Afternoon Tea At The Lancaster Hotel
The Lancaster Hotel invited myself and Angela to try their splendid afternoon tea, an offer that frankly only a fool would say no to. This huge 4-star hotel overlooking Hyde Park has two restaurants, plus the tea lounge, and a bajillion bedrooms and conference suites. Their ethos is corporate in the week, family friendly on the weekend - and they go all out organising fun packages relating to the local area that kids will love, e.g Paddington Bear, Peter Pan.
Instantly I loved how spacious the tea lounge was, and how there were comfy sofas and armchairs to sink into. You don't feel like you're sitting on top of other people at tightly packed-in tables, struggling to get the attention of waiters like you might in some other afternoon tea places, mentioning no names *cough... The Wolseley*. Our lovely waitress brought us ice-cold glasses of Laurent Perrier champagne, and handed us the tea menu to select our brew. I went for green (what else!) and Angela had a pot of shampoo, A.K.A Early Grey.
I'm not really a sandwich fan, but I have to say these were pretty darn good. They kindly brought me a vegetarian selection, with no butter as requested. They were egg, roasted pepper, and houmous and spinach. We also had mini tartlets - mine was mushroom, and I think Angela has some kinda roast beef thing. She said it was yummy.
Some afternoon tea places bring the scones out along with the cake and sandwich tier, but here they ask when you're ready for them, then bring them to you all warm and fresh. They tasted like they'd come right out of the oven - so good! Side note: look how nice Angela's phone cover is - she made it herself!
The final cake round was a challenge - I was so full! But I tried a bit of each one (see top picture), for research purposes of course.... We had four tiny cakes each, plus a cake pop displayed in colourful sherbet. These were a wonderful mix of sharp lemon tart, coffee layer cake, almondy cream thing, and fruity macaron. I dared Angela to down the whole shot glass of sherbet in one go, and was expecting some kind of amazing mouth explosion that I could put on YouTube. You'll be relieved to hear that Angela remained teatime dignified and only ate a spoon of it. No explosions, just some minor wincing. At this stage it was time to go, not before we had a tour of the restaurants from one of the lovely hospitality managers. They both look amazing, and I will have to go back and review them for you! Thank you so much Lancaster Hotel, you are definitely one my favourite afternoon teas in London. Tea is served between 2pm and 5.30pm, costs £30 per person without champagne, and £40 with. Throughout January and February there's an amazing 25% off for first time customers.
Do you have any afternoon tea recommendations for me in London or beyond? Let me know in the comments x