Review of The Langham London 5*

After having afternoon tea at The Ritz, Yvonne and I decided to look up the oldest afternoon tea in London. If we were going to indulge ourselves, we figured we might as well try the oldest traditional afternoon tea there is (which we soon found out was The Langham Hotel). I mean, if they have been doing it for that long (140years), they must be doing something right. Ressed up, albeit with poorly done manicures, duchess or no duchess, the three of us were ready for tea! Finger sandwiches included: Crab and Atlantic shrimps with cucumber and avocado, Burford brow egg mayonnaise with mustard cress, Rose country beef with plum tomato and remoulade sauce, Formans smoked salmon with whipped brie and wild rocket, and Poached cornfed chicken with coronation mayonnaise. These were filling but somehow not the most satisfying. …We ordered seconds anyway. Because afternoon tea just won’t do without scones: next that came out was a warm selection of plain and golden raisin scones from the Palm Court bakery with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve. Completing our afternoon tea came the much-anticipated tiers of French pastries and specialist mini cakes: Passion Fruit and Mango Dome, Valrhona chocolate tart, Lemon and poppy seed cake, Layer Eton mess push up pop. Pictures were snapped (of course) and the Layer Eton mess push up pop absolutely delighted! Sour, sweet and very sour, it was a zesty combination. Aesthetically, it reminded me of something out of Seussville. Not too shabby for an old timer.