One Aldwych, Covent Garden, London

Visit One Aldwych website HERE
COST: £26.50 each

Tea at One Aldwych offered a contemporary twist on the classic afternoon tea. The hotel is in a rather grand building but the clean, simple lines of the decor make it slightly sterile which affected my overall experience of this tea. I went with my mum who suffers from coeliac disease so I had phoned ahead enquiring about the option of a gluten free afternoon tea (no mean feat considering every element normally contains flour!). They seemed very accommodating and explained they are able to offer a fully gluten free option. 

 On arrival, we were able to take our seats immediately and were served the entire offering in one go on a modern tea stand. This allowed me to mix up the savoury and sweet during the tea so I wasn't left with a sugar high. The savoury options were very good, fresh sandwiches together with an unusual addition of a quail scotch egg and welsh rarebit. However, I was rather disappointed with the sweet options. The scones were quite small and dry and I was unsure if the cakes were homemade - they were quite dense and stodgy. As for the gluten free option, my mum was also disappointed. The bread they had used to make the sandwiches needed to be toasted and the cakes weren't worth the calories.


Overall, I don't think the offering quite lives up to the price commanded for the tea. It looks much nicer than it actually tastes.

Atheneum, Piccadilly, London

Visit The Atheneum Website HERE
COST: £28:50 each
The afternoon tea at Atheneum won an award of excellence from the Tea Guild in 2010. I therefore just had to try it out.

From the outside, Atheneum really stands out in Piccadilly. It's the ivy covered building which is starting to resemble a jungle (or maybe even The Rainforest Cafe...?). Inside, it oozes quirky sophistication. As I was a little early, I was shown through to their bar area decked out with pink satin covered walls. When the clock struck three, my friend and I were then taken to their garden room where you sit in your own personal lounge area and are greeted by a beautifully laid table and substantial tea menu.

The one thing that stands out about this afternoon tea is choice. A waiter brought over a platter of sandwiches and we chose exactly which ones we wanted and how many (with no wasted sandwiches). You can even have seconds and thirds (maybe more, but we needed to leave room for cakes!). Scones with an orange blossom twist were lovely, with homemade preserves and lemon curd. We are also served up some warm toasted crumpets. Then came the cakes trolley. Instead of being given a selection of cakes on a cake stand, we had a whole cake trolley wheeled to us and again we got to choose the cakes that we actually wanted rather than what, in some tea rooms, are just given to you. A nice touch.

Overall a lovely experience. Probably helped by the 20% discount offer we enjoyed. It's all about choice and I would definitely return.

Crazy Bear, Beaconsfield

Visit The Crazy Bear website HERE
COST: £29 for two people
The Crazy Bear in Beaconsfield is all about the ambience.  Luxurious and quirky, the interiors offer a classy yet cosy atmosphere for afternoon tea. 

Tea, sandwiches and the cakes are all served together allowing you to pick and choose what to eat throughout the whole occasion. The sandwiches on offer included smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese and egg mayonnaise. They were yummy! Two scones were on offer, one each, and served with jam in pots (probably my main criticism of the whole offering). Cakes were lovely - a cupcake, apple and walnut cake and a rich, moist, dark chocolate brownie. Will definitely return here.

The Cavendish, London

Visit The Cavendish Website HERE
COST: £20 per person with champagne* (*Special Offer price)
The Cavendish seemed a promising choice in central London. As the website boasts:

"The Cavendish Afternoon Tea includes an extensive selection of Fairtrade teas and coffees, accompanied by a selection of freshly-made free-range sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and organic preserves, mini pastries and tartlets. Finally, a variety of chocolate truffles add a little indulgence"

Maybe I've just been spoiled by having some fantastic afternoon teas, or maybe The Cavendish just doesn't deliver what it promises? Marc and I were sat in the "lounge" by the lifts - a very busy area which ruined the ambience. The whole afternoon tea package was delivered - a bonus as it meant we could mix eating the sweet with the savoury. However, the sandwiches really disappointed. They definitely were not freshly made and despite the flavours sounding nice (cheese and tomato chutney for example) they really did not deliver. Scones only came with raisins (I think Marc spent most of the time picking out the raisins) and we had the choice of one strawberry preserve. Tea on offer was either Clipper (yes, Fairtrade, but also offered in cheap high street fast food chains...) and... Twinings (which I would happily buy in the supermarket but I won’t pay over the odds for it for an afternoon tea). Hmm, well not quite the extensive selection I was expecting. I'm really starting to sound snooty now but having worked for a rather popular brand of tea, I think I'm entitled to be snooty about tea. To finish it all off, no chocolate truffles were offered. Probably not an afternoon tea to recommend...

London Hilton on Park Lane, London

Visit The Podium Website HERE
COST: £25 per person - worth every penny!
Booked by Miranda, my cousin, I was very excited to try out this afternoon tea because they offer a chocolate afternoon tea (heaven!). Aside from feeling a little sugared out when I left, the offering did not disappoint. It was utterly divine. The Podium restaurant (inside the hotel) offers a very stylish and relaxed atmosphere.

We were sat at our table and asked what tea we would like and the type of scone we would like (raisin, no raisin or chocolate chip...?). We went for raisin - Marc wasn't there. Tea was delivered in individual white china tea pots together with a tea strainer - lovely. The sandwiches delivered were open sandwiches and were very tasty (prawn, cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon). We then had the scones and cakes delivered. WOW!! The presentation is the best I have ever seen. The cakes were presented on top of a solid chocolate slab (edible!) and a little christmas scene had been made out of chocolate and icing - almost too good to eat (almost!). The scones were accompanied by a strawberry preserve and a gorgeous chocolate spread (more like a dark chocolate mousse). There were cupcakes on offer (2 full sized ones each!) and little chocolate pastries and truffles.

This tea definitely deserves a top rating. My only issue with it was that the sandwiches were delivered before the cakes and scones and therefore the inevitable sugar high was experienced. We probably should have made use of the stylish doggy bag to take away some of the cakes, but Miranda and I couldn't resist the challenge to finish it all...

The Kensington Hotel, London

Visit The Kensington Hotel Website HERE
COST: £23 per person 
Part of the Doyle Collection, The Kensington Hotel has just reopened after a £20million renovation. First impressions were great. The renovations have been finished to a high standard.

My friend Mandy and I discovered it because they were offering a special deal on afternoon tea - 2for1. They had a great selection of teas and the sandwiches were lovely. There was no option of extra sandwiches - not great when I have been used to this (at The Wolseley and Four Seasons). Once we had eaten the sandwiches, the scones and cakes were delivered together. The scones were lovely and served with the usual strawberry jam and not so usual passionfruit curd - yummy! The cakes on offer were ok, but having the sweet things delivered in one go, we were both feeling the effects of a sugar high. A sandwich would have been nice but as these had been served separately this was not an option. My friend and I agreed that the ambience was fantastic but the quality of the tea didn't quite match, so not sure we would return.

A photo of the afternoon tea from their website... it didn't quite look like that in reality...

The Barn, Ruislip

Visit The Barn Hotel Website HERE
A nice little find close to our parents. The Barn in Ruislip. Lovely lounge area - dark wood panelling and very cosy with a roaring log fire. We only went for the cream tea (tea and scones only). Scones were lovely but my only qualm was that the jam was Coopers, served in little glass pots. The only reason I'm sounding snooty about this is that we'd experienced the home made preserve at The Four Seasons and nothing can really compare with that. Tea was good.