Tea at The Dorechester

A couple of months ago, I was invited to London to celebrate my mum's friends 50th Birthday, with afternoon tea at The Dorchester Hotel. We spent the morning visiting the Charles Dickens museum at 48 Doughty Street in London, a quick mooch around Harrods and then on to the hotel!

    

We were greeted at the lobby to the hotel then taken into the long gallery shaped space where the afternoon tea was served. At the entrance they had two huge floral displays with hundreds of lillies and roses that gave off the most amazing scent, they were so big they nearly touched the ceiling, and were at least twice the size of me!

As a large party we had a long table, and I sat on the comfiest squishiest sofa I have ever had the pleasure of sitting on. The staff will bring you extra cushions and plump them for you if needed (!) then it's on to the tea. (That's me on the left!)

First decision to make is from the baffling array of how many hundreds of types of tea you can think of. I had a gorgeous mint infusion that cam in a massive tea pot, quite possibly the most tea I have ever drunk in one sitting! And then on came the food. Those of you thinking that afternoon tea is far too expensive and you'll never be full up, think again! You can have 10 sandwiches, many scones, lots of cake and more tea than you can ever drink, all in the gorgeous surroundings of a very plush hotel. Some of the photos below show some of the amazing cakes, amuse bouches and all of the lovely crockery that we were presented with during our tea. I love the pretty green and gold china, so elegant.

The above was a little chocolate pot filled with a tasty chocolate coffee cream and a gold dusted coffee bean, so delicious!

The only downside to our tea was that you only get a one hour and 30 minute slot, and then they will bring you the bill wether you are ready for it or not! I was very happy to sit there with my tea all afternoon, but apparently that was not an option. Also, make sure that you have the right cash on you, as if you want to pay by card, you have to get up and go to the front desk to play, a bit annoying if you're still enjoying your last slurp of tea.

However as an experience it was perfect, and a wonderful way to celebrate a 50th Birthday. I think everybody should do this at least once in their lives. Go and soak up the atmosphere of one of the Great British institutions that is afternoon tea at The Dorchester.