With the new series of ‘The Great British Bakeoff’ airing on the television at the moment, put your hands up if after every episode you feel like getting your oven mitts on and baking a spectacular show stopper yourself! Because, I certainly do. Maybe not the kind that would get me a hand shake from Paul Hollywood, but a good one nonetheless. However, reality hits me next morning and I realise, as a stay-at-home-mum I’d rather not. Let me tell you why: picture the kitchen counter covered in flour and egg shells; and Azmu too, the sink piled high with the washing up for me to sort out and an oven that I forgot to switch on because Azmu needed me to find her those set of pink gloves at that exact specific time.

So, when hubby-bi made a reservation for us to enjoy an Afternoon Tea, at Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan by Rotana, while on our staycation in Abu Dhabi, I was more than thrilled. However, all didn’t go as I had imagined it to be.

Afternoon Tea

The splendour of an Afternoon tea is a big deal and seen as a proper light meal. Originated in England in the early 1800s, the privileged wealthy social class would enjoy tea in the afternoon accompanied by delicate sandwiches, bread and butter, scones with clotted cream and jam, and usually cakes and pastries.

Nowadays, Afternoon tea is enjoyed in tea lounges of luxury hotels around the world, and acts as a reminder about the quintessential British ritual and their love for tea.

Our experience

We arrived at Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan by Rotana and made our way to the Lounge. After being shown to our table, we had the option to choose from classic afternoon tea or the Rayhaan afternoon tea and we decided to go with the latter. Simply, because I was interested to see how an afternoon tea with a Middle Eastern twist, would be served.

Hubby and I chose the classic English Breakfast Tea, and it was served to us in delicate, transparent tea cup sets, that looked just like the ones my grandma had in her house. The ones that sat in a special cabinet, only ever used for special guests.

Our three tier stand of sweet and savoury assortments arrived soon on our table, and with it my toddler who until now was strolling around the Lounge and admiring the views out of the full length windows. If you’re thinking, I’m going to give you a review of how hubby and I sipped our tea, savoured each mini delicacy, and compared notes on our preferences, think again. Because we forgot we had a tantrum-throwing-capable toddler with us!

Azmu first pointed to the Berry skewers on the tier stand, but she wanted only the strawberries and dang, these mini skweres had blueberries. Next, she pointed to the White chocolate cake with pistachio and cardamom cream, but she just wanted to poke the green spherical cake topping, and almost squished my cake. She usually likes shrimps, and I thought of offering her the Shrimps and hummus bun, but she just turned up her nose. Hubby-bi offered her the Date Ma’amoul but she took one bite and retuned it back, asking for something else from the stand. She was after strawberries. She saw them, along with other fruits in the Fruit Tart and gobbled it up, leaving behind just the custard pastry crust for me. We tried to distract her and get her to leave the table to go watch the views again (sorry, not sorry), but she was adamant on trying the next thing. I picked up the crème brulee with dates and saffron and she wanted that too. Luckily, hubby-bi doesn’t like crème brulee much, so I got to enjoy his and half (or whatever was left) of mine. Despite how delicious everything was, this Afternoon Tea was not going to last for long, thanks to Azmu. On the middle tier, sat the tomato stuffed with avocado and lime, and I thought, ‘Right, this could work’. I scooped out the avocado filling and gave her the remaining tomato to bite into. It did work and kept her occupied for a good few minutes. Enough to allow Hubby-bi and I to enjoy our second cup of our tea, and try the salmon roulade on a savoury tart and the chicken tikka wrap. There was only the scones with apricot and cream left and we purposely left the best to the last. Afterall, scones are the ultimate bake to enjoy over English tea. However, I was left disappointed as these cold scones had turned hard and were almost impossible to cut open. Maybe that’s because they didn’t have my sister’s recipe.

Nonetheless, despite our little curious toddler and the disappointing scones, Hubby-bi and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. All the other remaining assortments were delicious, and my sweet tooth wished there was more. Best of all, we ended the afternoon admiring the sun set over the hotel’s private beach, spent quality family time together and created some beautiful memories.

If you enjoyed reading this post, you may also enjoy reading the about our other family adventures:

• Baby’s day out: Dubai Parks and Resorts
• My Top 5 attractions to visit in Singapore
• Holiday stay at Berjaya Langkawi Resort

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Have you been in a similar situation as me, when dining out with a toddler? I would love to hear about your stories. Leave a comment below.

Disclaimer: All opinions mentioned here are of my own. This is not a sponsored post.