Of High Tea, Friends And A Bright Pink Parasol

As I mentioned on Friday, I was heading to The Victoria Room on Saturday afternoon for High Tea. Oh my dears, it was Most Excellent. Along with Mikey (the lovely ex), his boyfriend Evan, Linda, Natalie, Tony and his lovely wife Kristin we headed in to The Victoria Room around noon for the first sitting of High Tea (the rest of the afternoon was fully booked, and by the time we left it was packed).

I hadn't been there before and was a little surprised at the scale of the place. Huge. A large loft style space, divided into more intimate areas with seating arrangements, beaded curtains and open iron screens. Full of an assortment of antique couches, chairs and little side tables with lamps, it was dark and elegant in a slightly shabby chic sort of way, and surprisingly intimate.

Oh, and 'glamour' dark, which meant we all looked gorgeous (natch) but it did make getting snaps of anything that wasn't a light source a bit difficult. When I was scrolling through the pics I took, it was something like 90% lamps. I know I'm a bit of a Homewares Queen, but that's ridiculous.

Chiffon wrapped chandeliers (left) and vintage style elegance (right) at The Victoria Room.

The nibbly bits were lovely, a few savoury sandwiches and lots of sweet things. We had the complimentary bubbles (too sweet for my taste) and a couple of top class bottles courtesy of Mikey and Evan. There was some live jazz to add to the atmosphere, and a solo soprano who sang a selection of arias with piano accompaniment. Fabulous.

Potted palms (left) and Mikey (right)

Best of all was the company. We chatted, we supped our tea and champers, laughed and had a great time. Once we rolled out of there a few hours later, we decided to keep the afternoon going with drinkies in the beer garden of The Green Park Hotel nearby. The stark modernity of the beer garden was a total change from the cool dark of The Victoria Room.

Linda cracks up (left) and stark geometries at The Green Park (right)

It was a really hot afternoon, but we staved off the heat with whatever shade we could find, Linda's parasol and some crisp, cold bottles of Sauvignon Blanc.

Nat strikes the pose (left) and cranes overhead, speaking their lost language (right)

It was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

[Click the pics to see them full sized, and there are more pics from the day in the full set on Flickr.]