When my friend (and occasional photographer and contributing writer to Whimsical Whatever, and who incidentally took all of the pictures featured in this post, bar one) Viv invited me to join her for afternoon tea, I would’ve been hard pressed to say no. While I haven’t got much of a sweet tooth, I’m always more than happy to indulge in one of my favourite hobbies: eating.

Viv found a little tea room in the heart of London, somewhere I had passed by several times but had never stopped to visit. Nestled away on a side road (albeit one very busy to traffic) in London’s Victoria is the English Rose Cafe and Tea Shop, a family-run independent vintage inspired cafè. 

The lunch menu is somewhat limited, but that only makes up for the fact that most everything on it is delicious – of the things I didn’t try, I’ve only heard rave reviews about. We shared between us one afternoon tea (£30 pp), which consisted of one warm vanilla scone (a speciality of theirs and which meant we ordered an extra one) with clotted cream and jam, a selection of four square-sliced cakes (carrot, rhubarb, red velvet and caramel), and three finger sandwiches of chicken, salmon and cheese & onion, all of which was served on three-tiered plates. The whole idea is that each person orders their own afternoon tea, but as neither of us are especially big eaters, we decided to share one and were surprised by how filling it all was.

The vanilla scone was delicious and definitely a must when visiting the tea room, even if that’s the only thing you order, but as someone who doesn’t have an especially sweet tooth, by the end of the second cake, a doggy bag (or box, rather) was very much needed.

The ambience of the family-run tea room was so chilled for somewhere situated in central London and only a short distance from Buckingham Palace, so is a great place to take a break from sightseeing. Its decor is quaint and that, along with the afternoon tea served, would be enjoyed by those who love everything vintage.