The Langham Hotel's Palm Court won the UK Tea Guild's award for Top London Afternoon Tea 2010 -'the OSCARS of the tea world' - so it's a serious contender for the best afternoon tea in London in anyone's book and if you're a virgin tea taker it's a good place to start. [Note: If you should arrive and find there's a screaming kid in the Palm Court drowning out the lovely tinkly piano, I'd recommend a table in the sumptuous Artesian bar next door. Same tea and the cocktail bar is closer.]
We all ordered the Wonderland Tea (£38) which comes with a selection of teas (Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Lapsang Souchong etc) or a glass of Laurent-Perrier NV (£50). One of these cake stands serves two people:
Starting on the bottom with the sandwiches, I didn't enjoy the salmon crème fraÎche ones, they were a bit fishpastey, but the beef with horseradish were good, the egg and mustard cress rolls were really tasty, the chicken with honey mustard delicious and the cucumber, cream cheese and chives, simple but excellent.
Next up, two light, fluffy scones, one with raisins, one without. Top these with lashings of strawberry jam and clotted cream (refillable) and then you're ready for the main event - the cakes. I think this top plate is probably the reason The Langham won the UK Tea Guild award so leave room for at least a forkful of each cake or you'll bitterly regret it. We had (each) a deeply delicious blackforest dome, rich Valrhona chocolate mousse (topped with a tiny mini macaroon), a wonderfully moist mini cup cake with pistachio icing, blackcurrant and hibiscus syllabub and a mini handmade lolly. To be frank, the lolly looked fun but was a bit of a waste of time, but the rest....we were a party of gossiping girls and no one said a word as the first forkfuls of cake were consumed, there was only a reverential silence. This is some serious patisserie.
Palm Court is open daily: 8.30 - 23:00
Afternoon tea seatings: 14:00, 14:30, 16.30 and 17.00
High tea: 17:00 - 18:30
www.palm-court.co.uk
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