Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Yemi writes for the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips.

Valentine’s Day is here and with it comes the expected cards, flowers, wine, chocolates, Valentine’s treats, and packed restaurants. It’s estimated that over 1 million people in the UK get engaged on Valentine’s Day.

One thing is for certain, we love to celebrate the day with great food, and what better place to make it extra special than Grantley Hall?

I got to experience the Valentine’s Day afternoon tea at Grantley Hall and I tell you, it didn’t disappoint one bit. For company, I had the wonderful Andy Ortega, who is visiting Yorkshire from New York, and super-talented Stefan Rose, the executive pastry chef at Grantley Hall, who was the perfect host.

For those who missed it, Stef and Andy recently competed as a team in season 2 of Harry Potter Wizards of Baking show, which UK viewers can watch on Amazon Prime. Look out for my future post about their bakes on the show and what’s coming next.

Back to the afternoon tea: the options ranged from a champagne afternoon tea to a non-alcoholic version with a wide variety of speciality teas and coffees.

I opted for a blackcurrant, elderberry and hibiscus herbal infusion that was beautiful to look at and equally beautiful to drink, with an intensity that required no sweeteners.

Canapés

The afternoon tea started with a duo of stunning canapés. First was a beetroot mousse glazed with beetroot jelly served on a sablé breton and finished with pickled beetroot. The sweetness of the beetroot shone through, perfectly balanced with a touch of acidity from the heart-shaped pickled beetroot garnish. Finding surprising little touches like a heart-shaped garnish elevated the experience and showed incredible finesse and attention to detail.

The second canapé was a roasted onion and parmesan sable with two sablés bretons holding a filling of parmesan custard with roasted onion cream on the outside and garnished with truffle and onion ash. This sat elegantly, inviting conversation on the shape and the presentation; I wondered how they managed to add a layer of onion ash similar to a fine etching used by an artist to draw the eyes to the main subject. It was stunning to look at and even better to eat.

Sandwiches and savouries

The sandwiches might look familiar to connoisseurs of afternoon tea, but the taste really wasn’t. The cucumber sandwich – a staple in all cream teas – had truffle cream cheese, which inched it away from what most people would have experienced.

The smoked salmon on rye bread with crème fraîche and quails egg was generously layered with beautifully smoked salmon that looked like luxurious blankets casually laid on a bed, welcoming you to dive in. It was almost reminiscent of what a night in the hotel would feel like.

The sausage roll with caramelised red onion and cheddar had the sweetness from the caramelisation of the onions and was a sound and robust element that deserved its own spot on the plate.

Nothing prepared me for the next two elements, which became instant favourites for me. I’ve had crayfish sandwiches where the crayfish tasted of nothing, but this was sensational. The crayfish was generous, the Marie Rose sauce clung on to each crayfish piece, and the grapefruit segment was an unexpected way to bring in the acidity that it called for rather than ‘predictable’ lemon juice.

The smoked chicken with tarragon mayonnaise was a complete ‘knock out of the park’ for me. The gentle smoke perfectly complemented the moist and soft chicken, and the tarragon mayonnaise was a true revelation. I would happily take this sandwich to work every day, which is high praise indeed.

The last sandwich was a cheese and onion savoury brioche with sun-dried tomato. This was so cute to look at and it felt sinful to eat; I was glad that there’s always room for repentance.

Heart-shaped dessert

With the savoury part of the meal over, we moved on to the sweet element, which was a trio of desserts and the classic scones, jam and clotted cream. One look at the tray and all thoughts of dieting or healthy eating went out of the window as I saw how beautifully delicious they looked and the love and passion that went into their creation.

There were two scones: a heart-shaped raspberry scone with raspberry jam, and a plain scone with strawberry jam. Both scones were so beautifully made that they left me speechless. The raspberry scone was insanely delicious with the perfect raspberry colour on the inside and a crunch that left you wanting more. Between the delicious jams and the scones, I would have been happy if that was the end of the sweet course, but it wasn’t.

The first dessert was a White Rose pavlova, with a meringue base, Yorkshire forced rhubarb compote, topped with a Yorkshire forced rhubarb confit. Lemongrass and ginger whipped white chocolate ganache was piped into delicate and elegant rose petals.

The aptly named Love Potion was a red bottle with gold caps, with flavours of raspberry, rose and hibiscus on a pink sablé breton and a raspberry compote on the inside, glazed with a pink chocolate mirror glaze. On top of the bottle cap is a dark chocolate with a centre of white chocolate and rose ganache and a perched chocolate truffle bonbon on top to finish.

The Ballerina is on a base of vanilla pink sablé and inside was a soft strawberry madeleine sponge with strawberry compote and some yuzu confit to bring in some citrus notes, and the beautiful skirt was a strawberry ganache. This stunning dessert was topped with the white chocolate silhouette of a white ballerina holding a gold leaf, making it the perfect dessert to end an ‘award-deserving’ meal.

My afternoon tea experience was at an unrivalled level. It’s what Grantley Hall guests expect and I’m amazed at how every experience there leaves you wanting to visit again and again. It’s what makes Grantley Hall an award-winning hotel, one that proudly calls Yorkshire home and that Yorkshire can brag about.