Westminster, Afternoon Tea - Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: On the site of the original Metropolitan Police HQ, this 100-seater hotel (owned by an Indian entrepreneur and operated by Hyatt) opened in December 2019. The comfortable, ground-floor lounge – with Raj-inspired decor – serves a contemporary take on afternoon tea, with added spice; there are spicy chai options and tea-based cocktails too.

2024 Review: Traditional, peaceful hotel brasserie, hidden away in a cute warren of St James’s streets, which has successfully upped its profile in recent years. It provides a “very good standard of food and wine that’s not expensive for the quality”. The only recurrent gripe is service that can be a tad “erratic”. Top Tip – “reasonably priced set menu”.

2022 Review: “The set menu is good value” at the National Theatre’s most salubrious in-house dining option, so it’s “always reliable” as a pre-show pit-stop. But critics would welcome a bit more ambition, saying the current effort is “a wasted opportunity” given the site and its captive audience. Top Tip: “the waiters are always a good source of play reviews”.

2024 Review: “Ignore The Ritz around the corner, for afternoon tea this is the place to go” according to fans of this St James’s bastion: “the scones are soft and freshly baked”, “the sandwiches and cakes are divine”, and the “famous Dukes ‘James Bond’ martini is an optional extra”.

“For a full-on experience of traditional English afternoon tea, you can’t go past this grandiose room with silver platters, scones bigger than your hand (bottomless too!) and amazing service” – hosted in what was the original Fortnum family apartment on the fourth floor. These days it’s many a reporter’s tip for the “best afternoon tea in London” – others reckon it’s “a toss-up between here and The Ritz”. You’ll be “very spoiled” by “helpful and charming staff”, with savoury as well as ‘high tea’ options available – and you can even enjoy a tea tasting at your table, conducted by a ‘Tearista’.

“I still love it!” For a “grand occasion”, this “sophisticated”, “European-style” grand café near The Ritz is “a classic that works” and which has endured the boardroom battles that beset its owners in 2022. Even if it’s “now lost the Jeremy King touch” – and, perhaps, a smidgeon of A-lister cachet as a result – “it has survived the rule of the money men (so far)” to remain one of the capital’s key rendezvous for just about any occasion. “There’s no finer start to a special day in London” – “breakfast is as good as it gets, if what you happen to want is the best room, a newspaper and a bacon roll… just put a suit on and feel like you own Piccadilly”. Amidst the “noisy” mêlée of West End visitors, shoppers and theatre-goers (“wonderful people-watching”), there is a perennial backdrop of expense-accounters from the start of the day onwards, as “no one ever got fired for taking a client to the Wolseley” (it’s “the perfect place to seal a deal!”). “For a celebration or a special night out, you can bring pretty much anyone along and they will find something to eat, a nice place to sit and charming service”. OK, the food from “a wide-ranging menu of European classics” is “not remarkable”, but it never has been and it’s not the point. Booking well in advance is a good idea, but “they always have a few tables for walk-ins so it’s worth a punt when passing”. Top Menu Tip – “your goal is to get in, eat breakfast, and charge through the rest of the day on a post-black-pudding high”, or go for the “perfectly cooked kippers and scrambled eggs!”; “the afternoon tea is good and very good value in a lovely setting”.

“As many lovely sandwiches as you can eat, a big selection of teas, great cakes etc; all impeccably served in a beautiful and very comfortable room with a pianist” marks out the central lounge of this famous property as offering one of London’s top teas. The space was called ‘Thames Foyer’ up till its redesign and relaunch in late 2024 and one report does quibble at the changes (“it’s now not as comfortable as extra tables means you eat much closer together and prices seem to be higher”). Most feedback, though, is a hymn of praise and also claims that tea here has “less pressure and formality than at The Ritz”. The venue is also tipped for “a good selection of posh breakfast classics, well-prepared and served with style”.

“Well, where else?” – “Still the best Traditional Afternoon Tea experience you can get!” is, according to its many fans, to be found in this “stunning”, “luxurious and elegant” chamber. The performance is “beyond belief – just perfect – with all the trimmings”, fizz if required and endless cake and sarnies. “Try to come back every year!”

An amazing oasis of calm for somewhere slap bang in the centre of the West End – this “civilised” hotel dining room in a cute courtyard near Piccadilly Circus makes a charming setting for afternoon tea in particular. At other times the "unobtrusive" food “does what you need for a business meeting” and will do nothing to detract from a more social occasion.

