For Rehana’s birthday I thought it would be a treat for both her and me to visit the Langham for afternoon the Palm Court Brasserie. Supposedly where the tradition of afternoon tea was born – there nothing much of the Langham which was old school at all. The façade of the hotel is currently undergoing some refurbishment, to catch up with what the interior refurb, but inside it’s a whole ‘nother world.

We were slightly early for our booking so we first made a visit to the very posh ladies room. So impressed were we with the restroom that we even stopped to take photos inside! I love the fact that the wash area is its own area (as in you don’t emerge out of the toilet directly into a sink) with plenty of mirrors for everyone to doll themselves up.

Inside the Palm Court Brasserie it is all white and silver and lighting and just generally blingy.

Chairs are plush (although not truly that comfortable for lounging as they are a bit too tall for my legs!)

Unfortunately the Palm Court Brasserie operates one of those you only have the booking for 1.5 or 2 hours type places – which for two girls who haven’t seen each other in a long time and have so much to catch up on was not long at all!

There are two types of Afternoon teas you can indulge in:

The Wonderland Afternoon Tea (which sounds magical but is actually classified as the Classic Afternoon tea) – £35 – which includes:
– Finger sandwiches (Eggs and mustard cress; Beef and mustard with watercress; Smoked salmon and horseradish; Tuna; and Cucumber and cream cheese)
– Scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserve and
– Selection of French pastries and specialist mini cakes (Valrhona Manjari chocolate éclair; Sacher torte; Pistachio and raspberry fruit delice; Bakewell tart)

The Bijoux Afternoon Tea was kind of styled more on the concept of Jewels, Pearls, Diamonds, Rubies, Crystal, Emeralds, and Gold. And the price reflected this too at £42.50. This afternoon tea included:
– More specialty sandwiches (Beef Rossini; Parma ham, roquette and quail’s egg; Devonshire crab and avocado; Smoked salmon and oscietra caviar; and Perigourdine truffled cheese)
– Scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserve – however the scones were Bedford scone; Raisins soaked in Louis Roederer; and Chocolate and marinated orange varieties; and
– Pastries and cakes inspired, as mentioned above, by the finest jewels from the most famous houses: Asprey diamonds; Baccarat eclipse; Chanel pearl; Délices de Cartier; and Bulgari B.zero opera.

Both of course include a choice from a range of teas.

The plus was that we were allowed to select one of each type of afternoon tea so we could share between us … the negative was that I’m not sure that plates were entirely refillable. You would expect that at those prices they should be … but one of our waitresses was a little grumpy and was begrudging about bringing us even one extra sandwich …

Weirdly, or maybe not because we were on a very strict time limit!, they brought everything out at once which meant our once warm scones were not very warm once we actually got to them.

It was all very pretty and the posh sandwiches which came with the Bijoux Afternoon Tea were particularly scrumptious. As an added special touch for Rehana they brought her out a little sweet (kind of like a Ferrero Rocher) complete with candle and a little birthday plaque made of marzipan candy.

Service was very disappointing. The perfect word for it was perfunctory. This was an afternoon tea which had won the award for Top London Afternoon Tea 2010 by the Tea Guild. Yes the settings were luxurious, the afternoon tea itself was very fun and delightful but it was sadly marred by the service. One waitress was friendly but the rest were a bit haughty and seemed more concerned with rushing us out at our appointed time than making us feel welcome. We also struggled to get their attention when tea pots were empty (a level they should never have reached!) and they certainly did not pay much attention to us to ensure we weren’t wanting for anything. Other than the birthday “plate” I wouldn’t have accused the staff at today’s sitting of going the extra mile 🙁