Cocomaya

Welcome back to our second instalment of Scones of the Month, in my quest to discover the perfect scones I visited Cocomaya, located in the fashionable Portman Village district just a few minutes’ walk from busy Oxford Street, and best known for its artisan chocolate shop.

However I visited its marvellous boutique bakery in the adjacent shop, which is filled with delicious cakes and pastries, which I will say more about in its own blog post soon. The shop is small and very cute with only a couple of tables and the service was friendly. I managed to resist being side tracked by a slice of fruit tart and ordered a raisin scone served with generous portions of clotted cream and strawberry jam and a hot chocolate. The scone was perfect, served warm it was crunchy on the outside and soft but not too crumbly on the inside. For me it was their delicious home-made strawberry jam with chucks of fruit that made the whole thing so divine. The hot chocolate was superb served in a large cup with the rich, high quality you would expect from a chocolatier.The whole experience was exquisite and a serious contender for the next Scones of the Year.

Ratings:  Scones: 3   Accompaniments: 3  Service: 2 Ambience: 2  Overall:  10/11

Heal's Quarter Cafe

Heal’s the famous furniture store on Tottenham Court Road has its own fabulous cafe in partnership with restaurateurs Doron and Valeria Zilkha. Until my twitter suggested it I had no idea of its existence. What I most like about it is that it’s one of London’s best kept secrets as it is almost hidden away in the centre of the store. On arrival I was amazed to discover a stylish 80 seater cafe with attractive large communal tables, which is in keeping with its location in one of the country’s leading furniture stores. The menu includes savoury food and pastries. I ordered a scone which came beautifully presented with the jam and clotted cream in attractive white serving spoons (apologies I accidently deleted the before photo so it’s a good excuse to return soon to take another photo). The scone was delicious and the portions of jam and cream were generous. Overall it’s a great place to visit although I make the disclaimer that you enter the store at your own peril as this blog post is not responsible for any furniture or any other purchases you might make in the course of your visit.

Ratings:  Scones: 2   Accompaniments: 2 Service: 2 Ambience: 2  Overall:  8/11

Rosewood Hotel

In the last month there have been two tweet ups that I have attended in the very opulent Mirror Room at the Rosewood Hotel and it has become one of our favourite meeting places. It’s is a luxury five star hotel which is very conveniently located in a very imposing building close to Holborn Tube Station. In one corner of the room they have a beautifully presented display of cakes, pastries and sweet treats which guests can choose from. Fearing disappointment I noticed there were no scones on display, however I was quickly reassured that they were available. They arrived beautifully presented warm and wrapped in a napkin. I shared the scones with Travelling Dave, my fellow scone obsessive friend, and we each enjoyed two tasty scones. We found that the jam and clotted cream was not quite enough for the four scones but when asked it was quickly replenished without any fuss. The hotel certainly has it all, and will be the subject of it's own blog post soon(ish), it has a great location, beautifully and thoughtfully decorated interiors and fabulous food, but for me what makes this place extra special is the amazing staff who delivered consistently exceptional service to our large groups on both our visits. Therefore if you are looking for somewhere special with that added wow factor I would strongly recommend a visit to the Rosewood Hotel.

Ratings:  Scones:  2  Accompaniments:  2  Service:  3  Ambience: 3  Overall:  10/12

Until next time...

Queen of Scones

Ratings

Scones - 1:  Fine, 2:  Tasty, 3: OMG, highly recommend

Accompaniments - 1:  Alright, 2:  Well presented, 3:  Great selection/ utterly amazing flavour

Service - 1:  Alright, 2: Consistently good, 3:  Exceptional - only given for luxury hotel/ afternoon tea

Ambience - 1: Ok, 2:  Cool, 3:  Utterly amazing

Total Score - 1 – 5:  Average, 6 – 7:  Good choice, 8 – 10:  Wonderful, would return soon, 11 – 12:  OMG, want to return NOW!

Disclaimer:  All views expressed in Scones of the Month (Year) are always my own honest opinion. Unless otherwise stated I have received no "treats" from any of the venues.

If you enjoyed this blog you might like to read about Scones of the Year 2013 or other editions of Scones of the Month.

The author of this blog is a qualified City of London and City of Westminster Tour Guide who leads guided walks combining world famous landmarks with hidden treasures often missed by the crowds

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