2023 Review: “With window views of the back of Buckingham Palace and its comings and goings amidst refills of tea”, this plush lounge can make a good stop-off for an afternoon treat. Feedback is limited, but praises “a lovely stack of sandwiches, pretty cakes and scones with fresh flavours”. More substantial meals are available in the hotel’s very comfortable and traditional dining room (The English Grill), complete with oil paintings and leather banquettes.

“Good pre-theatre option very close to the Royal Opera House” – this Covent Garden fixture is “not overly expensive”, and even if its French brasserie food is sometimes “OK but uninspiring”, it “hits the spot for a quick dinner” and provides a very “buzzy” launchpad for an evening in the West End. Top Menu Tip – “excellent onion soup”.

“What a special place The Dining Room at the Goring is” – “You can take your boss, your granny and your lawyer… all at the same time and it will be to everyone’s taste!”. Amongst London’s most blue-blooded of hotels, this proudly traditional venue between Buckingham Palace and Victoria is the only one that’s still family-owned. (Opened in 1910 by Otto Goring, it is nowadays run since 2005 by Jeremy Goring). Its comfortable period style and well-judged service help make it “a real treat that takes you back to an age of class and perfection which you will share with your partner for a wonderful occasion”. It’s particularly “excellent for business meals because the tables are adequately apart for privacy, and the service is efficient and discreet”. Rather gratuitously, Michelin gave it a star in 2016, which might suggest it’s a foodie haven: in fact its “classic” Anglo-French fare is almost the antithesis: “some dishes have barely changed for years but that builds a kind of security. The approach is rather old-fashioned and a little rich but it is not the sort of place you go often… so enjoy!” Top Tip – “Since the delightful Catherine and family used this hotel in the lead-up to her marriage to Prince William in 2011, it has become a ‘go-to’ establishment for proper English teas. The great staff are all trained to look after overseas visitors who flock to their doors for one of the best afternoon teas in London. Delicious sandwiches, homemade scones with jam and clotted cream, cakes to die for and myriad teas ensures that every taste is catered for. This is a quintessential British experience”.

“One of London’s treasures”, founded in 1871 and now “the only traditional patisserie baking on the premises in Central London” – this French operation is “with Bar Italia the last authentic Soho coffee stop since Chez Valérie was taken over by private equity and destroyed into a chain”. “I doubt if anything has changed here in the last 100 years – even the chips on the paintwork are unchanged from my visits as a child with my grandparents”: it’s the place to go when you want to get “high on genuine old Soho atmosphere”.

The “refreshingly traditional” afternoon tea served in the Drawing Room of Rocco Forte’s Mayfair hotel is “as English afternoon tea should be”, with “none of the thematic faff often seen in other tea offerings these days”. “A long, long-time London favourite” (since Queen Victoria was on the throne), it has dispensed with “the trolley that used to trundle around serving massive slices of traditional cakes as an unofficial fourth course, but still provides just what one wants from the meal”. In the evening, the room serves a dinner menu created by Adam Byatt (of Trinity in Clapham), which provokes vanishingly little feedback. Top Tip – “they serve afternoon tea at lunchtime as well… Wonderful idea!”

The cheaper section of this South Bank landmark doesn’t generate as much feedback as its slightly grander adjacent sibling, but it occupies a similar rooftop space with large outdoor terrace and – on admittedly limited feedback – escaped its customary drubbing in this year’s annual diners’ poll, making a visit here the better bet: “visited for a work lunch… glad I wasn’t paying, but the simple food was excellent (if eclipsed by the view on a sunny day)”. Another highlight: “the superb team in the bar”.

“The food remains exceptional” – “cheung fun and venison puffs are still raging crowd-pleasers” – at this modern Cantonese-inspired pair: the “fabulously blingy” Soho original and its follow-up in the City’s Broadgate development (there are also international branches in India and Saudi Arabia). One or two uneven reports this year raise concerns, including about “ragged service” – though, to be fair, the latter has never been great. Founded in 2004 by Alan Yau following his success with Hakkasan, the brand now sits in the hospitality portfolio of Isle of Man-based online gambling billionaire Mark Sheinberg. Top Tip – “the Infinite Yum Cha brunch on Sundays is extremely good value – and delicious”.

With its trollies, oil paintings and plush banquettes, this Mayfair dining room is worth considering for an old-fashioned traditional meal, and one fan declares it “just the right place for a special occasion” thanks to attractions like “great Dover sole” (filetted at the table). Other retro offerings in the hotel include an ‘Original Sweet Shop Afternoon Tea’.

2023 Review: “A great change to the ghastly chains” – Victoria & Grace Sheppard’s elegant, “friendly” café is tipped for its “terrific coffee”, as well as a quiet bite or their ‘bottomless brunch’.