A lovely family occasion, I went with my mum and
brother on what would have been my dad’s 66th birthday – July 9th.
It’s funny because we talked about it that afternoon, and we don’t think he even
liked afternoon tea – we certainly hadn’t been out for one as a family of four.
It was so nice to dress up, catch up, and enjoy some delicious food.
We had the 1:30pm sitting in the blue-draped Queen
Elizabeth room. The room was beautiful with tapestries and paintings on the
walls, and we sat towards the entrance.
As we perused the menu, with 20 varieties of tea
to choose from, our waiter for the afternoon came over and introduced himself
and took our order. My tea of choice was the rooibos red tea: caffeine free, rich in vitamin c and antioxidants. It was at this point we also decided to have a
glass of Champagne each to toast the occasion – the Barons de Rothschild “Reserve
Ritz” brut was beautifully sparkling and went down too easily for such a fancy establishment.
It wasn’t long before we were met with the
delicious cake stand and our waiter went through this meticulously with us. We
began with a tier of sandwiches and a tier of pastries, with the other items
being delivered later in the sitting. It all looked delectable and the sandwiches
in particular caught my eye – a variety of breads and fillings, and they all
looked exactly the same size.
We ate ham with grain mustard mayonnaise on
brioche bread; cheddar cheese with chutney on tomato bread; cucumber with cream
cheese, dill and mint on granary bread; breast of chicken with tarragon creamed
mayonnaise on malted bread; Scottish smoked salmon with lemon butter on
sourdough bread; and egg mayonnaise with chopped shallots and watercress on
brioche roll.
I have to admit, I loved the flavours of them all.
The meat and fish sandwiches are usually my favourite, and the creamy chicken
was a stand-out. However, I loved the freshness of the mint and dill with the cucumber,
and it was refreshing – a real taste of summer.
I couldn’t wait and then tucked into the pastries.
These were so dainty and delicious, possibly the nicest I’ve had at an afternoon
tea. We tucked into orange and almond tartelettes; strawberry and ginger
mousselines; and chocolate and vanilla choux buns. Light and delicious, I don’t
think I could pick a favourite!
As I finished off the sweet treats, we were
greeted with another plate of sandwiches, so of course, I couldn’t resist but return
to savoury! It also wasn’t long before the scones arrived and while I was
starting to feel full, I had to sample them. We had a plain scone and a fruit
scone each, served with clotted cream and organic strawberry jam. We were all
in agreement it’s definitely cream first!
And if that wasn’t enough food, we were then offered
a slice of cake from the trolley. The options were carrot cake or lemon and
earl grey cake. I went for the latter and couldn’t believe the size of it. It
was heavenly, with the lightest sponge and the sharp hit of lemon against the
fragrance of the tea. On hindsight, I probably could have taken the cake home –
but I didn’t want to be beaten.
I didn’t have any leftovers to box up, but due to
the heatwave, we weren’t allowed to take home the remaining sandwiches, only the
pastries – although it was just as well as I didn’t have a box, as I don’t
think it would have survived the train journey home. My mum and brother had a
bag of leftovers.
The Ritz traditional afternoon tea is priced at
£95pp, with a glass of Champagne costing from £25pp (no and low alternatives
are also available). It’s definitely well up there as the best afternoon tea I’ve
ever had and while it may be suited to an occasion, I’d definitely return.
Love, Lucy xx
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Love, Lucy xx