Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

After many trips to London, I finally experienced the afternoon tea! During my last visit to London I treated myself to this typical British tradition and I totally loved it.

Here’s what you can expect from the afternoon tea experience in London!

When in London, Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea is the quintessential British tradition. And here’s why you should add this experience to your next trip to London.

What is afternoon tea?

Traditionally, this British tradition involves gourmet sandwiches, scones, pastries and of course, tea.

It was originated in the 1840’s and Queen Victoria made it famous, celebrating big afternoon tea receptions for hundreds of guests between 4 and 7 pm.

Nowadays, afternoon tea is enjoyed to celebrate special events like birthdays or baby shower parties, and is also popular between tourists visiting London.

Afternoon Tea at The Rosebery at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

During my last trip to London I enjoyed the afternoon tea at the newly renovated Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, one of the most elegant hotels in London.

The restaurants and the spa have recently reopened, so you can enjoy the afternoon tea at The Rosebery, the signature restaurant in the hotel.

The Rosebery has an extensive selection of fine teas, including Oriental Afternoon Blend, Orange Pekoe from Sri Lanka and Golden Monkey leaf from China, on high quality bespoke blends. They are served with an enticing menu created by the chef, making Afternoon Tea in The Rosebery a memorable experience.

The menu

Sandwiches:

• Chicken, charred corn with shitake mushroom Finest Cotswold egg with black truffle
• Spicy tuna, wasabi with wakame
• Salmon, teriyaki, asparagus with roasted sesame
• Portland crab, wasabi tobiko, crayfish, miso with yuzu
• Foie gras, confit duck, pickled cherries

We paired our sandwiches with white tea.

Scones:

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is the only place that serves the scones hanging on trees.

They were accompanied by:

• Devonshire clotted cream
• Strawberry jam
• Rose petal jelly
• Lemon curd

We paired our scones with sticky rice tea.

Hand-made pastries:

I have a sweet tooth so I enjoyed these pastries a lot!

They were not only delicious but also have a special touch in design. For instance, Mount Fuji has a subtle shade of pink coming from one side, just how the sunrise reflects on the real Mount Fuji. How awesome is that?

These are the names of the hand-made pastries we enjoyed:

• Mont-Fuji
• Mandarin roulade cake
• Cherry Blossom
• Iwa
• Sato Kashi

Mignardises

We paired our mignardises with matcha tea, which is meant to be shared and drunk from the same bowl.

Teas:

We paired our afternoon tea with a selection of signature teas, following Mandarin Oriental’s tea sumiller advice.

• White tea: Nepal spring, a powerful antioxidant tea.
• Sticky rice tea, Canton tea.
• Matcha tea: traditionally brewed, our tea sumiller prepared it in front of us explaining us how the foam is created.

Afternoon tea variations

If you want to go further, The Rosebery also offers afternoon tea with a twist for a supplement:

• Champagne Afternoon Tea
• Alsatian Gran Cru Wine Afternoon Tea
• Beer Afternoon Tea
• Sake Afternoon Tea

If you want to experience this on your next trip to London, you can book your afternoon tea at Mandarin Oriental here. Prices start from 56 pounds per person. Please note that some teas are offered for a supplement, as well as cocktails.

Rooms and suites at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park will be reopening on 15th April, and you can already book your stay here.