Ahead of Afternoon Tea Week, Abbey Maclure experiences afternoon tea with a twist at The Ivy Asia, sampling Asian delights such as Crispy Aromatic Duck Spring Rolls, Vegetable Gyozas and Passionfruit Donuts.
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00:00 Afternoon Tea Week starts on August the 7th and I'm here at the Ivy Asia in Leeds with
00:05 this incredible looking afternoon tea in front of me.
00:09 Now the afternoon tea at the Ivy Asia is a bit of a twist, it's Asian inspired and it's
00:15 a mix of savoury and sweet dishes so I can't wait to get stuck in.
00:20 What do you offer in terms of your afternoon tea here at the Ivy Asia?
00:25 So it's an Asian twist on afternoon tea, we've recently changed it so we used to do a sort
00:29 of a grand platter and now we've gone for a more refined sort of traditional presenting
00:35 afternoon tea but obviously it's got an Asian twist so you've got just a selection of Asian
00:40 treats.
00:41 Again we've also diversified so now we've got more, so now we've not dialled back the
00:47 sweet but we've added more to the savoury so you've got a lovely selection, you've got
00:50 mushroom gyozas, you've got vegetable bao buns, duck spring rolls with hoisin plus gorgeous
00:55 sweets like raspberry macarons and passion fruit doughnuts.
00:58 We see the Ivy Asia opened last year, what's the response been like from customers in Leeds
01:03 since you opened?
01:04 I'm overwhelmingly positive, I think a lot of people, they don't expect it when they
01:09 walk in, it's like you step out of Yorkshire, in a good way, because it's opulent, it's
01:15 elegant, it's a lot of attention to detail.
01:17 I think guests, they know the Ivy and they understand that they're in a very safe environment
01:24 because consistently the service is good and the food is good so it's just that same
01:28 ethos but with incredible Asian cooking.
01:32 We've just finished all the savoury dishes, I have had a bit of help, I haven't had it
01:36 all by myself but it was absolutely amazing, I think my favourite had to be the veg gyozas,
01:43 they were so crisp on the inside, lovely and soft inside with loads and loads of flavour,
01:48 each dish was packed full of flavour and the sushi, the avocado sushi was another highlight
01:53 for me definitely.
01:54 So now we're on to the sweet and I'm very excited for these donuts, they look incredible.
02:01 In the afternoon tea, what's your personal favourite element to it?
02:05 Probably the mushroom gyoza, it comes with a citrus ponzu dressing which adds a little
02:09 bit of tartness and then they're steamed and then pan seared so you've got a lovely combination
02:13 of textures there, that's probably my favourite.
02:17 There's so many little bits, we've got sesame crusted prawn dumplings as well, we've expanded
02:23 the afternoon tea, there's a lot more on it now, lots of different variety of flavours.
02:28 So as you can see that went down a treat, the sweet offerings were amazing, obviously
02:34 I love the donuts but I think my personal favourite was this sesame creme brulee, the
02:39 sesame was almost like a salted caramel effect with a bit of the salt savoury taste coming
02:44 through, it was stunning, really amazing.
02:48 So this isn't afternoon tea as you know it, it's afternoon tea with the Ivy Asia twist,
02:54 everything was really unusual, full of flavour and it's nice to have something a bit different,
02:58 not just your tea and scones.
03:00 And remember, afternoon tea isn't just for afternoon tea week.