The Ritz London

Afternoon tea at the Ritz London is the ceremony against which all others are measured: the Palm Court, the pianist, the jacket-and-tie rule and scones that arrive in relays.

César Ritz opened his London hotel on Piccadilly in 1906, and the Palm Court, a cream and gold salon with a glass roof, mirrors and a fountain, has served afternoon tea ever since. The rules are the Ritz’s own: five sittings a day, jacket and tie for gentlemen, no jeans or sportswear, a pianist, a harpist on Sundays and a menu of sandwiches, scones and pastries that is refilled until you decline. The pastry kitchen produces around eighteen types of cake a day for the room, and the Ritz Restaurant, with its painted ceiling and gilded garlands, closes its menus with a dessert trolley and a crêpe Suzette flamed at the table.

There is no street counter and no need for one; the Ritz sells its tea, its chocolates and its cake in the hotel shop, and the Palm Court is the product.