I recently traveled to London and its vicinity with my hubby. Since we love afternoon tea, we were excited to try the real deal afternoon tea in England! We both have been to London before, many moons ago, but it is good to do at least one tourist-y thing. But what if we can do that while we were enjoying some delicious food??? Well, that sound like pure perfection to me… So, I found this awesome Afternoon Tea Bus Tour (£57) in London, where you get to see some famous sites while having afternoon tea! What!!! The genius behind this brilliant idea is by Brigit’s Bakery, where you can have tea, sweets, and of course, afternoon tea. But they brought their game to the level, by offering their afternoon tea on London tour bus! Just look at this adorable bus!!!
They have two starting points, based on the tour time of your selection. Our tour bus was for 2:30pm, and departed from Victoria Coach Station. We got there around 15 minutes early, and everyone was waiting inside the station before we were led outside by their staffs. Our table was upstairs, and the entire bus was set up with afternoon tea delights! We were all so excited!
Ooooh yeah! Since these tasty treats come from actual bakery, they looked really good! As soon as we were settled at our table, one of their staffs came around to take a photo of us. She was making her rounds at each table, very nice service! The seat was a bit small, the booth seat is a bit tight for two grown adults… But, that didn’t stop us from having an awesome time!
And the amount of food was great too. We were a group of three, and they had three of each items. The top tier held all sorts of sweet desserts, and the bottom tier held sandwiches. What about scone, you might ask? Not to worry, they come separately towards the end.
And you might wonder, “Is it safe to be drinking hot tea on a bus?” Well, they have that covered too. The beverage of your choice is provided in this adorable cup!! They have a cup holder at the table, so they are safe and secure, no matter the traffic. As for the choices, they had a good amount of offerings. They had all sorts of tea, and then coffee and even hot chocolate! The drink took a while to get to each table, I assume because they had to prepare them per order on a moving bus. Better to be safe than sorry!
We started off with a baked item on a plate, waiting for us patiently. I didn’t get to ask what that was, but it was quite tasty! A savory item, fluffy and moist, a great beginning to a fun bus tour! And I must say, it felt good to see some jealousy eyes from another regular double-decker buses… LOL.
We then went in to the sandwich tier. They all looked good, but looks can be deceiving, right? To be honest, I didn’t go in with a high expectation for the food… Well, food provided on a bus tour? How good can they be, right?
I first tried their Ham & Cheese Finger Sandwich. It had a couple of layers of ham and a good thickness of cheese slice. It was a good quality, the bread was soft and moist, not dried out. It was not amazing, but not bad.
Then I tried Cucumber Finger Sandwich. It was fresh, with soft bread and crispy cucumber. Cream cheese was nice and velvety. Hmmm, it is not bad, not bad at all…
It was when I got to a slightly bigger sandwich, that I realized the food actually pretty good! The Smoked Salmon Sandwich came in a pretzel bun! How awesome! It had nice cream cheese and sliced cucumber, adding extra fresh taste and texture. It was really tasty, I enjoyed it!
Then a Roast Beef Sandwich. What! This one was great too, fresh veggies, meaty slice of roast beef, nicely seasoned and good quality too. Very substantial, at this point, I knew we were not going to leave the bus hungry.
After we finished the savory tier, we moved on to desserts. Look at these adorable babies! It was fun just trying to figure out which one to start!
We tried the Lemon Meringue first. It had a big, super fluffy meringue like a proud crown. It was torched a bit, which I liked. The lemon had a nice strong flavor, and the tart was soft yet sturdy enough to hold the lemon filling while eating. Well made!
Then this cute little baby Cupcake. The strawberry icing on top was really light and fluffy, which was great! The cream looked kind of heavy, but it was not heavy at all.
This item had even more surprise. I thought it was some kind of small bread or cake with top coating. But, after one bite, we discovered it was more like a cream puff! It was filled with fruit jam, maybe apricot, or some kind of tropical fruit? Whatever it was, it was tasty!
The last dessert was this cake. Very nice sponge cake with super light and fluffy cream, topped with a raspberry. The cream was really, VERY light, creamy but light and almost whipped because of its fluffy texture. It was great!
And when we were almost done with all the items on the two-tier tray, a staff brought over scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. The clotted cream was not homemade, but a packaged kind, which I have never seen or had before. I heard it is a very popular item, and tasted pretty great. The scone was tasty, soft, airy, light, moist…all the boxes checked.
And yes, we did have fun tour, although I was more focused on the food than what was outside… LOL. It was more of a special “experience” than a bus tour. One of the staff did highlight the most expensive hotel in London, and of course, the second most expensive hotel in London, which was kind of funny.
In addition to all sites, since we were there during (one of) the Brexit period, we did see some protest going on around Downing Street. This actually prevented us from going the normal tour route… Certainly an interesting experience.
This was such a fun experience. The food was much, much better than I expected, the tour was interesting, and we had great time! The staff was great, funny, and took care of us. For anyone who couldn’t finish the food, they had cute boxes you can pack it with. And, it ended with wet naps, which was very much appreciated!
We totally enjoyed it and yes, I do recommend! If you are going to London in a near future, and looking for an interesting bus tour that comes with tasty delights, maybe this is the one for you!
Brigit’s Bakery Afternoon Tea Bus Tour – Victoria Coach Station, London, UK