Afternoon Royal-Tea at London Hilton Park Lane
As it was my father’s 60thBirthday and he’s generally a awesome dad, I decided to take him for an extra special treat this year-round. Being a massive Trader Vic’s fan, I was keen to try the much-publicised Hilton Park Lane afternoon tea and this seemed like a great occasion to do so.
With ’Would you like a glass of champagne’ being the first offering as we were seated at our table, we were off to a good start. Being a born and bread Aussie, my dad refused the champagne and sheepishly commented that he would like a beer, which reminded me that old habits die hard.
We started with a selection of mouth-watering sandwich squares. Perfectly cut to symmetrical sizes, on various types of breads, with an array of carefully arranged toppings and garnishing. Brie with caramelided onion, tomato and mozzarella with balsamic glace, peppers and hummus, each slice represented a vegetarian sandwich great. My personal favourite was the crème fresh and cucumber, with the cucumber thinly sliced and folded to create a tiny fan balancing on top of the brown bread base.
Our hospitable waitress offered us another serving. Although we were truly tempted, I was reminded by my well-versed father that, gathering by the size of the appetiser, we were going to have to save some serious room for the cake and scone selection. Coo-ing at the gorgeous multi-level serving tray stacked with an array of deserts, we both marvelled at the finishing’s of the cake. A lot of time had clearly gone into making each piece look magnificent. The chocolate gateau and pina colada cake were particularly impressive, with glazing and flicks of edible glitter finishing the look.
We began with the stable pieces; English scones, both plain and raisin. Served warm with whipped cream and strawberry jam, they were pretty much everything that a proper English scone should be. We were a bit suspicious of the caramel sauce, not something scones are usually served with, but it worked damn well. The more extravagant options; Mandarin cheesecake, pina colada cake, tiny macaroons, were equally delicious. Very sweet is must be said, but chances are you wouldn’t be booking a cake led afternoon tea like this if you weren’t an absolute sugar fiend like myself. Proving to be to much for us to finish, our waitress kindly offered to package up the remainder of our feast to take with us, which judging by everyone else’s little boxed up packages was very much the norm here.
The whole afternoon was lovely. The mixture of fabulous food and truly attentive waiting staff made it the birthday celebration for my father, but the highlight of the day was when our waitress came to the table with a chocolate cake with a candle in it and the writing ‘Happy Birthday Michael’ expertly scripted across the plate. We sang Happy Birthday, he looked incredibly bashful, it was all incredibly sweet.
Address; Podium, 22 Park Ln, Mayfair, London W1K 1BE
For more information, visit www.podiumrestaurant.com or call 020 7208 4022 to make a reservation
Written by Jordan Crowley
