Where to celebrate Afternoon Tea Week: London’s most distinctive Afternoon Tea experiences

When it comes to Afternoon Tea, London’s hotels, restaurants and cultural venues offer countless interpretations and creative variations on the classic three-tier format. To mark this year’s Afternoon Tea Week, running from 10^th to 16^th August, we have compiled a selection showcasing distinctive takes on the tradition, whether through setting, provenance or concept: a seafood platter served in place of sandwiches, a Cantonese dim sum menu built around a tea-tasting ritual, a fourteenth-century monastic storeroom beneath Westminster Abbey, and archive-inspired pâtisserie drawing on the Royal Albert Hall’s own performance history. Others stay closer to tradition, but with a clear focus on seasonal produce.

The list includes experiences ranging from £25 to £85 per person, with optional add-ons allowing anything from a simple cream tea to a full afternoon tea, and spans venues across South Kensington, Mayfair, Covent Garden and Battersea.

Photo: Justin De Souza

 

Tea Tales at Dim Sum Library, Covent Garden

Dim Sum Library’s Tea Tales reframes afternoon tea through the lens of Cantonese yum cha, swapping the tiered stand for a birdcage version filled with savoury dim sum. Expect Wagyu Beef Puffs with black pepper, Wild Mushroom and Beetroot Dumplings, Crystal Har Gau and Baked Barbecued Pork Puffs, plus specials including Yu Xiang Crispy Pork Dumplings and Crispy Fried Purple Cabbage Rolls, with Cantonese Egg Tarts to finish. The tea element comes with a gimmick: diners roll a dice to land on one of five Chinese teas, served hot, as a cocktail, a mocktail or a bubble tea. It costs £25 per person, minimum two diners, with unlimited hot tea. During Afternoon Tea Week, from 10 to 16 August, each guest also receives a complimentary bubble tea, with flavours such as Amber Peach and Matcha Cloud.

For further information and to book visit Dim Sum Library’s website here.

Scones experiments at the Science Museum

From this summer, the Gallery Café on Level 2 of the Science Museum is pairing its afternoon tea with optional hands-on experiments for children aged six and over. The Alien Activity Package (£24 add-on) has junior scientists building a working electrical circuit from cakes to power a digital clock, marbling milk with food colouring and washing-up liquid, and mixing bicarbonate of soda with vinegar to make foaming Alien Toothpaste. Liquid Lava Layers (£10 add-on) uses oil, water and a fizzing tablet to create a bottled lava lamp. The tea itself costs £26 for children – think petri dish jelly and build-your-own fizzy lemonade – or £36 for adults, whose version includes Earl Grey-soaked scones. Sittings run Thursday to Sunday at noon and 3pm; booking required.

For further information visit the dedicated webpage on the Science Museum’s website here.

Power Station Afternoon Tea at Jack & Beyond, Battersea

Jack & Beyond, the cake business founded by Fulop Gabor in 2019, has moved from Fulham to a 3,000 sq ft flagship on Battersea High Street, where a large open kitchen lets guests watch cakes being baked and decorated. Its afternoon tea nods to the neighbouring power station, with savoury canapés, plain, Red Velvet and cheese scones, an Electric Lemon Tart, a flower fruit custard tart, Chocolate Chip Brick Brownie Fingers, White Chocolate and Pistachio Blondies, and cupcakes that arrive undecorated for guests to finish themselves. Bottomless Novus teas range from Sapphire Earl Grey to Persian Pomegranate. A pound from each booking goes to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

For further information and to book visit Jack & Beyond’s website here.

Afternoon tea at The Beaumont Mayfair

After a break of several years, afternoon tea is once again being served at The Beaumont, this time in the hotel’s Gatsby Room. The £70 menu follows a familiar structure: finger sandwiches, warm scones with Cornish clotted cream and jam, and a run of pâtisserie, with a choice of blends from JING Tea and Champagne available as an addition. The one departure from convention is a pastry named ROOM, made with black sesame and strawberry mousse, which nods to Antony Gormley’s three-storey sculpture at the centre of the building – a work that doubles as one of the hotel’s suites, and remains its most photographed feature.

