Author: Hanna

Last Sunday when Daniel and Maria were visiting we had booked a table at Trinity in Clapham Old Town, because we love to bring our friends there. It was nice and sunny during the short walk there, and we were the first table there. After just a few minutes it started to fill up. The menu looked amazing, so it was difficult to decide, but I think we were all very happy with what we chose.

We were given some small green (unpitted) olives when we arrived, and they were really nice. Lots of flavour but very refreshing. After that they brought in the amazing bread, and we were quite proud that we didn’t order any more. We usually do, and then we are too full to move afterwards.

Maria and I chose the shellfish chowder with bacon and saffron as a starter and it was lovely. The bacon was the most dominant flavour, and that just can’t go wrong. There was just a hint of saffron despite the very yellow colour, and the other flavours were quite muted, but together it was a fantastic taste.

Daniel also chose a soup; the crab bisque with a crab toast on the side. It looked delicious and it went down very well.

Christopher chose the smoked venison tartar (of course) with celeriac creme and an egg yolk on the side in its shell. I got to taste it and it was lovely. Lots more flavour than a regular steak tartar and Christopher thought it was better than the Wolseley’s steak tatar which he adores. I think that says it all…

For his maincourse Daniel chose the baked salmon with leeks and sorrel creme. It looked amazing, and nearly converted me to like cooked salmon again. I used to eat it all the time, and have therefore no desire for it anymore, but I would have loved to try this one. The leeks were very sweet and tender and the sorrel cream delicious.

Maria and Christopher had the traditional Sunday Roast with slow-cooked sirloin, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, gravy, cooked vegetables and freshly grated horseradish and bone marrow. This was even better the roast Christopher had last time, but the potatoes, even though they were delicious, they were quite greasy.

I thought I scored the jackpot with my maincourse, because it was utterly divine! Cooked thinly sliced lamb as a salad with sardines, lamb lettuce, baked onions that were nice and sweet, crispy sweetbread and the best of it all; wild garlic creme. I had this for my asparagus starter the first time I came here, and fell in love (literally, I can’t stop thinking about it) and could easily have has a tub of it.

The starters and mains are extremely well executed, and even though the desserts are nice, I never think they are as good as the savoury food. And I actually don’t believe that is because I am full at this stage. Don’t get me wrong, the desserts were very nice, but not that far from what one can make at home.

Daniel had the Valhrona hot pot which tasted like the middle of a chocolate fondant, half baked, and blood orange rippled icecream.

Christopher had the profileroles filled with a vanilla creme and the chocolate sauce on the side. It was nice, but not that different to other profiteroles, he said.

Maria and I decided to finish the meal in the same way, with a treacle tarte with milk icecream. The tarte was nice, although a little sharp from lemon. It was perfect to serve it with milk icecream, a creamy icecream would have been too much. I think Daniel’s dessert was the best one out of the bunch, and he was also the one who was really really pleased with his. The rest of us were nice and content, but still thinking about our starters and mains I think. For me, the lamb salad would have been enough for me, it was sooo extremely good, I even said at the table, that if I had that as my last meal I would die very happy.

The service was as always brilliant. Not too friendly, not too rigid, just the right balance. The only negative thing with our lunch was that it was raining when we got out, and we had no umbrellas. But I think the quick walk home did us good for digesting the lovely lunch. 🙂

As you can see, I didn’t take my best camera with me. I preferred to be discrete and use my little compact camera. Before I have been too embarassed to even take out a camera, so even though some of the photos are a bit our of focus, at least you get the idea of what our amazing lunch looked like. 🙂

It was typical English weather on Saturday – rain! But it was mild so it wasn’t too bad. We still managed to go shopping, first in Chelsea, then in Harrod’s and then around Piccadilly before our afternoon tea at the Wolseley at 5pm.  

Our table was up on a balcony, and it was just two tables up there. We had a perfect view over the busy restaurant, and I felt more comfortable taking pictures when we were a bit secluded from the rest of the restaurant. And to make sure the staff would not forget about us, we even had a service button on the table. Cute!

All of us chose the afternoon tea, and the boys drank Earl Grey while Marua and I chose the Wolseley’s own afternoon blend. It was nice and quite smokey.

We got two tiered plates with lots of goodies. The sandwiches were on the bottom plate and were from the right: smoked salmon on wholemeal; cucumber on white; cream cheese and celery on tomato bread; chicken and tarragon on white and eggs and mayonnaise on white. I prefere the celery sandwich and the chicken sandwich, those combinations really worked. There was nothing wrong with any of them, but I really dislike English wholemeal so the salmon was my least favourite.

After the sandwiches we carried on with the fruit scones. They were lovely and light and far from dry. I must say that they are much nicer than my homemade ones, even though mine are nice also. It was lovely with the clotted cream and nice strawberry jam.

Lastly we tried all the nice pastries. You are probably to chose a few each, but we thought it was more fun to try all of them.

We started with the Battenberg, which was a nice version of it, even though I don’t particulary like the cake. The rhubarb tarte we tried next was more my cup of tea. It was quite sharp but very nice. Next we tried the cheesecake which was heaven. It was vanilla with two layers, first the cream cheese layer and then the sourcream layer on top, which is exactly how I prefer my cheesecake. I would happily have a bigger slice of this!

The large macaroon was pistachio flavour, and I disliked thebitter almond taste. Nothing wrong with it other than my personal taste. The meringue was ncie and chewy, just the flavourting that wasn’t what I would have liked. The chocolate cake we tried next was not that great according to me either, but I can (obviously) be quite picky with cakes. The mousse was lovely but too rich for me, and the cake underneath was a little dry. I think I would have liked it better if the proportions were reversed, with more cake than mousse, but Christopher liked the mousse and would quite happily have had a tub of it! 🙂 The last pastry was a coffee profiteroles, and since I don’t like coffee I didn’t even try it. I was quite pleased as it was!

I realise that I have been extremely picky in my review but that is my nature. I dissect every single thing. But put it all together this was a wonderful afternoon with friends, and with my picky taste there is no way I would like everything in such a diverse selection as an afternoon tea. The standard was very high and I would happily come back here for there afternoon tea.

Although it was easier to take photos on the balcony, I still only had my small compact with my, and the photos are not great, but I hope you can get an idea of what it was like.