Art Tea at the Merrion Hotel Dublin
I am another year older! *Cue tears and frantic thoughts of ‘what am I doing with my life?’.
I spent the day before my birthday looking up botox as a possible gift to myself. Seriously, preventative botox is a thing! Though I have decided to hold off till I at least graduate and get a job.
My birthday this year fell in the middle of exams, so as much as I would like to have up and left the country, it was slightly infeasible.
So instead I spent a lovely afternoon with the best of people, indulging in endless cakes and scones at the Merrion Hotel’s ‘Art Tea’.
I realise my Instagram at the moment seems to be an ode to afternoon tea. I promise I haven’t lost my wanderlust, but you honestly can’t beat a cup of Rooibos and a scone with a dollop of clotted cream.
All this recent gluttony meant I could easily pick up what made tea at the Merrion extra special.
First and most importantly, they had Matcha Mocktails!!
If you haven’t jumped on the Matcha bandwagon, I urge you to do so now. It is packed with antioxidants, it boosts your metabolism, and it just tastes so damn good.
Next was the sandwich and scones course. Carbs on carbs – just how I like it!
Again The Merrion Hotel went slightly out of the box with their sandwich selection with options such as “Duck Egg Mayonnaise on Brioche” or “Cornfed Chicken with Truffle Mayonnaise on Sunflower Bread”.
They did of course have the usual smoked salmon or cucumber sandwiches along with the fancy duck in brioche.
For the sake of the blog I tried all the sweet treats on offer. I know, such a sacrifice.
Here is my rapid fire summary: I liked the Battenburg Cake the best, I could take or leave the Porter Cake, and I could barely taste the scone under the lavishing of clotted cream that I helped myself to, but I was happy.
The second course is the reason behind the name ‘Art Tea’. Each week three pieces of art are selected to feature and the head chef creates pastries and cakes to represent the works.
In a rather foolish move, the above cakes and pictures are not aligned. The cake in the middle represents the picture of the mountains “Path Mo’orea”, created in 1935 by Pauline Bewick. It depicts her time in the South Pacific.
The pink and yellow swirl cake represents the picture in the middle picture; “Futile Defense” by John Boyd. The colour is from the strip at the side, and with a bit of imagination the raspberry is the man’s hat.
The cheesecake topped with gold flakes represents the final photo named “Madonna and Child” by Mainie Jellet. The squares at the front are done in a similar fashion to the colour scheme of the painting.
I loved the Art Tea concept, it really made it stand out in comparison to other afternoon teas. Of course best of all was the company…. ok far too cheesy, but it was a great afternoon and will hopefully be repeated soon!
One last thing, I have finally finished exams!!! It was the craziest of months, and honestly at times (all the time) I thought about just abandoning ship and fleeing to Bali, but thankfully it is over and I have a couple of exciting trips lined up for the summer!
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