Fancy tea in London

[beebah]

I was wondering if someone could reccomend somewhere to go for really good tea in London. I am a recent convert to tea after trying 1st and 2nd flush darjeeling in India last year.

The big hotels look quite nice, but I'd like to try a few different teas and I'm not sure how their prices for afternoon tea works. Also I've always peered through the window of that place in soho created by the guy who did hakkasan and wondered what it would be like.

One problem is that my dad has coeliac disease and can't eat ANY gluten which makes eating out a bit complicated.

Ideally I would like to go somewhere quite special to try a range of top teas and eat some small-ish delicious things to go with them. Can anyone help?

[Andy Lynes]

You could try Tea Smith in the city but not sure if they serve food as well. Afternoon tea at Sketch is like tea at the Ritz as directed by Tim Burton. They have a very posh list of teas selected, apparently, by Pierre Gagnaire himself.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Andy Lynes (log)

[Tom Roberts]

Tea Smith have a small range of cakes and pastries to compliment the teas. The are also amenable to food being taken in from elsewhere which may solve the coeliac problem.

[gethin]

I was wondering if someone could reccomend somewhere to go for really good tea in London. I am a recent convert to tea after trying 1st and 2nd flush darjeeling in India last year.

The big hotels look quite nice, but I'd like to try a few different teas and I'm not sure how their prices for afternoon tea works. Also I've always peered through the window of that place in soho created by the guy who did hakkasan and wondered what it would be like.

One problem is that my dad has coeliac disease and can't eat ANY gluten which makes eating out a bit complicated.

Ideally I would like to go somewhere quite special to try a range of top teas and eat some small-ish delicious things to go with them. Can anyone help?

←

If you e-mail them a week or two in advance all the big hotels will do you a gluten free afternoon tea. I've heard especially good reports of the Savoy and the Dorchester.

gethin

[nikkib]

I was very disappointed by The savoy, The dorchester was very nice but i was ther before the refurb so it was a while ago. Try TEAPALACE on Westbourne grove they have an outstanding collection of teas and i wiould imagine being in Notting hill taht they would be very accomodating to your dietry requirements and Yauatcha has a good tealist too.

[Andy Lynes]

Try TEAPALACE on Westbourne grove

←

Here's the website: Tea Palace. I've passed it a couple of times on the way to The Ledbury and I always think it looks splendid but wonder who actually goes there.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Andy Lynes (log)

[tsg20]

There's also my favourite shop in the entire world, postcard teas:

http://www.postcardteas.co.uk/

No good for gluten-free food (or loos, for that matter - they're a shop, not a cafe), but very good for tea (most of Tea Smith's are from them, I believe) and great for cake, too.

[John Whiting]

Tea at Claridges recently confirmed my happy memories of forty years ago. There is a range of specially selected teas--their "afternoon tea" blend was splendid!--and, judging from their general attitude, they would be helpful to dietary restrictions if given advance notice.

The full tea service is a few quid less than the Ritz (which on our last visit had become a Disneyesque assembly line), and we saw others who were not having the full service--in fact, one table was having sushi.

To my taste, Claridges is still a fine institution which, if it did not exist, could no longer be invented. And the sound insulation is good enough so that one does not hear Gordon Ramsey cursing in his eponymous kitchen.

[confiseur]

.....Browns on Albermarle Street has always had a good reputation,Claridges and the Lanesborough also...Tea Palace is great...gets very busy at the week end though.

Avoid the Ritz, massively over-rated/hyped, they serve'afternoon' tea from 11am-7pm in 'sittings'...which means you start getting the hurry-up after an hour or so.

[beebah]

In the end we chose the tea palace because of their long interesting tea menu, because they were happy to provide a gluten free afternoon tea for my dad and because the Time Out guide gave them a red star.

The teas were very good, nice range although they brewed it for you so you didn;t get a second or third infusion. The place itself was nice, it was quite relaxed but still with starched tablecloths and plush carpet the piped music was unobtrusive but not to my taste.

The edible bit of the tea came in a nice stand but we weren't over impressed with the contents. The finger sandwiches were good but a little under-filled. The scones went down a treat but the cakes, although not unpleasant, weren't special. Service was nice and friendly too. I enjoyed myself but I wouldn't go back unless someone else was paying.

I also looked at teasmith which sounded very nice but very small. I read this blog about it and it might be the one i check out next.

[John Whiting]

I've written up our tea at Claridges

If Claridges did not exist, it would be impossible in the 21st century to invent it. The Reading Room, which is what they staidly call their central ground floor restaurant, has been given a thirties-modern ambiance with art deco cut marble fireplaces, leather columns and banquettes, and suede walls. Hercule Poirot would feel quite at home. The sound insulation is excellent—you can scarcely hear Gordon Ramsey fulminating nearby in his eponymous kitchen....The crustless sandwich triangles looked much like what you might get in any tearoom, but both the bread and the filling actually had flavor, so that when we were offered seconds, we accepted....The scones were about as good as they get; these were up there in that stratosphere where comparisons become pointless....The pastries were also excellent. At the very end an extra one arrived with a candle, Happy Birthday written on the plate in chocolate...Having done it once so happily, we’ll no doubt do it again. Afternoon tea doesn’t get any better than this!