The Peninsula Paris

The Peninsula Paris on the avenue Kléber brought the Hong Kong lobby tea to a Belle Époque palace, with a pastry kitchen led by Anne Coruble that treats the tiered stand as a canvas.

The Peninsula group restored the old Majestic hotel near the Arc de Triomphe and opened it in 2014 with the gilded Lobby as the centre: a long salon under a painted ceiling where afternoon tea is served with a pianist. The pastry chef Anne Coruble builds the tea around a theme that changes with the season, fashion week or a partnership, and her pieces are among the most photographed in Paris. L’Oiseau Blanc, the rooftop restaurant with the Eiffel Tower in the window, ends its menus with the same kitchen.

The Peninsula Boutique in the hotel sells the cakes, chocolates and the group’s signature XO sauce; the lobby tea remains the reason to come, and it is one of the few Paris palace teas that can be booked online for the same week.