Festive afternoon tea has become a tradition for me and a group of friends, and we have been visiting every year that we have been able to do so for the past few years. Each year, we try a different hotel. This year, we went to The Dorchester for their festive afternoon tea. When I had previously visited The Dorchester for afternoon tea, the highlight for me was the attentive service. They were also attentive on this visit, and on weekends during the festive afternoon tea, live carol singers sing to the diners.
The hotel lobby had an impressive Christmas tree, and there was a hot chocolate bar and a mulled apple juice station for guests. Both were of excellent quality.
The afternoon tea is held inside the lobby in a huge area at the back. A beautiful floral arrangement and chocolate present boxes were on display. Unfortunately, the warm colour of the lights does not do the colour of my photographs any justice.
A nice little touch awaited us with a hand-written note to thank us for dining at The Promenade in The Dorchester.
Each festive afternoon tea came with a glass of champagne to start.
Next up were as many sandwiches as we could eat.
After the sandwiches, we were given a little ice cream macaroon.
Then, we tucked into the scones. There were two fruit and two plain scones, and these were served with clotted cream and a choice of cherry or strawberry preserve. The cherry was delicious.
We listened to live piano music in between the carol-singers.
We were all a little disappointed that the pastries did not look too festive. I also did not like two of them as I do not like mince pies nor yoghurt.
The pastries included: Mont Blanc - chestnut cream and meringue; pistachio choux; spiced fruit tart; grapefruit and champagne yoghurt mousse. My favourite was the Mont Blanc, and this was followed by pistachio. I could not eat the other two as the flavours were not for me.
There was also a vegan option available, and this included The Dorchester Chocolate - salted caramel and chocolate mousse; grapefruit posset; chestnut mousse; spiced fruit tart.
The savouries were quite good, but the pastries let it down for me this time because I dislike the traditional English Christmas or festive flavours.
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