This summer Selfridges have lent out their rooftop to restaurateur Des McDonald to host his pop-up restaurant ‘On The Roof with Q’. The rooftop restaurant is inspired by his own Camden Q grill, which offers a selection of breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea with a ‘raw, grill and smoke focus’. I love it every summer when Selfridges do something with their rooftop, the Bompas & Parr crazy golf was amazing, so I was eager to try out the restaurant and enjoy some summer sun and a great view.
I was supposed to go for lunch on Sunday with a friend but they alas were a bit hungover, so Danny came to my rescue and we booked in for Afternoon Tea online that morning. I was really happy to still be able to book in on the day. The rooftop operates with bookings but also walk-ins, which I noticed when I got there and even though it was pretty busy people were still able to do so. The lift to the rooftop is located within the beauty hall and takes you straight up to the 5th floor where we were shown to our table. We had a great seat looking out over London. The rooftop is covered just in case of rain but on Sunday it was lovely, so they had opened it up at the sides which let in a nice little breeze.
There were three types of Afternoon Tea to choose from, a basic scones and jam, a middle option with additional with sandwiches and cakes and then the full works with a glass of wine. We opted for the middle one and I chose a cocktail to go alongside instead. Which was an easy choice as the waiters kept whizzing by with them and they looked amazing!
I chose a Pimms Sour which had cucumber in it, I love cocktails with cucumber, they are so refreshing. As we waited for our afternoon tea I was pretty jealous of the burgers also going past, I’ll save them for next time though!
When the tea came, I got very excited, the cakes looked beautiful! There was a lovely selection of sandwiches that included, yummy salted beef, mozzarella and tomato and egg and cress.
The scones were lovely and warm and the perfect size and now the cake, these were really, really nice. Normally an afternoon tea can be quite cake heavy, full of cheesecake type ones, but this was some very light cakes. One was a chocolate mix, a lemon curd wafer, peppercorn shortbread with strawberries and a sponge type one with strawberries on top too. They were the perfect way to finish it off. I was sad when it was all gone!
The Afternoon Tea we chose was £19.50 each which I think is really reasonable for what you get compared to some more expensive afternoon teas in London. We of course added on our own drinks to it, so it does bump it up a little, but for an al fresco dining experience it’s one not to miss this summer. I definitely want to give Des’s Q Grill in Camden a try too, if this is anything to go by!
Book your table on Selfridges now.
