Who needs faith, trust and pixie dust to head up and into the sky? Not us. We’ll just take the super-speedy lift up to the Shard’s 31st floor and visit Aqua Shard for incredible, panoramic views of London, and the Peter Pan afternoon tea experience.
With options for children and those who, like Peter Pan, aren’t grown up on the inside (tell our bodies that, though!), the Peter Pan afternoon tea is just as magical as Neverland. The experience was created by Aqua Shard in partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital‘s children charity, and £2 from each afternoon tea sold will be donated to support ill children across the UK at the hospital. So, not only will you be eating well, but you’ll be doing good too.
The menu is inspired by the captivating world J.M Barrie created in his much loved novel, so you can expect an array of enchanting savoury and sweet treats. The delicious and delicately presented goodies will be served up on a custom-made tea stand reminiscent of Captain Hook’s pirate ship, with plates to recreate the sails and planks. Savoury options will include a chicken sandwich, topped with crispy bacon and wrapped in paper denoting the four ‘Lost Boy Rules’; mushroom-shaped bread, inspired by the mushroom stools in Neverland; and the ‘Codfish’ Captain Hook cod brandade croquette, complete with a pastry hook.
Over to the sweet nibbles now: your ship-shape plates will behold a Tinkerbell cookie, with a dash of gold (fairy) dusting; a chocolate cake in the shape of the tree trunk that marked the entrance to the Lost Boys’ home; a raspberry and rooibos jelly; and Hook’s perish cake – don’t worry, it won’t be dangerous, unlike the one in Hook’s dastardly plan. Your warm scones, accompanied by apricot marmalade and coconut clotted cream, will be hidden within a special treasure chest, like the delicious treasures they are.
Now, you’ll have a choice to make, much like Wendy when she chose to follow Peter. Do you want tea, or tea and something a little stronger? If you choose the alcohol-free option, expect two bespoke tea mixes that were created specifically for Aqua Shard. The first is the Darling Tea, a black tea infused with rose petals and vanilla, while the second, the Adventure Tea, combines the black tea with citrus flavours and fiery ginger instead. Fancy something colder? The Never Grow Up Punch combines pineapple juice, pear puree, elderflower tonic and grenadine.
If you’d rather one of the alcoholic options, the light and fresh Fairy Dust cocktail mixes mint, cucumber, apple liqueur, ginger, lime and absinthe with a touch of gold dust. Alternatively, add a glass of Veuve Clicquot Champagne or Veuve Clicquot Rose to your afternoon tea for an additional cost.
The level of detail at this Peter Pan afternoon tea is out of this world; the team at Aqua Shard and the GOSH charity have truly captured the notion of an ever-lasting childhood, and we’re so ready to escape to this Neverland for an afternoon.