Time for Tea.....The Dorchester

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea blog post from Tea With Me and Friends, this week Lorna and I were lucky enough to indulge in a spot of afternoon tea at The Dorchester in London. I was kindly given a champagne tea for two by the hotel when I worked with them last year and have eagerly waited to enjoy this traditional afternoon tea experience.

When we arrived we were whisked to our seats in The Promenade, a very elegant area just off the main lobby of the hotel. Our cushions were plumped as we took our seats and we were given a glass of champagne, whilst being told all the about the feast that lay ahead of us. We were then left alone to pursue the extensive tea menu, guided by some recommendations from our waiter. I opted for the tea called Paris - which was light and slightly fruity, a lovely brew.

Firstly, I would like to draw your attention to the beautiful china used by The Dorchester - its pretty yet very elegant. Lorna proclaimed that the tea pot was one of the best she has ever used!

Afternoon tea china
The Dorchester

Once our tea was chosen the sandwiches were served. They were brought out on a large sandwich plate and then served to us on our individual plates.

Afternoon tea sandwiches - The Dorchester

The selection was very traditional with egg mayonnaise, cucumber and cream cheese, salmon and roast chicken. There was also a rather lovely grilled vegetable sandwich which I found a nice addition to the plate, something I wouldn't normally pick but enjoyed. 

The bread was soft and fresh and the sandwiches all contained the right amount of filling - no over filled sandwiches here! Once we finished our sandwiches we were offered more - and I might have had another one of those egg sandwiches!

Once we'd finished our sandwiches we were presented with this...

Afternoon tea - The Dorchester

It was a wonderful sweet treat - a bit like a very posh after eight mint! Dark chocolate and mint is always a lovely combination.

Next the scones and the cakes were served, along with cream and preserves......

Afternoon tea
The Dorchester

We had one plain and one fruit scone each, accompanied by clotted cream and a choice of two different preserves. One was traditional strawberry and the other a lemon earl grey - as you can see I opted for both! The Dorchester always serves one traditional preserve and one seasonal to accompany their scones.

Afternoon tea scones
The Dorchester

The scones were light and fluffy, the fruity one had just the right amount of fruit distributed throughout it. The cream was ever so light and made a wonderful base for the preserves which both tasted wonderful. I was particularly fond of the lemon early grey variety and found the strawberry one slightly two runny.

Once we had finished our scones we were offered more...but eyeing up the sweet plate that was to follow we declined to ensure we still had room! 

Afternoon tea cakes - The Dorchester

This plate included a chocolate and passion fruit tart (just out of sight in this photo), a scrummy raspberry macaroon, a strawberry panna cota, a wonderful coconut treat and two pieces of coffee cake that was so well flavoured that it felt like you were drinking a cup of coffee!

My favourite item was the half macaroon with white chocolate and raspberry - it was light, chewy and so tasty! I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate, but felt it worked very well with the tart raspberry. Again, once we had polished off these we were offered more sweets - something we were made of before we tucked into the plate and therefore we knew we didn't need to share anything!

All in all this was a wonderful experience - the Promenade is a beautiful space and everyone is seated far enough apart that you forget other people are there! We also enjoyed the beautiful playing of a pianist during the afternoon, which added to the atmosphere. All the waiters were wonderful, appearing like magic to replenish our food and tea (I'm not sure how many cups of tea we managed to drink!).

The Dorchester offers a variety of different afternoon teas from this champagne tea to one served in their spa! They also have a special tea designed to compliment the Chelsea Flower Show. For more details pop by their website.

The champagne tea costs £55.00 per person and so its definitely a treat - but a wonderful one if you have something special to celebrate.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel