I promise this will (probably!) be my last posting about afternoon tea for quite some time. To be stupid about it, afternoon tea just isn't my cup of tea.
When I first started thinking about going somewhere in London for a proper English afternoon tea, many people recommended Claridge's, saying that The Ritz and The Savoy are over-rated and trading on their past reputations. [note: after seeing this, I'm not so sure they are correct.] With all those recommendations, plus those from the internet (see here for links to them), I went to some effort to make a reservation to take tea at Claridge's and was finally able to arrange to do so for this past Tuesday.
Fortunately, our friend The Chauffeur was working in London at the time and was able to join me.
Claridge's is very popular. When we arrived, there was a queue just to claim reservations. And since we were a bit early, the hostess suggested we freshen up in the washrooms and then our table would be ready.
Claridge's is the type of place where washroom attendants hand you towels and leave their hands out for a tip; it is the type of place that has clothes brushes and numerous other accessories for the use of the patrons. I have been in such places before, but I do not particularly feel comfortable in them.
We were seated against a back wall in a room separate from the one that had the live music.
I didn't really mind all that much, since it was a bit more private, and the violin was waayyyy to schmaltzy for my tastes.
And no, I'm not that fat; I was slouching. Here's a photo taken earlier that afternoon:
The waiter was very good, especially when we were the only table he was serving (but his attention to us waned considerably, yet understandably, as other tables were filled).
The selection of teas is, as advertised, quite broad. The Chauffeur tried the Royal Claridge tea (and I sampled it). It was superb (and it reminded me of the Anniversary Blend at The Four Seasons). I initially tried Sencha something or other that was green tea blended with rice and popcorn; it was pretty blah, so I asked for a pot of Lapsang Souchong, and the waiter happily and quickly obliged.
At Claridge's, unlike the Pump Room, even though there are tea strainers, there is little or no need for them because the tea leaves are tied in little cloth sacks in the pots (sort of like hand-tied tea bags), making pouring the tea quite easy with little muss or fuss.
As I looked around at Claridge's I observed that almost all of the men there had on coats and ties, whereas at the Four Seasons, most men were dressed closer to "smart casual" in their attire.
The waiter poured our initial cups of tea, and even brought extra cups so we could taste each other's teas. But after that, we were pretty much on our own.
Instead of bringing the birdcage contraption that holds all the food, Claridge's presents each course or round of food separately, beginning with the sandwiches. The Chauffeur had not eaten since the previous evening (she said it was in preparation for the tea), and I had had only a light breakfast.
Claridge's provides five sandwiches for their teas — rectangular finger sandwiches a little larger than the ones I had at The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath. The sandwiches were fresh and tasty, though I thought perhaps there was a bit too much butter on the ham sandwiches. The Chauffeur preferred the smoked salmon; I preferred the chicken. When we had scarfed down the first offering of sandwiches, the waiter promptly had another plateful waiting for us. And after we finished those, he asked if we would like even more (which we declined)! The sandwiches were good, but nowhere near as elegant as the ones at The Four Seasons, where the bread was both thinner and moister (it is quite a feat to get that combination); also, at The Four Seasons some of the sandwiches were on puff pastries or mini-croissants.
After the sandwiches, the waiter brought the scones: two apple scones and two raisin scones, allegedly... My "raisin" scone seemed plain to me; it certainly had no raisins in it. And I could not tell anything apple had ever been near the "apple" scones. They were served with Devon cream and something called Marco Polo jelly, which was okay, but I much prefer strawberry preserves with cream and scones. Also, the scones were very dry and at room temperature. It seems to me that if they are going to serve the scones separately, Claridge's could easily guarantee that the scones are fresh and warm when we get them. These were, in fact, probably the most disappointing of all the scones I had during my tea explorations.
Then the pastries arrived. I guess I'm not much of fancy-schmancy dessert-pastry kind of guy because I was never all that thrilled with the little desserty things that came with afternoon tea at any of the places I tried. Here we had nice pound cake (or sponge) drizzled with a lemon glaze, a chocolate brownie covered with something orange-flavoured, a pistachio-pear parfait that was surprisingly good, and the usual (and excellent) strawberry tart (though the shell seemed like something mass-produced rather than carefully hand-crafted.
Overall the service was very good, though not quite as good as at The Four Seasons. Also the food was not quite as impressive as at The Four Seasons. And the atmosphere was a bit more crowded with people who seemed to be there because that was the place to be.
Conclusion: keeping in mind that I have had only limited experience, if you're going to take a proper English afternoon tea, The Four Seasons would be my recommendation.