“I’ve never been to Japan, but I’ve always been fascinated by the country. I wanted to see what a Japanese afternoon tea would consist of – our ones are a carb overload, with cakes you can’t even finish because you’ve stuffed your face too much, so I expected it to be a lot different – and it was. 

The venue was Akira at Japan House, on Kensington High Street in London. You go upstairs to a clean-looking room with an open-plan kitchen: it was very white and minimalist. I took my friend Kerrie, who’s just celebrated her 50th birthday; we’ve been friends since our first day of school.

I love my herbal teas and you can choose from Japanese green teas or smoked black teas. I had the sakura, which is smoked with cherry tree wood. They describe it as clean, rich, botanical and fruity, and you really could taste the smoke.

The food – sweet and savoury – was all served on one plate and it looked very pretty. The crockery was mismatched and very homemade looking. We had three sushi rolls; the best one was spicy prawn. As well as an eel roll, there was a vegetarian one with cress and cucumber which was nice and fresh – a different take on the cucumber sandwich. Then there was a warm mushroom croquette that had a really lovely flavour with a small mayo dab on top. I asked for another one because I liked it so much.

There were more sweet than savoury options, with three sponges (strawberry was best) and a lot of matcha. Three sweets had a texture similar to Turkish delight, but with a very subtle taste, and I would have liked a stronger flavour.

I haven’t tried much Japanese food but I would be more inclined to now. The biggest difference is that British afternoon teas tend to have a lot more food, so although we didn’t feel full, we did enjoy trying new things. It’s a little bit of Japan in London.

If you’d like to experience something different and go with an open mind, then it’s definitely worth it.”

Japanese afternoon tea for two, £28 per person, Akira at Japan House, London, W8; japanhouselondon.uk