Whether you’re just passing through or you’re a hardened city-dweller, nothing taps into the London high life quite like afternoon tea.
For the uninitiated, I should explained that in England ‘afternoon tea’ is not just the cuppa your nan makes you on a Saturday visit—it’s an institution. It’s a three-course experience, balancing champagne and darjeeling with perfect poise. The giant tower of delightful finger foods you see poised before me, and the glimmer of excitement in my eyes. It’s London, darling!
I recently got the chance to visit the Flemings Hotel in Mayfair for afternoon tea, an all-too exciting prospect for a girl who loves scones and English charm, and I just have to tell you all about it.
Flemings is a charming, historic family-owned boutique hotel in Mayfair, which if you’re touring the city means you’d reach it after a morning around Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and Green Park. For me, it was more of a late roll out of bed and straight there, but I’ll leave it to you to decide the best agenda.
I loved having a little look around the area at the hotel before heading over to the drawing room, where tea was to be served.
I could tell they meant business when the truly delightful waiter presented our options of original East India Company teas, and served up some lovely bubbly. Plus, when the sandwiches, scones and sweet treats arrived, they were somehow looking exactly as good as they had in the pictures that tempted me here…
Don’t take me as a blind sycophant, though—I did have an eye on whether this afternoon tea was bringing a luxury experience for a luxury price point. What I couldn’t deny is that every bite of the service has been carefully considered in a way you just don’t get normally. Each bite was crafted to be the perfect bite, and you can tell. When did you least see someone look this excited to eat a sandwich? It was that good.
I have to re-emphasize here that I am a fiend for a scone, so though I was as prim and ladylike as possible, I did devour these. Perfectly still-warm levels of fresh, with clotted cream, jam, and lemon curd. Side note: if you haven’t had clotted cream before, please do branch out. You haven’t lived.
Although the food comes out looking dainty, I could hardly finish this meal by the time we got to the sweet treats. Fortunately, though, the gravitational pull of these tarts and macarons got me to the finish line. YUM.
Finishing our sweets and our last cups of tea, we left Flemings feeling sated, light, and very London. This is just such a memorable experience you’re not going to find outside the UK, and in such a lovely drawing room with perfect atmosphere and careful consideration of every aspect of the experience. If you’re looking for the best way to spend a very British afternoon in London, you have to go for an afternoon tea.
You can find the menu and availability for Flemings’ Floral Afternoon Tea here.