For further information and to book visit The Beaumont Mayfair’s website here.

Fête de Versailles Afternoon Tea, at the Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall has launched the first in a series of afternoon teas drawn from its own archives, taking its cue from the 1913 Fête de Versailles once held at the venue, an event that celebrated French artistry and courtly splendour. It opens with Mandarins from the Tree, a citrus palate cleanser nodding to the Orangery, followed by savouries including a Lattice Duck Sausage Roll with orange gel and roasted thyme, and an Asparagus Ratatouille Tart with goat’s cheese. Lemon and Poppy Seed Madeleines stand in for scones, served with elderflower Chantilly. The experience includes a choice of 14 tea blends, with optional additions of Ruinart champagne or cocktails. From £68 per person with unlimited tea, running daily 12.30pm–5pm until 2 November.

For further information, visit the Royal Albert Hall’s website here.

Abbey in Bloom Afternoon Tea, Cellarium Café & Terrace, Westminster Abbey

Set in the Abbey’s 14th-century Cellarium, where Benedictine monks once stored food and drink, this is afternoon tea with a genuine sense of place: medieval stonework below, a soaring glass ceiling above. Served daily from midday, the Cellarium Afternoon Tea costs £38 per person and leans on seasonal British flavours – cucumber with feta cream and tomato tapenade, hot-smoked trout in a vol-au-vent, pea and red onion tart, then Lemon Drizzle Cake, a white chocolate and pistachio tart and warm scones with Cornish clotted cream. Tea and coffee are unlimited; a glass of Chapel Down Classic Brut adds £11. A simpler cream tea is £10, and proceeds support the Abbey.

For further information and to book visit Cellarium Café & Terrace’s website here.

English summer picnic at Twenty8 NoMad

Photo: Yoav Picherski

Afternoon tea at Twenty8 NoMad, the restaurant inside NoMad London on Bow Street, has taken on a picnic theme for the season. Served beneath the hotel’s glass atrium, the menu arrives in wicker baskets and leans on British staples: cucumber and egg mayonnaise sandwiches, coronation chicken, lobster rolls and a warm quiche. Fruit and plain scones follow, still warm, ahead of a run of pastries drawn from familiar bakes – Cherry Bakewell, Lemon Drizzle Choux, Coffee and Walnut Cake, and a Victoria Sponge Mousse. Tea, champagne or a strawberries-and-cream cocktail accompany. Available Thursday to Sunday, 1–4pm, from £50 per person.

For further information on Twenty8 NoMad and reservations, visit the website here.

The Great British Afternoon Tea at The Kensington

Photo: Justin De Souza

The Kensington, a five-star hotel set within a Grade II listed Victorian terrace on Queen’s Gate, has introduced a summer afternoon tea built around British suppliers and seasonal produce. Priced at £85 per person, it opens with a Pimm’s Royale or a glass of Nyetimber English sparkling wine, followed by finger sandwiches including Chapel & Swan smoked salmon with chive cream cheese and St Ewe egg mayonnaise with watercress. Scones are baked daily and served with Cornish clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam, while pastries include a rose and pistachio Battenberg and an Eton Mess Pavlova. A rotating complimentary sweet marks events such as Wimbledon and Royal Ascot.

For further information and to book visit The Kensington’s website here.

Afternoon Sea at The Mayfair Chippy

The Mayfair Chippy, which also has a Knightsbridge outpost, has reworked the afternoon tea format around seafood rather than scones. Its Afternoon Sea runs across three tiers, taking in Cornish Crab on Toast with treacle-cured salmon, celeriac and mustard slaw and pickled cockles, alongside Atlantic crab claws, king prawns, Carlingford oysters and cooked mussels. Freshly baked sourdough and a range of sauces come with it, and English sparkling wine can be added for those who want the traditional accompaniment. It is served at any time on any day, though tables must be booked at least 24 hours ahead, as the whole thing is prepared to order.

For further information and to book visit The Mayfair Chippy’s website here.

Food Desk