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Miller Harris Tea Room serves Primrose Hill lunch

September 8, 2010 by cheriecity

After the success 0f the Ruinart Afternoon Tea at the Mayfair flagship store, Miller Harris has teamed up with Melrose & Morgan to offer a savoury yet typically fragrant lunch, served for just four days in the tea room.

One of perfumier Lyn Harris’ favourite haunts, Primrose Hill grocery and kitchen, Melrose & Morgan will be providing a lunchtime selection of mouth-watering seasonal salads, a choice of main courses and artisan desserts, accompanied by Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Champagne and Miller Harris fragrant tea.

Melrose & Morgan have specially designed their menu to feature Miller Harris’ own blends of fragrant olive oils, including Citron, Poivre and Sauvage olive oil.

There will be a selection of delicious lunch combos to choice from, so it’s almost like having a Berkeley Square summer picnic, but without the pesky flies and pigeons or the threat of rain!

While you’re there, but sure to take a peek at Miller Harris’ new botanical print wallpapers by designer Karen Beauchamp, which have just been launched.

Also, for Vogue Fashion’s Night Out tomorrow, the Miller Harris Mayfair store will be transformed into ‘Miller’s Market’, where guests are invited to sample their pick ‘n’ mix of perfumes. Present will be designers Clements Ribeiro and Paris homeware specialist, Astier de Villatte.

Lunch will be served from 12noon to 3pm on 14th – 17th September in the Miller Harris Tea Room, 21 Bruton Street, London W1J 6QD.

To reserve a table, call 020 7629 7750.

Afternoon tea, Hotels - Design, Hotels - Luxury, London

Ruinart and Miller Harris at Covent Garden Hotel

June 10, 2010 by cheriecity

While having a decadent breakfast of Eggs Benedict, coffee and mixed berry juice at the Covent Garden Hotel yesterday with the girls from Indigo PR, I found that the Ruinart and Miller Harris Champagne afternoon tea can now be taken in the hotel’s elegant Brasserie Max.

Following the success of the Ruinart Champagne afternoon tea at the Miller Harris tea salon, you can now experience the Ruinart and Miller Harris Sensory Tea in the stylish, cosy setting of any of the West End Firmdale hotels, including the Soho Hotel, Charlotte Street Hotel and Haymarket Hotel.

Spend the afternoon relaxing in the library, drawing room or brasserie with a glass of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne, a pot of finely blended Miller Harris tea and a selection of delicate sandwiches and cakes prepared by Firmdale Hotel chefs.

Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne is perfect for the summer, with refreshing notes of citrus and white peach, and Ruinart Chef de Cave, Frederic Panaiotis, describes Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne as “like drinking liquid sunshine”.

To accompany the champagne, there is a selection of four teas created by perfumer Lyn Harris, including Thé Bergamot, Thé Bigarade, Thé Pétales or Thé Violette. I can personally recommend the rose scented Thé Pétales and the Thé Bergamot, a second flush Darjeeling that Earl Grey fans will enjoy.

Lemon cupcakes, peach and vanilla friands and raspberry tarlets were chosen to bring out the notes of citrus and white peach in Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and come with traditional cut sandwiches.

The Ruinart and Miller Harris connection is a story of mutual admiration that begun when Lyn Harris visited the Ruinart cellars in Reims and found parallels between their traditional methods of winemaking and perfumery.

The relationship between Lyn Harris and Kit Kemp is long established, with each of the seven Firmdale hotels providing complimentary Miller Harris bath and body products in all guest rooms.

Read my review of the Ruinart Champagne afternoon tea at the Miller Harris Mayfair tea salon and flagship store and see the photos of the scrumptious tea.

The Ruinart and Miller Harris Sensory Tea is priced at £35 per person and is available until September 2010. For more information, visit the Firmdale website.

Afternoon tea, London, Stores

Ruinart Valentine’s Afternoon Tea at Miller Harris

February 9, 2010 by cheriecity

Remember I told you about the delectable Ruinart afternoon tea at Miller Harris in Mayfair? Well, it has proved so popular that Lyn Harris has launched a Valentine’s afternoon tea with a new twist.

The Ruinart Valentine’s Afternoon Tea focuses around a glass of Ruinart Rosé champagne and a pot of Miller Harris Thé Pétales – a blend of white tip Oolong tea, geranium from the Reunion and Turkish rose. These are accompanied by a selection of bijou cakes from Primrose Bakery, chosen by Lyn Harris to complement the raspberry and citrus notes of the champagne and the delicate tea.

Ruinart Rosé is made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes and has an attractive pink colour. It has a bolder, more fruity fragrance than Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and there is an aroma of cherry, raspberry, wild strawberry and red berries.

The tea room at Miller Harris is small but beautifully decorated, so you can enjoy a more relaxed, intimate experience – perfect for Valentine’s Day.

I adored the Miller Harris afternoon tea on my last visit, as it is a light indulgence, without the banquet size offerings and hefty prices of the more traditional afternoon teas. Best of all is being able to leisurely discover the Miller Harris scents and teas with the help of the welcoming, glamorous staff.

The Ruinart Rosé afternoon tea will be held in the Tea Room at the Miller Harris flagship store on Bruton St and will run from 10-13 and 17-20 February, lasting from 10am-5.30pm. The price is £19 per person, to include a decadent array of cakes from Primrose Bakery, a pot of Thé Pétales Fragrant Tea blended by Lyn and a flute of Ruinart Rosé.

