Introduction

As the more regular visitors to this blog will have guessed by now, I have a very serious thing for afternoon tea. Quite frankly, I’m on a quest to find the ultimate afternoon tea experience, and I think I may just have found it at The Georgian restaurant at the famous Harrods department store in London’s glitzy Knightsbridge.

The Georgian

The Harrods afternoon tea is served at The Georgian restaurant on the fourth floor. Fortunately, the signposting in the building is good, because it’s a maze and I usually end up getting lost.

The Georgian is an eclectic mix of opulent styles, but they manage to pull it off. The restaurant is in the Art Deco style, but with very grand and elaborate chandaliers hanging from the ceiling.

If you’re planning to have the afternoon tea at The Georgian, you need to reserve a table, as it’s quite a popular venue. Fortunately, today we have been assigned one of the plush and comfortable booths that line the room. They’re great for people watching!

To drink we both order a pot of the Darjeeling second flush and sparkling water.

The Afternoon Tea

The food is nicely presented. Noticeably absent is the étagère. Instead, the different dishes are brought out in a series of courses.

For an amuse bouche we have an savoury omelette with grated parmigiano and summer truffles on the white cube. Next to it on the wooden plate is a tartlet of cheddar cream and caramelized onion in port.

For the sandwiches we have, starting from the right, cucumber with cream cheese and cracked rose pepper and mint jelly. In the middle we have a duo of smoked salmon and salmon mousse on rye bread. And last, of course, the legendary coronation chicken.

For the sweets, our waiter pushes a trolley with preserves to our table and asks us which ones we’d like to try. He recommends we try one of each. The jams are mulberry, passion fruit and mango, red berries, and pear with vanilla.

The sones are brought out in a brown wooden box. They are served, obviously, with clotted cream. There are two plain scones and two with raisins. The scones smell heavenly and taste even better, which is why, sadly, I’ve already demolished them by the time I remember that I had intended to take a foodporn worthy closeup of their fabulous fluffiness.

The sweets are brought out together with the scones. On the long plate is a nice trio of dishes. Starting from the left this time, the first is chocolate mousse with a zesty passion fruit core, in the middle is an extraordinary pistachio pastry, and on the right we have a tartlet of fresh rhubarb, which is very refreshing.

By the time we finish, it’s just coming up to 17h. It’s a gorgeous day out, so I walk back from Harrods in Knightsbridge to the St. Martin’s Lane Hotel near Covent Garden, which takes me about fifty minutes because of the crowds out and about enjoying the good weather. But I can’t rest for too long because I have tickets to see Prokofief’s Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Opera and Ballet.

Conclusion

The afternoon tea at Harrods is just lovely. The setting at The Georgian restaurant is plush and flamboyant, and the service is polished. Our waiter is a friendly and attentive gentleman. Mainly, though, it’s the food that makes this one of my favourites for afternoon tea. Everything is well prepared and tastes divine!