We have just spent a fabulous week in England and one of the many things I love doing when overseas, is indulge myself in a luxurious afternoon tea… let me tell you more about the one we had in London!

About 6 weeks before our holiday, I was browsing the internet for fab places to have afternoon tea in London. Actually I wanted to book us a table at the Ritz hotel just for old times sake: way back in 1996 we had our very first proper afternoon tea at the Ritz, but sadly it was already fully booked. So here’s my first tip concerning afternoon tea in London: when you want to have tea at the Ritz… book WELL in advance!

But London offers so many fantastic places to have afternoon tea! The location however, had to be within easy distance of Kensington Palace (which we would visit before our afternoon tea) and Leicester Square (where we would pick up our kids after the afternoon tea).

So I especially searched the Mayfair area and soon I came across Park Room at Grosvenor House Hotel (website). I made a reservation for our afternoon tea with additional glass of champagne of course!

When we arrived at Park Room, the interior certainly didn’t disappoint: it’s very luxurious and stylish!

We were met by very friendly staff and the waitress told us that there was a promotion: for 3 GBP extra per person, they would top up our glass of champagne during the entire afternoon tea… we didn’t say no to that, you can understand 😀

And I can tell you that they were definitely not mean concerning the champagne! My husband had to take care not to drink too much alcohol as he still had to drive the car that night, but that didn’t stop me from devouring a couple of glasses more than I intended to…

The choice of tea at Park Room is nearly limitless, but  I opted for a traditional Earl Grey and my husband picked the house blend.

At the beginning we started off with a sweet amuse from the chef: a passion fruit drink, served with some cotton candy, which was a surprisingly good combination.

After toasting to a lovely afternoon, the waitress brought the tiered plate rack filled with goodies…

We started off with the finger sandwiches. The waitress also offered us a couple of open sandwiches and came around a second time with both the finger sandwiches and the open sandwiches.

We then had our scones with jam and clotted cream. The scones were still a bit warm and they tasted really delicious. I always put the cream first and then the jam, the devonshire way apparently, but you could of course do it the other way around, which is the cornish way. Anyway… scones, clotted cream and jam incombination with an Earl Grey… heaven!

To end we had a selection of afternoon tea pastries: all very beautifully presented and very yummy!

When I made the online reservation, I mentioned in the comments that this afternoon tea was a belated 50th birthday present for my husband… but I was still very surprised (and so was my husband!) that three members of the staff brought him a plate with macaroons and a candle, whilst singing ‘happy birthday’. That really was such a thoughtful gesture and we cannot thank the staff enough for this pleasant surprise.

As you might have guessed… we had a wonderful time at Park Room. We were treated like royalty and it was so nice to be pampered… I cannot but recommend a visit to this fabulous place!

Love, Kathleen

 

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