The most special part about coming back to the home of afternoon tea, at The Langham London, is you never know what to expect. Apart from their faultless service and homely welcome, of course. Executive pastry chef, Andrew Gravett is always bringing in new and innovative ways to make afternoon tea more exciting and enjoyable for everyone. The every changing themes and concepts is what always make me thrilled to return back. What will it be this time?
Seasonality. I mean that is naturally expected in any high-calibre restaurant, of course, but it’s something that hasn’t often been introduced into afternoon tea. The SeasonaliTea will feature all the best ingredients, all in their prime to provide some of the best flavours. This means the afternoon tea will change, as the produce changes through the seasons, giving an evergreen supply of the best delights.
A lot of people will be happy to know that Andrew’s afternoon tea is also lower in fat and refined sugar, without compromising on the delicious flavours. A step forwards to a guilt free, yet indulgent afternoon tea. That means you can save the calories for the bubbles, right? 😉
We kicked started our afternoon tea with a glass of Perrier Jouët, I decided to go for Brut and Zoe went for Rosé. Cheers!
Shortly afterwards, we were brought over a floral tea as a palette cleanser to get us ready for our first tier of afternoon tea!
Summer being the first season, launching the SeasonaliTea, there was an array of indulgent finger sandwiches, which included a classic English cucumber & cream cheese, cackleberry farm egg with marinated artichoke & summer truffle, La Latteria’s fresh mozzarella with isle of Wight tomato chutney on basil bread, confit coronation chicken with sweetcorn and coriander. The lovely team had also swapped out my Cornish crab, avocado and coriander brioche roll for a delicious Baba Ganoush sandwich on beetroot bread.
To accompany my sandwiches, I went for a tea that I always have whenever I come to The Langham London – the divine South African Vanilla Rooibos tea. The best part is that it is caffeine free, so perfectly for those days when you just want to have a mellow couple of hours over afternoon tea.
As a part of the experience, there was an option to go for the high tea instead, which we obliged. The high tea option adds in one extra savoury course between the sandwiches and the scones. There were three options to choose from; ricotta with Bermondsey honey, pickled walnut and lambs lettuce, Campbells and Co Scottish smoked salmon and broccoli quiche or a light summer pea hummus with mini za’tar breads – which we decided to have.
Moving onto my favourite part of afternoon tea, the scones! We were served up the traditional classic and raisin scones with Cornish clotted cream, strawberry preserve and marmalade.
The pastry team will use locally-sourced ingredients where possible, but sometimes some of the most exotic ingredients aren’t available. However, The Langham London always goes that extra mile to ensure that only the best flavours come through in their afternoon tea – even more so for the SeasonaliTEA.
We were served a ‘Chouxtime’ which is a crunchy coated choux bun with cherry and tonka compote, topped with a mousseline and marscapone cream. Followed by a ‘Peach Melo’ which was fresh peach on a verbena meringue, a ‘Simply Sakanti’ which was a slice of Sakanti 68% Balinese Cuvee ganache and demerara crystals and what I thought was the last pastry, the ‘Rolled Into One’, a light Japans sponge filled and rolled with strawberries and citrus cream.
Before I knew it, we were brought out a large honey cake, made with a Muscovado and citrus sponge with Bermondsey’s ‘Custom House’ honey. It was absolutely delectable, but we could only have a tiny slice each, after being so well fed and look after, once again.
I can honestly say, i’ve never not left feeling extremely impressed after visiting The Langham London. It’s honestly one of my favourite London hotels, with great service and 5-star hospitality. Especially with the new SeasonaliTea being served in the Palm Court, there is no reason not to visit!
Until next time…
