Review: Afternoon Tea at Sketch and its Gallery of taste.
By: María J. Arabia
Afternoon Tea gets a glow up in the ever renowned Sketch. The Gallery offers the perfect afternoon tea and it is one of London’s most famous instagrammable tea parlors, including its ever famous bathrooms. Art, food and music come together to create an unforgettable experience. But does it live up the hype?
It’s wednesday, the last day before the second lockdown in London starts and the streets are busy with people hurrying to do their last minute errands. Meanwhile I, the eternal tourist; will have my first ever afternoon tea before restaurants close their doors. Introduced around the 1840’s, I am on a quest to discover how this posh and perhaps a bit outdated practice has evolved almost 200 years later. Once unequivocally british, afternoon tea seems to now belong more to the touristic realm of clichés than the authentic Londoner experience.
Located on 9 Conduit Street lies Sketch, containing its ‘instagrammable’ pink Gallery and a reputation for having some of the most photographed bathrooms in London. Its menu is introduced with the promise to “reinvent Afternoon Tea.” Feeling slightly skeptical, I worry that as with many of these trendy restaurants more effort has been put into being chic than in the actual soul of a restaurant: its food.
On arrival, I am escorted into the Gallery by two gentlemen wearing matching tailored suits and floral masks, my only reminder that the world outside still exists and I have not just gone down the rabbit hole into wonderland. In the corner, a trio of violinists play acoustic versions of hip songs. Every booth has pink velvety chairs, golden accents and vintage champagne glasses. The walls are covered with original printed posters designed by the British visual artist David Shrigley, who also designed the quirky menagerie I am about to see. The customary fine china has been replaced with modern white scribbled plates that label pepper as ‘dust’ and milk as ‘dreams’ and can be purchased at the exit, much like in any museum. The domed ceilings are chapel-like, high and majestic. There are custom made hand sanitizers in every table. I become part of a choreographed parade, and the show has begun.
The first scene depicts The Tea Master, who places a Japanese teapot in front of me containing one of the 15 different options offered in the menu, followed swiftly by The Caviar Man who, sporting a candyfloss pink suit and a Panama hat; introduces the Eggs and Soldiers: my first indication that Executive Head Chef Don Frédéric and Head Pastry Chef Christophe Gasper have nailed the rebirth of the classics. In front of me there is now an egg cup filled with a creamy comté mornay that resembles an egg white and a soft quail yolk cooked slowly to 63°, which for the connoiseur translates into egg yolk perfection; served with thin comté cheese soldiers on the side and a spoonful of Sturia Sturgeon caviar.
The menu continues to explore the elements of a classic afternoon tea, the mandatory cold cut sandwiches: coronation chicken, cucumber, and salmon. And a new perfect addition: a lukewarm truffle croque. Next to it an egg gougére with a soft inside.
The Petits Gâteaux depict a divine strawberry and hibiscus Battenberg, a caramel and chocolate éclair, an elderflower and citrus tart, a lemon marshmallow craftly shaped into a knot and a raspberry cheesecake. A mix of old and new, similar only in how perfectly executed they are. The delicate textures combined with bold flavours.
The next showstoppers are a warm sultana scone, Cornish clotted cream and two jams: organic strawberry & poppy and organic fig. The scone is soft, buttery and flaky and like a proper tourist I devour it without considering if the cream or the jam comes first, but instead adding copious amounts of both, leaving no space for the end piece: a Victoria sponge cake that I take with me in a pink to-go box.
Leaving without visiting the aforementioned bathrooms seems sacrilegious so I make my way upstairs where bright lights and a colorful Mondrian-esque ceiling surround several egg shaped pods containing the infamous toilets.
Two hours later I emerge from Sketch with only a blurry idea of what just happened in this parallel universe where it is possible to sit down and delight your every sense. The Gallery is a place where art becomes alive, in its characters, its edible creations and its cacophony of curated and synchronised elements. It delivers on its promise, and it is worth a visit, for more than just seeing the surreal bathrooms.
The experience can be enjoyed for ₤49, but for ₤66.50 you can also have some British sparkling bubbles.
