Following on from our dining experience at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, we headed to London for a couple of nights. After a full day at the Harry Potter Studio Tour (must-visit if you’re a Harry Potter fan), I booked us into a late afternoon tea (nearly dinner time) at The Potion Room at Cutter & Squidge, a patisserie in Soho, the next day.
When we arrive at Cutter & Squidge, we spot a sign at the front informing us to queue outside for the Potion Room. More people arrive and our names are ticked off the list, before we’re shown inside and down some stairs.
We’re each given a velvet hooded cape to tie around ourselves, and then take our designated seats.
The tables for two are set up with a cauldron, set of three beakers filled with liquid, a mortar and pestle, test tubes filled with liquid, tea cup and strainer, menu and cutlery set per person.
Our wizard potions teacher has his own table set up at the front of the class.
We go through the menu for the afternoon and are asked to make our beverage selection – tea and coffee is included in the price, while some other cocktails are an additional cost.
On the wall beside us are wands that we can use during the class to assist with our potion-making. Our first lesson is in making the Galaxy Juice – hints of passion fruit, hibiscus and unicorn tears. We’re given a bottle filled with orange liquid and asked to pour in the beaker filled with red liquid.
Then mix in the blue liquid from another beaker. Those that could layer the colours got acclamation from the wizard. We say some enchantment, and then mix it all together and drink it. It made a fruity and sweet soda.
By this stage, our beverages arrive and I enjoy the Elixir of Life tea.
While Mr FPJ enjoys a pumpkin juice (extremely sweet with cinnamon in it, not like pumpkin at all).
Next we’re asked to take our cauldrons and open the lid. A piece of white matter lies inside. The wizard comes around and places some white powder and crystal like substance into our mortar, and asks us to crush everything using the pestle into a fine powder. I can hear some whizzing and believe there’s some popping candy in the mix.
Then we pour the contents in the mortar over the item in the cauldron, and add the liquid from the test tubes which causes a bubbling and fizzing reaction. Another enchantment using our wands is said. We mix it all in and can then eat it. It tasted like a very sweet bulky sherbet.
Our afternoon tea on a three-tiered stand arrives. A range of finger sandwiches, creamy leek and potato pie, yorkshire pudding with roast beef, knickerbockers and a cauldron biskie. The savoury items are bigger than expected and quite tasty.
The cauldron biskie is basically a soft chocolate fudge brownie biscuit, sandwiched between chocolate cream. The knickerbocker is a layered ice cream sundae with chocolate, raspberry, cream and meringue.
The rock cakes are delivered in brown paper bags, and we’re given jam and clotted cream to smother it in. They really did taste like rocks.
Mr FPJ orders an adult butterbeer of dark rum and butterscotch to go with the afternoon tea, but this doesn’t arrive until after the rock cakes are finished.
There are no more lessons and we’re about to gather our things to leave, when there’s another surprise. A tea cake trolley! We’re allowed two things each from the trolley to take away. There’s sweet cakes, macaron and marshmallow pops, lamingtons and chocolate biscuits. We took them to go to have later that night.
It’s an expensive experience at £49.50 per person (that’s nearly AUD$100 each!) so it’s not something I would do again. YOLO is my justification (plus I’m a Harry Potter fan!).
The Potion Room at Cutter & Squidge
20 Brewer St, Soho, London W1F 0SJ, United Kingdom
I was initially planning to book The Cauldron in London (cheaper at £29.99), and a similar set up in a potions room, but it focuses on alcoholic cocktails without any food. It’s also not in central London so it’s further to get to but close to a train station.
More on London in the next post!
If you want more random photos and updates about food, I’m on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Facebook: /foodpornjournal
Twitter: @foodpornjournal
Instagram: /foodpornjournal