While in London, I wanted to find and try a really traditional and good British Afternoon Tea to enjoy with two of my friends. I did a lot of research, read a lot of reviews, asked a few people and instagram experts. In the end, I decided for the high-end afternoon tea at the Park Room of the Grosvenor House Hotel.
The Grosvenor House usually offers the traditional "Anna's Afternoon Tea", named after Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford who kind of invented the custom of an afternoon tea. It is said that for her the time between lunch and a late dinner was too long and that she felt a "sinking feeling" in the afternoon. So she started to have a light meal in the afternoons with tea, small bites of sandwiches and cakes.
During my stay in May 2018, however, the Grosvenor House offered a special afternoon tea, Anna's Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea, in honor of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle's Wedding on May 19, 2018. Not that I really followed the royal news, but I kinda thought it cute and a special coincidence :) This Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea is mostly identical with the standard Anna's Afternoon Tea, only the Pastries are different and refer to Harry & Meghan.
I can really recommend this afternoon tea! As we had it on a weekday, we were also not limeted to the 2 hour spot. We indeed spent 4 hours there, till they basically closed done :) The atmosphere was great, the staff very polite and helpful without beeing too much. And the quality of the tea and food was really excellent. Also, they were really accomodating regarding dietary requirements. They do offer additional choices of vegetarian finger sandwiches.
Why did I decide for the Afternoon Tea at the Grosvenor House:
- The offer of a special "Royal Wedding" Afternoon Tea
- The Park Room and its beautiful decorations and elegant atmosphere (including gentle live piano music in the back room)
- Everything was unlimited (we were also able to try out different kind of teas)
- A huge variety of jams for the scones (including a fancy rose petal one)
Anna's Royal Wedding Afternoon Tea
- An Amouse Bouche - A little glass with sweet fruit purée (I believe it may have been mango and maybe passionfruit?) topped with candy floss
- The Tea - They had a huge selection of very exclusive Classic Newby Tea and even (for an additional price) a Rare & Exclusive Tea Selection von Newby (1 page long, including for example a yellow rose tea)
- The Open Sandwiches - A smoked salmon & cream cheese sandwich and a egg & mayonnaise sandwich
- The Finger Sandwiches - Cucumber sandwich (with mint butter), chicken sandwich (with terragon and creme fraiche), beef sandwich (with horseradish), ham sandwich (with mustard), prawn sandwich (with Marie Rose sauce which is basically a cocktail sauce)
- The Scones - Plain and raisin scones with clotted creams and six different jams (strawberry, raspberry, backcurrant, gooseberry, rhubarb & ginger, rose petal - while we were asked for one flavor, she gave us a few extra, so were were able to try five of those six flavors)
- The Royal Wedding Pastries - Invictus, The LA Special, Triology Ring, Tier 2, Myrtle Bouquet
- Fresh Home Baked Cakes - You are offered a slice of cake to take home with you (however, as we stayed so long, they only had one choice of cake left... but to be honest, I was so full afterwards, that I was not even interested in that cake anymore:) ).
The Royal Pastries
- Invictus (ginger curd filled with passionfruit culis - referring to Prince Harry, Patron of the Invictus game)
- The LA Special (quinoa clusters and green juice - referring to Miss Markle's southern California home and representing some healthier items)
- Triology Ring (milk, dark, and whithe chocolate - referring to the triology engagement ring with yellow gold and Diana's diamonds)
- Tier 2 (banana and milk chocolate sponge - representing some of Prince Harry's favourite foods... banana)
- Myrtle Bouquet (lemon myrtle and raspberry pavlova - as myrtle has been in every royal wedding bouquet since Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840)
My highlights:
- The Silver Needle White Tea (a favorite for all three of us, very delicate and soft in flavor and actually also very "exclusive" in price as I noticed when I tried to order it from Newbys - what shall I say? We just have good taste :) )
- The Lavender Green Tea (really enjoyed the gentle lavender flavor, reminded me on rose tea)
- The Jasmine Pearl Green Tea (the tea is actually handrolled in little pearls that open up during steaming, great strong flavor, but be careful to not oversteam it as it turns bitter)
- The chicken finger sandwich and the prawn finger sandwiches
- The rose petal jam, then the gooseberry jam
- The "Tier 2" pastry (banana and chocolate sponge)
- The "Bubbly Lavender" (a sparkling cocktail that I ordered - gin, lavender and earl grey syrup, lemon, lavender bitters, champagne)
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