Attached is a screen shot.
Regardless we were there for some tea and cakes, and opted for the “coffee and cake” selection. “V” went for the cream tea. I ordered an extra berry tea, as the day before I had a MSG overdose from yum cha and was dying of thirst.
I don’t know why the service was super slow, it took 15 min for waitress to come back to tell me they was out of the carrot, orange, walnut cake and to bring the jug of water. There were hardly any other diners, just a handful. 5 min later someone else came out to tell me there was no carrot, orange, walnut cake again, and asked my friend if it was sweet or savoury scones she wanted. Since the 1st choice was sold out I choose the lemon sponge.
Our teas and teapots arrived and we chatted away, 20 min later our cakes and scones finally arrived, leaving our tea cold. The smell of freshly baked scones filled the air and assaulted our noses, sending signals to scream “EAT ME”.
The lemon sponge, was delicately light, fluffy the fork bounced off like a trampoline each time I poked at it. The perfectly scooped cream, was velvet silky smooth. Taste wise it wasn’t too sweet, perfect for my taste buds. I had a bite from “V”’s sweet scones, and it was delectable, no bitter after taste, I dare say it’s no2 tastiest out of the ones I’ve tried so far.
The berry tea was refreshing light with hints of earl grey, the fruity citrus notes complemented the strong black tea.
I did wonder why the table next to us, also ordered a cream tea but had two instead of one scones. It seems the service was inconsistent, and I didn’t bring up at the time. The service was very painfully slow, and we found the staff didn’t seem to know what they were doing. Set that aside, the ambience, settings of Tom’s kitchen was perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed our teas and cakes very much and would love to come back to try the food. The location is a bit far out from the other restaurants, cafes in the area.
