Afternoon Tea at Kensington Palace

Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace

Last Saturday we visited Kensington Palace for a look around and to use the afternoon tea voucher that I'd been given to Christmas.

As we arrived we walked past the sunken garden which was looking resplendent in the sunshine that was trying to break through the clouds above. After taking a quick photo of the garden we headed into the house for a look around.

I enjoyed the Palace a lot more than I was expecting. Largely empty of furniture they've set up the large rooms as spaces that you can enjoy. In the King's apartment there were games tables set up, where Becks and I took the weight of our feet and enjoyed a game of cards. They also had manikins dressed up in 17th / 18th Century clothes demanded the obligatory photograph.

Looking dapper

There were two small exhibitions on display. The first was a small dress collection from the Queen, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana. The dresses from the 1950s & 60s were incredibly stylish. Princess Diana's dresses from the 1980s looked dated on the manikins, but in the photos of her wearing them she could definitely pull them off even today.

We had to rush slightly through the Queen Victoria exhibition as we were late for our afternoon tea. I was left wishing I knew how to dance as they were playing the waltz in one of the galleries and I had the strange urge to go for a twirl!

Becks in the Orangery

We rushed over to the Orangery for our afternoon tea. The Orangery was a great space with incredibly high ceilings and lots of sun flooding into the room as you'd expect.

The first thing I noticed were Royal Palace tea plates, that were a beautiful design and perfect for the location and setting. Once we'd ordered our teas they arrived reasonably quickly and we had a decent selection of sandwiches, a plain and fruit scone and cakes. 

Ruth and I enjoying afternoon tea

The tea was solid, rather than exceptional, and the service was a little inattentive, but it is the type of place where you go for the location and the setting more than anything else, and on those scores it did well.

Restaurant Review: Satay Delight, UNSW

I hadn't had a laksa before I visited Australia. I don't eat them very often, but it seems to be a minor lunchtime obsession for Sydneysiders.

The first one I tried was a beef laksa from the CBD Noodle Bar in the Wintergarden. Not outstanding, but pretty good.

Next up I decided to try the Malay Chinese on Hunter St that many people tip as Sydney's best. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, I found it pretty one dimensional in flavour. There were no greens, crispy shallots or anything else to add an extra bit of interest. Even though it was already too spicy for me I found myself adding extra chilli sauce to add an extra dimension!

Just before my accident on Monday I decided to visit Satay Delight at the University of New South Wales after a tip from Marlina. The UNSW food court was a lot more impressive than the one I'm used to from my time in Manchester. There was no salad bar in my day and it definitely wouldn't have had the longest queue if there was!

But I wasn't there for a salad, I wanted a laksa. I ordered the mixed soup beef laksa and took my seat amongst the students. I'm not sure if it was because I was wearing lycra or because I was ten years older than everyone else, but I felt like I stuck out!

I liked the laksa, one dimensional it definitely wasn't. Rather being overwhelmingly coconuty, the soup base to the laksa makes it feel lighter. There were two different types of noodle, greens, crispy shallots and tofu. I haven't had beef balls in a laksa before and I can only describe them as tasting like a smoked German sausage. I didn't think they tasted at all Asian, but they were nice. The sliced beef wasn't as good as the tender chunks of braised beef you get at the Wintergarden.  

UNSW Upper Campus Food Court 
Chancellery Walk 
Sydney