Afternoon tea at Park Room, Grosvenor House Hotel – Mayfair, London

The Park Room is a neatly arranged space serving what could be more known to be British than afternoon tea. On my visit, they laid out a selection of patisseries and sandwiches from their Anna’s Christmas Menu.

Besides the usual scones and finger sandwiches with wide array of teas and coffees available, they served black currant and pistachio financier, gingerbread mocha, chocolate and spiced pear yule log, chestnut and mandarin sable and dark rum and vanilla custard crumble as well as a pair of open sandwiches with salmon, and quail eggs. I did not notice anything particular Christmassy about the menu except the turkey sandwiches and the Christmas log, which was fine by me.

They also had a pianist playing a grand piano and the atmosphere was as expected. The staff was accommodating as I had some special requests. Only thing with the service was that I could hope a hint of more finesse when it came to explaining “the spread”. Considering that I ate about 5 smallish nuggets of food – which, you are pleased to hear, were okay by the way, the value of the visit would be required to come from somewhere else, namely indeed, from the atmosphere or the standard of the service. Our table was surrounded by a few groups celebrating birthdays and who left happy. I as well enjoyed my time there and was not particularly hungry by the dinner time.

Park Room
Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel
86-90 Park Lane, London W1K 7TN
www.parkroom.co.uk