Hive Restaurant

HIVE Restaurant at Selfridges will take you on a journey of the flavours, aromas and tasting of honey ingredients. The interior pays homage to the key ingredient. Diners will be able to dive into an immersive honey-inspired environment. From breakfast to dinner. The restaurant welcomes guests to enjoy a menu, which encompasses a range of innovative dishes made with quality organic ingredients.

You can find 100,000 bees living in their hive opposite the restaurant itself. The menu incorporates a range of French dishes, all creatively incorporating the highest-quality natural honey. The owner Khalid Samata has decided to partner with Michelin- starred chefs. Creating the finest honey desserts served across the best restaurants in London.

Hive Experience

Being invited to experience a unique afternoon tea tasting was truly a worthy one. This restaurant can be found on the 3rd floor of the Selfridges building. A French-inspired menu with their key honey ingredients. Mrs and myself were given a set of afternoon tea with a choice of our teas. We opted for different teas, where I had Chai and my wife had Lemon & Mango flavoured tea. It was busy when we arrived, so we moved around tables until we had a backseat behind the instragrammable neon sign.

Once seated, we waited 5-10 minutes for our Afternoon set to arrive. The top part had the sweet/savoury items, whereas the bottom had the cheese/honey items. As I photographed the afternoon tea set, it was time to indulge in our sweet and savoury treats. After we were finished, they gave us honey straight from the honeycomb, which was my favourite part of our experience. Scrapping off the natural honey produced by the bees provides that delicious sweet taste. On our way out of the Hive restaurant. I spoke to the owner Khalid Samata, who was a true gentleman, who gave me a real insight into how this place came about and how the bees produce their honey.

Hive Menu

You can find the whole menu from Hive's restaurant here.

Have a look at their list of prices and range of dishes available directly from the restaurant.

CHEESE AND HONEY PAIRING AFTERNOON TEA £30

In the Afternoon Tea set, you have a choice to choose from a range of tea and honey selections. We opted for Chai & Lemon Mango, where I preferred the chai. However, when I did try the Lemon Mango Tea, it did give a refreshing taste when you have a sip.

• Lavender
• Lemon mango
• Chai
• Vanilla Rooibos
• Jasmine
• Camomille
• Earl Grey
• English Breakfast
• Mint Tea or Peppermint Tea

Pastries

In your tray, you are provided with pastries that contain Scones with Honey, Cream and Jam, Red Fruits Cheesecake, Lemon Eclair, Pistachio Macaron and Raspberry Eclair. The Macaron and the Eclairs were so good, personal favourites from the list.

Along with your afternoon set, you can choose from a range of honey with your cheese tasting, as shown below.

• Acacia
• Heather
• Lavender
• Fir
• Linden
• Rosemary
• Buckwheat
• Forest
• Chestnut
• Rhododendron

When it came to choosing the honey. I wasn't too sure which honey would have been good to taste. Therefore I had the owner/staff choose the honey for us. All of the honey they provided us with turned out great, although I wasn't aware which honey was which.

Other than that, you are provided with a set range of Cheese to taste with your honey.

• Tomme De Savoie - Made from semi-skimmed milk, the flavour of Tomme de Savoie is clean, milky and buttery.
• Fourme D'Ambert - Intensely creamy pate cheese with blue-green veining.
• Roue Cendre - Raw goat milk, a relatively short maturation period, creamy and soft cheese.
• Morbier - A semi-soft cow’s milk cheese named after the small village of Morbier in Franche-Comté.
• Comte - Ivory-coloured pate, with a rich, nutty flavoured and a golden-brown rind.

Honeycomb Tasting

The tasting of honeycomb was our favourite part of our experience. Scraping off the natural honey made by the bees, was mouth-watering. As you can see, the honey dripped down as you move your spoon across. An eye-catching experience, which one has to try if they ever dine here. If you kindly ask them, if you would like to taste the natural honey, they will bring the honeycomb to your table after your meal.

Food: 8 out of 10
Pricing: 8 out of 10
Atmosphere: 9 out of 10
Presentation: 10 out of 10
Experience: 10 out of 10

Overall, I have given this cafe rating of 9.2 out of 10.

Conclusion

Overall experience was fantastic, as we truly loved experiencing the unique honey tasting directly produced by the bees. The food was amazing as we had the afternoon set we preferred indulging in the pastries. The combination of honey and cheese was delicious as well. I tucked into these by adding honey on top of the cheese. The pricing for the afternoon set is similar to most afternoon tea places. However, it wouldn't fill you up paying £30 for it, whereas you would be full elsewhere if you pay for the experience. The atmosphere was nice, as it's a small cafe, but you will see shoppers walk past and others around having lunch/desserts beside you.

The presentation was good, as I loved how the afternoon tea set was beautifully presented on a tray. All of the items looked picture-perfect and instagrammable. The experience on this as a whole was an enjoyable one, as we got to taste natural honey. We spoke to the owner of the restaurant, who gave us an insight into the restaurant, and then tucked it into a delicious treat of Afternoon Tea.

Hive Address: Selfridges & Co, 400 Oxford St, London, W1A 1AB
Telephone: 0161 228 2284
Website: https://www.hiverestaurant.uk/
Opening Times: 11:30 am – 9 pm

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