• Home
  • Cocktails
  • Culture
    • Dance
    • Opera
    • Theatre
    • Outdoor
    • London Life
      • Foodie London
      • Visiting London – Five Must Do Sights
      • Visiting London – London Travel Tips
    • Balcony Gardening
  • Featured
    • Books
    • Home Delivery
    • Recipe Kits
    • Giveaways
  • Recipes
    • Meat
    • Soups
    • Lunch
    • Starters
    • Mains
    • Sides
    • Desserts
    • Cakes and Sweets
    • 5:2 Diet Recipes
    • Fish and Shellfish
    • Meat
    • Poultry
    • Vegetarian
  • Restaurants
    • Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia
    • Bermondsey, Borough and London Bridge
    • Chelsea
    • Camden
    • City of London
    • Clerkenwell
    • Covent Garden
    • Docklands
    • East London
    • Kings Cross
    • Knightsbridge
    • Kings Cross
    • Kensington
    • Marylebone
    • Mayfair
    • Oxford Circus
    • Oxford Circus
    • Paddington
    • St James
    • Soho
    • South Bank
    • South London
    • The Strand and Embankment
    • North London
    • Victoria and Pimlico
    • West London
    • Out of London
    • Miscellaneous
  • Travel UK
  • Travel Europe
    • Belgium
    • Croatia
    • Czech Republic
    • First Visit
      • Bulgaria
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Slovenia
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Italy
      • Sicily
    • Ireland
    • Portugal
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Travel Other
    • Caribbean Travel
      • Antigua
      • Barbados
      • Grenada
      • St Lucia
    • Ecuador
    • Egypt
    • India
    • Qatar
    • Mexico
    • Oman
    • Rodrigues and Mauritius
    • Sri Lanka
    • USA

London Unattached - Luxury Mid-Life London Lifestyle

Luxury London Lifestyle for mid-life Metropolitans - food, travel, restaurant reviews - London Unattached

You are here: Home / Restaurant / Covent Garden / Afternoon Tea at The Ivy Market Grill

Afternoon Tea at The Ivy Market Grill

October 20, 2015 by Fiona Maclean 1 Comment

Tweet
Pin
Share
Flip
Share

Last Updated on December 12, 2016 by Fiona Maclean

The Ivy Market Grill – Afternoon Tea in Covent Garden:

An iconic brand with its own entry in Wikipedia, The Ivy closed for refurbishment recently, re-opening on 1st June this year.  Meanwhile, Caprice Group, the holding company for a number of fine dining restaurants in London, have opened a couple of ‘outposts’ of the original Ivy; the Ivy Chelsea Garden and the Ivy Market Grill in the heart of Covent Garden Market.  Another is on the cards too, in Marylebone Village.

The Ivy Market Grill Interior_edited-1

 

Afternoon Tea is a good way to check out a new venue so I was delighted to be invited along last week to the Ivy Market Grill.  Their afternoon tea offering includes a classic tea for £19.75, or £27.50 and there’s also the option to have a cream tea for just £8.75 per person with scones, clotted cream, jam and tea.  That beats Starbucks hands down!

The Ivy Market Grill Tea

The interior of the Ivy Market Grill owes a lot to the original Ivy – bistro style with comfortable leather seats and banquettes, but with the elegance of white table linen and traditional silverware.  Comfortable and charming, it has a retro feel that works well as an escape from the frenzy of Covent Garden.  Perfect for afternoon tea.

After a welcome glass of champagne, we were offered teas.  While the selection is limited, there’s a good range of options including their own blend afternoon tea, green sencha and jasmine pearls.  I opted for a classic Earl Grey and was just a little disappointed to spot a teabag.  My head tells me there’s no difference…but loose leaf tea with a strainer is just that little bit more luxurious somehow.

Afternoon tea at the Ivy Market Grill

Our tea arrived all at once, though with the scones rather prettily presented on their own tower.

The Ivy Market Grill Savouries 1

Three savouries – a truffled chicken gougere (which seemed just a little overcooked), delicious and light smoked salmon blini with cream cheese and chives and a marinated cucumber and dill sandwich were on the top tower.  We’d eaten a good lunch so declined the offer of a second helping of everything.

The Ivy Market Grill Scones

The scones, while not ‘warm from the oven’ were very fresh, nicely moist with just a bit of crumbliness.  And, they were a decent size.  While I couldn’t eat the fresh strawberries, my companion enjoyed the treat!

The Ivy Market Grill Sweet

Two full plates of cakes seemed quite generous.  We both found the pastries excellent – a tiny mouth-wateringly delicate lemon meringue pie, fragrant lavender and almond macaron and a chocolate opera cake.  It’s very easy to get the cakes for afternoon tea wrong – too large and they are overwhelming, while miniatures can easily result in an oversweet cake or one with stodgy pastry.  Here they were spot on.

The Ivy Market Grill Sweet 2

While I enjoyed the fruit cake and the cheese, once I’d tried them together I ended up dissecting and eating mine separately.  I suspect it’s all about what I am used to!

The afternoon tea at the Ivy Market Grill is good value and for the most part excellent quality.  For under £20 you can have a tea that is more substantial than a lot of three-course meals.  And, if you add in the champagne, you’ve got a celebratory event.  The Ivy Market Grill is a lovely place to relax as well.  Service was excellent and the ambience pleasant and comfortable.  So, if you want somewhere to take a break when you are shopping in the area, or to enjoy tea before a show why not try for yourself.
The Ivy Market Grill,
1 Henrietta Street,
London, WC2E 8PS

Filed Under: Covent Garden, Restaurant Tagged With: afternoon tea, Covent Garden Restaurant, tea

About Fiona Maclean

London based freelance writer and marketing consultant. I edit London-Unattached.com and write for a number of other publications. With a music degree and a background in marketing across many sectors, my passions include all types of music, food, restaurants, wine and travel

Comments

  1. Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi says

    November 25, 2015 at 11:26 pm

    Sometimes you just have to usher in the festive season in luxury – this sounds scrumptious!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow Us

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

About London-Unattached

  • About Fiona Maclean
    • Writing for Other Publications
  • Enquiries/PR
  • Links to Other Sites
  • London Unattached Contributors
  • London Unattached Privacy Policy
  • Media Pack
  • Newsletter
  • Travel Bloggers Influencer Network

Recently Published

  • Firezza showcases stone-baked pizza
  • Cruise – Online – Review
  • Go Nuts – #Win Nuts!
Looking for more recipes? Check out my new site, The Frugal Flexitarian, for easy, cost effective recipes to enjoy at home.
Find My 5:2 Diet Recipes quickly and easily

London Unattached Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter here. We promise not to spam - and you can unsubscribe at any time

Search London Unattached


Find Us

blogl
VuelioTop10Badge2020

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in