Last Updated on February 29, 2024

A cream tea with a view

Afternoon tea on the 35th floor of the Shard is a luxurious affair. With the coming of Spring, Shangri-La The Shard has launched a themed tea called “Bees in Bloom” in its TING restaurant in collaboration with local jewellery brand Alex Monroe (based round the corner in Snowsfields).

The bee theme starts the moment you step into the hotel with hive-inspired decorations inside the entrance and then throughout TING. The theme continues onto the plate with a signature bee pastry made from honey from local Bermondsey Bees.

The tea started on an unexpected note with tiny cups of iced tea flavoured with mint and peach purée – a lovely beginning to what was going to be quite a special afternoon. 

Soon the table was beginning to be populated with a seemingly neverending array of items.

We were seated at one of the corner tables in among lots of engineering and cantilevering, with a fascinating view of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge then down the river and out east. My friend had made a foolish mistake and left her distance glasses at home, so she was only able to enjoy a slightly blurred version of the extensive view. 

It was a wet, drizzly, misty grey London day but nothing could detract from or even dim our pleasure at being 35 storeys above ground in window seats with glasses of champagne and a far-reaching view of the capital. The Veuve Clicquot, Yellow Label, Brut was a drily delicious accompaniment to our teas. There’s the opportunity to upscale one’s champagne choice (at a price) or opt for a non-alcoholic drink instead. If you just want to stick to the tea and water, then that’s fine too and slightly cheaper.

There’s a huge choice of tea on offer. I stuck to one of my old favourites – Lapsang Souchong – and my companion enjoyed the Shangri-La Signature Blend.

While I tackled the standard tea, my companion chose the vegan version so we were able to compare and contrast the two. It is perfectly possible to mix and match items to make the teas suitable for vegetarians and pescatarians too.  

And so the eating began. We both received the same Heritage Carrot Burger, filled with deeply flavoured roasted carrot with caraway seeds. My second savoury was the Whipped Chicken Liver, piped like an American cupcake and topped with pink grapefruit. The vegan version Crème Cheese Parfait, Miso, Pink Grapefruit was pronounced OK but not sensational. I felt slightly guilty that my meaty equivalent was so delicious.

No sign of any curling edges here. TING’s finger sandwiches were all perfectly fresh and great examples of classic sandwiches – Smoked Salmon, Truffled Egg, roast beef and horseradish and Coronation chicken. The vegan versions were a bit hit with my friend, who went into particular raptures about the “absolutely gorgeous” Roasted Portobello Mushroom sandwich with horseradish and baby watercress. She did not say no when our waiter offered to bring her more and soon another plate of mushroom sandwiches arrived.

There is the option to keep replenishing the sandwich plate with any flavours you like – and this also applies to the scones. It was very tempting to keep going on the savouries but by this point we were already discussing how to pace ourselves for the sweet onslaught ahead.

All thoughts of pacing disappeared at the scone stage. 

While the Vegan scones weren’t entirely scone-like, looking like a cross between a small muffin and a large soft biscuit, they turned out to taste pretty convincing. My scones were lovely and completely scone-like. The vegan cream was declared a little too sweet so my companion started digging into my clotted cream, thus saving me from myself. 

I wasn’t sure about the addition of basil to the strawberry jam. After all, can one improve on classic cream tea perfection: scone, cream, strawberry jam? However, my companion was a big fan. 

The pastry chefs at TING have excelled themselves for the Bees in Bloom Afternoon Tea, producing vegan and non-vegan cakes called the Bee, the Ladybug and the Margueurite. The Bee is, of course, the signature bake of the day and both versions were lovely, packed with tart lemony flavour and reminiscent of high-end fondant fancies. The biggest hit of the vegan plate was the Ladybug, which my companion quickly scored 9 out of 10 only to upgrade it to 10 out of 10 after a second bite.

As the afternoon started to dim, London began to light up and alter the view down below. 

We’d saved our chocolate Shard for last and it turned out to be full of surprises. We expected an empty chocolate shell but instead it was filled with lime, lemongrass and berry creme and packed with flavour.  

Guests for the tea receive a gift voucher to spend at Alex Monroe, best known for their gold bumblebee necklaces. A donation from the tea’s proceeds will be going to Bees for Development, a charity working to reduce poverty and increase biodiversity through beekeeping in some of the world’s poorest regions.

The Bees in Bloom tea costs from £79 and climbs through various levels of champagne luxury. We had the £89 version that comes with a glass of Veuve Clicquot each. It may seem steep for a tea but the combination of view, atmosphere, artistry in the kitchen and supremely good service all combine to make it somehow add up.

I can’t stress this enough, do not eat lunch before this tea and do not make elaborate dinner plans. That is unless you are coming to Ting to wonder at the beauty of their afternoon tea and to look at the astounding view of London but not to indulge fully. That would be a shame as the Shangri-La’s Bee’s in Bloom Afternoon Tea is a real treat.

The Bees in Bloom afternoon tea will be available until 12 May 2024 at TING, Shangri-La The Shard

Level 35, 31 St Thomas St, London SE1 9QU