Traditional Afternoon Tea, Ritz, London

Ritz has arguably one of the best known afternoon tea (aka high tea) in the world. However, whether it's the best is another question.

Thanks to our good friends Chewy, Sabrina and Adrian, who gave us a voucher for afternoon tea at The Ritz, we were able to indulge ourselves in this posh experience at this posh establishment. For this indulgence, I was required to wear a tie and have a coat. This gave me the opportunity to wear my nice Banana Republic jacket, which has not been able to see much light of day since I bought it.


Upon arrival, we were greeted by men in penguin suits, or more formally known as tuxedos. We were first directed to the cloak room to store our coats before being seated in the Palm Court dining area for our afternoon tea experience.

Being the Christmas period, there was naturally a Christmas theme in the decor. But beyond these temporary fixtures, we can see the true Ritz afternoon tea decor. This included classy silverware on the tables, posh tablecloth and seats, beautiful statues, etc.


As afternoon tea is traditionally a female affair, having started by a princess who got hungry in between lunch and dinner, the Ritz afternoon tea patronage was not surprisingly predominantly female. Surprisingly, though, all the wait staff were male! However, the efficiency of these wait staff in tux were unquestionably efficient.

Shortly after having seated us, these men in tux brought out a three tier stand with the bottom layer consisting of finger sandwiches, the top layer with a few pieces of beautiful and mouth watering pastries and cakes, and the middle layer empty but to be filled with scones. The wait staff then took our tea order (we made our orders late because there was too much to choose from) and before long came our tea.


I ordered an interesting tea with flavours of orange and other citrus fruits. The sweet aromatic smell of the tea was really nice on the nose and complemented the food really well. After we finished the first round of sandwiches, a waiter came around and topped up our plate with more. Then halfway through the meal, a waiter came around with a nice little apple crumble in a cup. Shortly afterwards, another waiter came offering a choice of sponge cake or a Christmas log. We got one of each.


By the end off the meal, we left carrying our stomach as we were so full our body couldn't support the bulge! And I must say, all the food was delicious, but not as plentiful and as much variety as some other places.