You Can’t Travel to London and Miss High Tea!
Looking for the best high tea in London? Read on.
Imagine being serenaded to soft jazz or the elegant notes of live piano. Smartly-dressed servers attend to your every request while explaining the ins and outs of how the menu works. You choose Darjeeling or a special pomegranate tea blend from a myriad of exquisite teas around the world. You may even add champagne for a special occasion.
Then arrives a three-tier cake stand with a smorgasbord of savory sandwiches: coronation chicken, cucumber, salmon and cream cheese, and many more. With a palate cleanser between the savory and sweet, you sit back and relax as more tea is poured into your fine china teacup.
Your server asks if you want seconds of the sandwiches and you nod enthusiastically. The afternoon is all yours and you’re a little light-headed from the champagne. As time goes by slowly and the music continues to play, a variety of desserts are now served on your table: scones with strawberry jam and freshly clotted cream. Battenberg cakes, soft sponge cake infused with poppy seeds and lavender buttercream, tartlets of various flavors, and an eye-popping assortment of patisserie in the shape of mini purses and high-heeled shoes. Feel free to ask for seconds. It’s an experience of a lifetime to savor forever.
If you’re traveling to London for the first time or your tenth time, you must plan for a completely and quintessentially British experience. An afternoon or high tea is exactly that.
What are the best places for high tea?
I recommend two places in particular, both of which I visited this August (2022).
- Fortnum and Mason: A department store founded in 1707, its style is upscale and completely British. The lavish interior is inviting and it’s almost like a museum that has to be visited. The majestic ground floor is a feast for your eyes. It showcases its food and tea offerings, and there are many items here you can purchase as gifts. Head up to the 4th floor for the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, where you’ll be treated like royalty. The Fortnum website has all the different afternoon tea menus for you to peruse. Prices start at £80 per person with a pot of tea. The great news here is that you can pack up whatever you cannot finish, but only the desserts. Sweet!
- The Oscar Wilde Lounge @ Cafe Royal: This is within a hotel and has a completely different ambiance, even if it’s a 5 minute walk from Fortnum and Mason. If you’re looking for a more intimate and romantic experience, then this is the place for you. The food, drinks, and service is on par with Fortnum, if not a bit more personal at the OT Lounge. The decor is decadent, with crystal, gold and dim lights everywhere you look. You might even spot a celebrity of two. Prices start at £70 per person and £80 with a glass of champagne.
I implore you to try high tea in London even if you’re there for just a few days. There are many, many places around the city and the rest of the country which serve impressive high teas. But if you’re looking for that special, once-in-a-lifetime experience that is 100 percent British, you will thank me for recommending Fortnum and the Cafe Royal. And I hope you return to this post and comment honestly about your experience.
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