Your dessert type
♛ The Tea Ritualist
Three tiers, a pot that never runs cold, and a second round of scones.
The room is half the recipe for you: a pianist, a glass roof, a dress code, a pot that is refilled without asking. You take tea at four the way others take mass, and you know that the scone must be split by hand. Four o’clock is not an hour, it is an appointment.
Your perfect afternoon: The Palm Court at the Ritz at the 11:30 sitting, a walk through St James’s, the Peninsula Lobby in your dreams and a Bloody Mary at the King Cole Bar in your plans.
Your dessert
The Palm Court sconeYour houses
The Tea Ritualist: your houses
Afternoon teaLondon · Piccadilly
The Palm Court, The Ritz London
The reference
Afternoon teaLondon · Mayfair
The Foyer & Reading Room, Claridge’s
The balanced one
Afternoon teaHong Kong · Tsim Sha Tsui, Salisbury Road
The Lobby, The Peninsula Hong Kong
The source
Afternoon teaNew York · Fifth Avenue, Central Park South
The Palm Court, The Plaza
Under the stained glass
Afternoon teaSingapore · Beach Road
Tiffin Room, Raffles Singapore
Under the fans
The other types
Who else is at the counter
❖ The Classicist
The Paris-Brest the way it was meant to be, and nothing clever.
◆ The Chocolate Devotee
Seventy percent, a fresh cream centre, and the box is yours.
✦ The Purist
One perfect mousse, eaten at the counter, in silence.
✧ The Avant-Gardist
The lemon that is not a lemon, and the queue is part of the fun.
❦ The Grand Café Romantic
Red velvet, a torte with a seal, and the afternoon is yours.