Afternoon tea, Cafes, London, Stores

Afternoon Tea by Ruinart at Miller Harris

December 5, 2009 by cheriecity

On Thursday, I was invited to sample the Ruinart Afternoon Tea at perfume boutique, Miller Harris’ Mayfair flagship store. The afternoon tea has been running since October in the petite tea room at the back of the store and has proved to be so popular that it has been extended for the whole of December.

Perfumier and founder Lyn Harris seems to be a bit of a perfectionist and has toiled away, searching for just the right champagne and cakes to compliment her range of exquisite teas. She discovered that Ruinart was a perfect match when visiting their cellars in Reims, finding parallels between their traditional methods of winemaking and her own meticulous perfumery. She then searched for the right cakes to bring out the white peach and citrus notes in the champagne and Primrose Bakery was clearly the winner.

Ruinart Afternoon Tea

The tea room is small but perfectly formed, with four tables and seating, beautifully finished with Miller Harris’ signature print. We were brought a glass of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne to sip while we selected our own pots of tea from the tailored menu, which consisted of Bergamot, Pétales, Fumé, Bigarade, Violette and Sauvage. I tried the Thé Bergamot, which had a similar taste to Earl Grey, but with a more aromatic flavour and seemingly less tannin.

miller-harris-tea

The champagne was crisp, citrusy and not too dry, making it very refreshing and easy to drink. A small plate of cakes accompanied the tea and included a peach friand, which tasted moist, fruity and home-made and two mini lemon meringue cupcakes with a tangy citrus filling.

The cake portions are relatively small compared to the mini banquets served at The Ritz and The Berkeley, but I guess the point of the Ruinart Afternoon Tea is that it is more of a luxurious pick-me-up, rather than hours of endless indulgence. I liked it that I didn’t feel too full to carry on shopping and have dinner and it is significantly more affordable too.

miller harris cakes

The service is relaxed and friendly but attentive, with the elegantly-dressed staff from the store also on cake duty. The best things is that afterwards, you can have a gander around the store and find Christmas gifts in peace, away from the madding crowds of Oxford Street – they really have me vexed this weekend!

miller-harris

There is a seemingly endless range of candles, perfumes, lotions, soaps and teas, all presented in black and brightly coloured boxes emblazoned with the Miller Harris print. I was particularly impressed with L’Air de Rien, the oriental fragrance range that Lyn Harris created for French singer and icon, Jane Birkin. The collection is simple, light and effortlessly chic, and includes notes of amber, vanilla, oak moss and musks to give it that airy, ethereal feel. Plus, the perfume is much more attainable than an Hermès Birkin!

miller-harris-candles

The Ruinart Afternoon Tea at Miller Harris is perfect for a decadent mid-shopping treat with your mum or a girly catch-up with friends. It is priced at £19 per person and includes a glass of Ruinart champagne, a pot of tea and a plate of three Primrose Bakery cakes.

It is available throughout December from Wednesday to Saturday, 3-6pm at the Bruton Street store. Call 020 7629 7750 to make your reservation.

Art, Designers, Events, London, News, Paris

Frieze Week: Pavilion of Art & Design London

October 14, 2009 by cheriecity

Last night, I headed down to the VIP Opening of the Pavilion of Art & Design in Mayfair’s Berkeley Square, which will be the home of the hot pink palace until Sunday.

Pavilion is a reinvention of last year’s DesignArtLondon fair, with the new addition of contemporary art pieces.

Among the guests inside were the cream of the internation art community – the world’s wealthiest art dealers and collectors, distinguished art critics and mini Dasha Zhukovas clad in Hervé Leger and Louboutins (black, of course).

Pavilion art fair

This is a place where the buyer is treated like one of the family, sales are negociated over glasses of Ruinart champagne (I wangled a thimble full of fizz perfection) and the press are treated to an earlier lunch and preview, which I unfortunately missed.

Pavilion features 45 of the world’s most prominent and influential dealers of contemporary art, design and decorative arts. Galleries from Paris, London, Brussels, Milan, New York, Barcelona and Geneva are showing a covetable selection of fine art, antique jewellery, statement furniture and design pieces.

Skulls

As a self-confessed magpie, I spent a great deal of time pawing over exquisite jewellery created by some of Britain’s greatest contemporary artists presented by Louisa Guinness Gallery.

Jewellery has been a relatively unexplored medium in art and Louisa Guinness sought to change that by working with high-profile sculpters and painters to create ‘jewels of art’.

On display was a giant gold orb necklaces by Anish Kapoor, a ruby necklace spelling out ‘cunt’ by Sam Taylor-Wood, colourful geometric necklace by Meret Oppenheim and Louise Bourgeois’ silver Araña brooch.

jewellery

On the design front, Todd Merrill’s Studio Contemporary (New York) features some subversive, hand crafted pieces such as a feather-light molecular chair and Galerie Downtown François Laffanour mixes the functionality of iconic designers like Le Corbusier with more avant-garde pieces by George Nakashima and Takis.

velvet chair

A highlight for me was seeing two mixed media pieces by Gottfried Helnwein – The Red Gun and a lucid, blue-tinted portrait – represented by Friedman Benda.

Toshio Shibata’s Japanese bondage photographs at Michael Hoppen Gallery were intriguing and enigmatic and I marvelled at the two Francis Bacon paintings at Faggionato Fine Art.

Art

A great start to the art world’s version of London Fashion Week, but if you’re actually in the market for an artwork, you better get there quick, as some sales were reportedly made before the fair even opened!

Pavilion of Art & Design London is on from 14 – 18 October in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, W1J 6ES.

Tickets are £15, FREE for students and children under 15.