So, time for another dose of my ramblings! As promised
today's post will be a review of the ever so posh Wonderland Afternoon Tea at
the Langham Hotel in Central London.
As my sister was hitting a big milestone in her life (the
big 30) we thought we would celebrate (take her mind of it) by going to The
Langham Hotel for a spot of Afternoon Tea! Now as much as I love afternoon tea
the Langham was a serious step up from my usual cuppa in my PJ’s during an
episode of eastenders!!
The Langham Hotel is located on Portland
Place in Central London and has been there since its opening on 10th June 1865
(wow). We were drawn to the Langham over all the other posh afternoon teas on
offer across the capital, as it is described as the birthplace of afternoon
tea…oh and did I mention that it’s just a 5 minute walk from Oxford Street –
perfect for a spot of retail therapy after gobbling up all those yummy treats!
The afternoon tea is served in the Palm Court, which is
really easy to find as it is on the ground floor, just opposite the main
entrance. The Palm Court had a slight 1920’s, Great Gatsby vibe to it with dim
lighting and a beautiful gold pattern on the walls – not quite as traditional
as I’d expected but classy and elegant nonetheless. It had a very relaxed yet
stylish ambience to it.
We chose the Wonderland Afternoon Tea, which is only served
at 3 sitting times - 1pm, 3:15pm and 5:30pm, each lasting two hours.
We were greeted by a smiley lady at the reception who seated
us right in the corner of the Palm Court. I truly believe we had the best seats
in the restaurant perfect to get the whole view of the room and some privacy.
Throughout our visit we were treated to live music from the pianist in the
corner, which really added to the relaxing atmosphere of the room.
Now
as much as this day was meant to be relaxing me and my sister spent hours
before the visit agonizing over what to wear and ruling out half our wardrobes
as far too casual for the grand Langham! No one wants to be under dressed in a
5 star hotel do they?! However, all this tension turned out to be completely
unnecessary as when we got there most of the people were in smart/casual dress. I
even spotted a couple of men in jeans - phew! So, if you’re also worried about
the dress code at the Langham, it’s safe to say you can pretty much get away
with wearing anything, as long as it’s not joggers and your pajama top!
As
soon as we sat down we were presented with a menu of the selection of teas they
had to offer, as I was searching the menu of over 30 tea blends (wow) for my
regular breakfast tea, my sister urged me to step out of my comfort zone and
try a tea I’d never tasted before, so I chose one of the scented black tea’s -
the CHAI tea, which was described as “ceylon black tea with aromatic spices” My
sister chose the Jasmine Green Tea, which according to the waiter was one of
their most popular blends!
About
20 minutes into our tea the waiter came over and took away our tea pots – we
were momentarily perplexed - WHAT? was that it…no more tea?!! However, this
was not the case as about 3 minutes later we were reunited with steaming hot
tea pots! In fact throughout our sitting the waiter kept an eye out to see
whether our teacup was empty, if it was he would dash over and elegantly
refill it. I was astonished at how attentive the service was, I must have had
around 8 cups of tea as the waiter never let my cup become empty! Impressive!
Now
onto the food ….while we were waiting for our tea to arrive we were presented
with a sweet treat to get our tastebuds going – a tangy lime posset, it was
absolutely delicious! This was followed by a wonderful selection of sandwiches.
As I am a vegetarian I don’t often find the sandwich selection particularly
exciting. In fact ….
I
have been to afternoon teas before where there hasn't even been a vegetarian
option , so I've had to just leave out the meat ones, which is usually most of
the sandwiches (sigh) However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the
Palm Court also caters for special dietary requirements. We were served with an
impressive selection of 5 different veggie sandwich options:
- Pearl las and broccoli
quiche with piquillo peppers
- Spicy humous with crispy
salad
- Cream cheese and cucumber
on beetroot bread
- Montgomery cheddar and
sweet onion biscuit
- Burford brown egg
mayonnaise with mustard cress
The sandwiches were lovely
and were very very filling and and the best part is you are offered FREE refiles
on your favorite sandwiches, which of course we jumped at!
After we finished gorging on the yummy sandwiches, the
waiter brought out a warm selection of plain and raisin scones (2 of each) now
this is my personal favorite part of any afternoon tea and I wasn't disappointed.
The scones were lovely, as was the small dish of clotted cream and strawberry
jam already set out on the table for us.
As you can see I had a Devon cream tea (cream first, then
jam) – How do you have your cream tea?
Okay so now onto the sweet treats,
this is definitely the part my sister and I were most looking forward to trying
the beautiful selection of treats consisted off…
- Passion Fruit and Mango Dome
- Valrhona chocolate tart
- Lemon and poppy seed cake
- Layer Eton mess push up pop
My sisters first words when she
saw the tray of treats was “Is that it?” however, our eyes were certainly
bigger than our stomachs in this case! In fact we actually struggled to eat
everything simply because it was all so deliciously sweet and filling. My
personal favorite was the lemon and poppy seed cake, as it wasn't too sweet,
but still had a lovely dollop of icing on top! The eton mess on the other hand
was definitely my least favorite….after a while I sort of gave up attempting
to eat it as it was so messy (and embarrassing) to eat. That was the only sweet
treat I was disappointed with as it was VERY hard to eat and if you are a bit
clumsy and unladylike (like me) it might be a bit of a challenge!!
Disappointingly there
are no refills for the cakes and pastries - however we were well and truly
stuffed by this time so perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all.
Palm Court certainly out did
themselves in terms of excellent service, as when we booked we stated it was my
sisters birthday, so they brought out a special birthday cupcake for her and
even sang happy birthday to her…how lovely of them!
In terms of pricing the Wonderland Afternoon Tea is one of the cheapest afternoon teas the Langham offers, at £44 per person – bit of difference to the 7p they charged back in 1865! Just like in other top hotels that offer a high quality service there is bound to be a service charge to keep in mind, at The Langham there was 12.5% (£11.00) service charge.
I had the best time celebrating my sisters birthday and I highly recommend this afternoon tea as the service is brilliant, the food is extremely filling and scrumptious. I do think this whole afternoon tea experience is well worth the money, For more information about this Afternoon Tea check out their website -
http://palm-court.co.uk/#/afternoon-tea/
P.s If you ever go to an afternoon tea at a 5 star hotel it’s always worth checking out how posh the toilets are – you will be impressed :’)
See you next time for more of my ramblings!
xx
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