In December, I treated myself to the Festive Afternoon Tea at The Lobby Lounge at the Corinthia Hotel in London. The hotel is a five-star hotel located on Whitehall and just yards away from Embankment tube station and the Hungerford foot bridge. I had this tea just after Christmas as this was the only slot that I could get into with my schedule, but it still felt like Christmas at the hotel. The lobby was decorated with white and silver snow-covered trees, baubles in glass vases as centrepieces on tables and white roses. The large glass-domed ceiling and chandelier added to the grandeur of the hotel.
The Lobby Lounge
The tables for two on the outer ring overlooked the windows that pointed to an inner courtyard. The tables were arranged with leather chairs facing angled toward the centre of the room. Each table was made to feel private with a frosted and decorated Christmas tree between each.
Christmas in the Lobby Lounge
I had champagne to start, and the sandwiches followed. Sandwiches included smoked salmon with cream cheese, beef with mustard, egg mayonnaise, and goat's cheese with cucumber. After we had our fill of sandwiches (we were offered seconds), we ordered our choice of tea. I ordered the 'Afternoon at the Palace' tea, which was an easy-going special blend available at the hotel. My partner had the 'English Rose' as the 'Madagascan Vanilla' tea was out of stock. The rose tea tasted fragrant of roses, and it was enjoyable.
There is not a lot of room at the tables, but the staff had this covered. An extra smaller table was brought to hold our two teapots, and our festive pastries and scones arrived on a three-tier stand that could sit on the floor.
Festive tea on three tiers
The scones came with miniature pots of clotted cream and strawberry jam and raspberry jam. The scones tasted nice and were fresh, but I felt that they were a little too small and I wished that I had put a little less jam on my first one.
Scones with clotted cream and jam
The festive fancies had Christmas names, but I could not recall which each fancy was named. The first plate of festive fancies included a macaroon which I thought tasted a little like pumpkin but was told that it was Christmas pudding. I'm not fond of Christmas pudding, but the macaroon tasted nice. The other items included an apple-flavoured mousse, a coffee-flavoured biscuit with a Christmas-print chocolate on top, and a slice of lemon pastry. The lemon was my favourite.
A selection of festive fancies
The other plate of festive treats included a chocolate-cherry slice, another coffee-chocolate pastry, an orange bun, and a snowflake white chocolate mousse.
Festive fancies
Festive tea fancies
Overall, the afternoon tea was a success - mainly for the ambience and the friendliness of the staff. The champagne hit the right spot, but I've had nicer tea. The pastries were not my favourite that I have had in my afternoon tea experience, but they were some of the prettiest that I have seen. The lemon pastry was my favourite, and I ended up leaving three of the others because I simply did not care for the taste. I loved the decoration and attention to detail.
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