Claire Clark Patisserie Launches her own take on Afternoon Tea at Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge

Yesterday we were treated to the Claire Clark afternoon tea at the Fifth Floor, Harvey Nichols, they recently collaborated with Claire Clark, one of the best pastry chefs in the world and saw the opportunity to showcase her delights! Quite different from the traditional experience of afternoon tea, this version has a retro twist with Charlie & The Chocolate Factory look-a-like mini cakes served on neon modernistic Perspex plates. Apparently, this is the first time Claire’s cakes will be available outside restaurants like The Wolseley and hotels such as Claridges and The Ritz, to name but a few that she has worked with previously.

Claire Clark

Prior to entering The Restaurant, the pop-up patisserie stand on the Fifth Floor will catch your eye. It`s a chance to taste every delight during afternoon tea and buy your favourites to take home afterwards.

Claire has really taken inspiration from childhood favourites to create a wonderful selection of afternoon treats!

We started our experience with four delicious savoury tasters including a New York smoked salmon & cream cheese poppy seed bagel, a very British egg mayonnaise & watercress white roll, a Franch Saint Agur cheese & sun-dried tomato sourdough slice and Milanese foccacia with tuna & black olive tapenade.

The Bubblegum Marshmallow Pavlova – going, going, gone…

Next came an exquisite selection of cakes including the Bubblegum Marshmallow Pavlova, Rose and Raspberry Éclair, Pistachio, Passion Fruit Pain de gene, Lemon Madeira Cake, Sesame Opera, Praline Roulade, Mini Battenburg, Jaffa Cake Macaroon, Warm Chocolate Cherry Cake and Peanut Butter S’Mores. Supposedly, the intense Bubblegum Marshmallow Pavlova is a must-try but for me this was too sickly sweet. However, it was an ingenious explosion of flavour with softly peaked meringue, baked crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. The base is filled with bubblegum pastry cream and sat on a thin disc of white chocolate with colourful sprinkles.

This modern version of afternoon tea is most certainly stylish and fun! Priced at £35 or at £45 with a glass of Harvey Nichols Champagne, please book by calling 020 7235 5250. The Claire Clark Patisserie will be open in the Fifth Floor Foodmarket from Monday, 13 September to Thursday, 18 November.