Liberty Cream Tea

by Heavenly Housewife on 29. Jul, 2009 in Eating in London, Shopping, Tea

While I have mentioned that Harrods is my absolute favorite place in all of London, there is actually another luxury department store which is ALMOST as fabulous, and that, my dears, is Liberty & Co. Liberty is housed in a gorgeous Tudor building which can absolutely not be missed if you are visiting London. Believe me when I tell you that it is just as stunning inside as it is on the outside (kind of like your favorite housewife ). For those of you who have an interest in art, the store actually played a very important role in the Art Nouveau / Arts and Crafts movement. For those of you interested in shopping, this place rocks! So, what can you buy here? Everything from bedding, loose fabric, exotic oriental carpets, books, high end designer gear, furniture, fine perfumes and soaps, and it also houses a fabulous shoe collection! Oh, and did I mention there’s food here?

Since I last had tea here, several years ago, the tea room has been refurbished. Truth be told, I thought the old set up was a lot nicer. Still, it does make a great respite from shopping. I just felt like walking in there and plopping onto one of chairs embroidered with peacock feathers and exclaiming, “Daaahling, my hands are just aching from swiping my Hubbykins’ credit card so many times. Would you be a dear and get me tea?” Yes, I told you, life is hard sometimes. I think I work just about as hard as Hubby spending his money as he works making it … no, not really .

Detail of wall murals:

When you sit down, a waitress hands you a pretty little red menu with tiny illustrations inside. Ah, what to have? I was debating: should I do the full blown afternoon tea, or should I have cream tea (which comprises of scones, clotted cream, jam and tea)? This was towards the end of a long day in London. Truth be told I went absolutely piggy mad that day and didn’t think I should go for the full shebang. So, I had the cream tea. I could tell the ladies sitting next to me were jealous (Ha! Too bad, so sad). Yes, so obviously I had to eat it very slowly, savoring every morsel. I like to make people feel like thay are not having as much fun as me– I’m horrid that way.

The cream tea was tres charmant! For £11.50 you get the following:

Very good organic strawberry jam with clotted cream
Two warm scones (though not fresh like at the Ritz)
Your choice of freshly brewed tea or coffee, with milk and sugar

This is served on a lovely china set (which is for sale upstairs). My only real complaint is that I think they crowded too much seating in there. I could just feel those ladies’ beady little eyes watching me take my tea.

After tea, I was strolling around with my very full belly and walked into a little chocolate room. I saw something there which caught my eye. It was a white chocolate sculpture which reminded me of a very dear friend of mine, the incomparable Lola! Always nice to see that beauty is appreciated.