Afternoon Tea at The Dorchester - Review

I absolutely love Afternoon Tea and have been quite a few times already. I try to have it at least once a year. However, lucky old me has actually been 3 times this year!

My husband and I visited The Dorchester for Afternoon Tea in January of this year, just after Christmas. It was a great time of year as The Dorchester was still decorated for Christmas -There was a huge Christmas Tree in the foyer.  There was also the threat or should that be the promise of snow...

We arrived in plenty of time and deposited our thick coats with the attendants and sat down to enjoy our 'experience'. The venue - The Promenade - is a long corridor of a room, with seating arranged down the centre of the room and on either side - imagine 3 long rows. We were seated in the centre on a double armchair with a big sausage cushion separating me from the other guest and Nik (my husband) sat opposite on a huge Chair .. as he is 6ft 2 and I am a mere but not insignificant 4ft 11 we looked ridiculous so we swapped. I looked like Alice in Wonderland sat in this huge chair but at least we were now level.

As we are not huge Champagne drinkers we opted for the Traditional Afternoon Tea which is priced at £35.50 per person. Prior to our visit I had also emailed a dietary requirement of a non dairy option for Nik so we were curious as to what this would comprise of....

The waiter brought us our menu of tea to choose from - Nik selected the Dragon Pearl Jasmine tea and I opted for the 'house' tea - The Dorchester Blend - A blend of silvery Ceylon and golden Assam.

We were then brought our finger sandwiches, a selection of 4 types - Cucumber with cream cheese on caraway seed bread, egg mayonnaise with shiso cress on white bread, chicken with wholegrain mustard mayonnaise on basil bread and finally smoked salmon on granary bread. Nik's versions came without the dairy and they did bring a different sandwich instead of the Cucumber and cream cheese but sadly my memory fails me as to what it was.

After 3 plates of sandwiches and endless cups of the nicest of teas, we decided to move on to the scones - oh I love warm scones - 2 varieties were on offer - plain and raisin, jam and clotted cream. You have to be careful though as if you eat too many you will not be able to have the pastries/desserts to finish. A real treat of pastries desserts were on offer, tiny enough to be finger size but big enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

I decided to change my tea at this point and the waiter  was able to recommend me a tea which unfortunately wasn't really to my taste - Bangkok ( green tea blend of lemon grass, ginger and coconut) if you like ginger this may appeal- but he was a cheerful soul and so attentive that I didn't mind one bit and he wasn't offended either ...He then brought me another teapot containing his recommendation - Paris - and this time I was in heaven - this tea is truly fabulous and one of my favourite teas ever. This black tea blend is flavoured with fruit, Bergamot and caramel - very, very nice and highly recommended. If, however none of these appeal there are plenty more to choose from!

So there I was sat with 3 teapots on my table as well as Nik's! How many teapots can a lady need? Good job the table was big enough to take it all! I am sure had I asked they would have removed them.

As Nik couldn't have the scones he was brought a huge platter of fresh fruit to the table and we had many a longing look from the other guests at this feast of his..it was very nice of them to do this, there was so much fruit he could barely finish it all. So I got to enjoy some fruit too and he didn't feel left out that he couldn't have the scones and some of the pastries.

To my delight we were sat right near the pianist :-) I loved listening to him play so exquisitely and with such elegance. So relaxing.

You can see him just behind me in this picture

And a picture of Nik and I enjoying The Afternoon Tea and his huge platter of fruit! Click on the picture for a closer look.

Well after all this food - it is deceivingly filling so you do need to pace yourself - we were left content and happy with all aspects of the day. We were there for just under 2 hours and Nik said this has been his favourite Afternoon Tea.

The day ended perfectly with snow flakes tumbling down as we left - truly magical. A perfect way to spend a cold wintry afternoon.

Afternoon Tea is served at The Dorchester 5 times a day. Please check website for more details and booking.