I've wanted to go to The Ritz for a little while now and being the fabulous guy that Mr C is he took me there on our 25th Wedding anniversary. Not to stay overnight or anything, my goodness our budget wouldn't stretch to that, but for afternoon tea. I squealed with delight when he told me. He actually spilt the beans a couple of weeks before though as he knew I'd want time to plan what I was going to wear! If you fancy reading my post about our special anniversary you'll find it here, and you should read it really because it's all relevant isn't it?!!
Our actual time slot was 5.30pm as all the earlier sittings were booked, they even do one after that at 7.30pm, that's more like evening tea! Let's face it, afternoon tea is a quintessential British tradition that anyone and everyone wants to partake in. I mean, tea, cake, more tea, more cake, the best things in the world. And, if you're going to have afternoon tea then you want to have it at The Ritz, one of the most well known landmarks in London.
The lovely doorman took the above photos for us. I didn't take my camera as I didn't feel it appropriate lugging that in there, I thought it would be more discreet snapping away on my phone, it just means some of these are not the best quality or sharp, especially the ones of us :(
We opted for the champagne afternoon tea (of course we did!) only with one glass though, shame, although you could obviously buy more (at £16 per glass *cough*), I thought it best to keep a bit of decorum and stick to the one.
The tables were laid with delicate, pretty china, silver teapots, milk jugs and strainers.
I don't use leaves at home (just a good old teabag) and on a couple of occasions I forgot to use my strainer, so ended up with leaves floating around, not an ounce of posh in me, ha ha.
We had a couple of waiters serving us and one was more than happy to take a photo. I have to say some, not all, of the waiters, as immaculate as they were, could have finished dressing themselves with a smile on their faces every now and then. We did though have a really charming young man from up north somewhere serve us a little later on and he was really chatty. I wasn't sure if they were allowed to engage in 'chit chat' but asked us where we were from and proceeded to talk about Leicester City winning the Premier League.
The sandwiches were devine, the scones were heavenly, warm and plain, just how I like them. We had five on our plate!! Bit of an odd number, we could only manage two each :) And yes.....I'm jam first. Always.
All I could do was roll my eyes whilst eating these little delights, there were no words.
Sorry about my messy plate below but I found a rogue raisin in my plain scone. Err....quality control?
We were stuffed to the gills. Then the cake trolley came round. There was a choice between a chocolate something or other and an apricot cake so we had one of each! Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush here, afternoon tea at The Ritz is not cheap (at £68 per person for the champagne option) but I'm sure you gathered that anyway, so if cake was on offer we were having it. I had the apricot one for a bit of fruit!
I didn't take many pictures around Palm Court because it's quite intimate and didn't want to be intrusive to other guests, although every Tom, Dick and Harry had their phones out, it's a one-off experience for most though isn't it I guess. I kept my pics to our table really. The space in the room is quite tight with tables in close proximity to one another but the way they are positioned is very clever, with no-one facing each other, in that I mean you're not facing the next table, if that makes any sense?
Dress code
The Ritz has dress codes for different areas of the hotel and even for afternoon tea in The Palm court it's very strict. Ladies go all out in your finery if you so desire, or just keep it smart and elegant. Gentlemen are required to wear a jacket AND a tie. They will not let you in without one and in fact turned a gentleman away with no tie whilst we were there. I think they sent him to the cloakroom to borrow one! No jeans or trainers are allowed (not that you would, I mean, come on) but I did notice some ladies chose to go fairly casual, although still very smart. FYI - I chose to wear my spotted tea dress with chiffon sleeves that I got from Mango last year. Vintage, stylish, it was just the job.
Still on the dress code, when we went it was an extremely hot day, and it was unbearable in the Palm Court. We'd been seated and Mr C was really, really hot, you could see the beads of sweat on his forehead and he was desperate to take his jacket off. I was hot too and it was becoming uncomfortable and we were about to drink red hot tea for goodness sake! Before he passed out Mr C HAD to take his jacket off, but he'd literally had it off for only a second when the waiter arrived and said that gentlemen must wear their jacket at all times. They must watch everyone like hawks. Oh dear. Embarrassing. He wasn't the only one though as the couple behind did the same thing and they were told off too! Shortly after we did get the odd burst of air-con which cooled the room a little every now and then so Mr C survived with jacket on.
I really enjoyed our visit to The Ritz, having afternoon tea served to us in The Palm Court where some of the worlds most rich and famous people have been before me.
It's another one ticked off the to-do list!
If you want to book you can do so on-line right here.
Have you been to The Ritz? And, are you jam first or cream first? Ha ha!
great .greetings from Greece.www.beautyisallaround6.blogspot.gr
ReplyDeleteLook at you, all fancy dining at The Ritz! I'clove to just go for a nose around.lol
ReplyDeleteCan always rely on a northerner for chit chat. :)
Food looks so yummy and it looks just as elegant as you'd think/hope.
As for jam or cream, I think I do jam then cream.. tbh, I sometimes just follow whoever I'm with! Ha! It's a bit like how you say the word also, it's one or the other.. :p
Caroline.x
www.carolineelgeywhite.com
Ha ha I can do'fancy' every now and then! x
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