time for tea @ the palm court

In February, we made our way to The Palm Court, at London's Park Lane Hotel, to indulge in a more traditional afternoon tea in their lavish Art Deco lounge.

The lounge was fabulous, comfortable sofas, moody lighting and floral painted panels lined the walls, while gorgeous Gatsby-esque Art Deco furniture was displayed on every possible surface. There was even a harp player serenading us as we tucked into our champagne and sandwiches, who ever know that was such a good combination?

Scones were served warm, and I enjoyed mine with the refreshingly floral, if unfamiliar, taste of rose bud tea. Which, while it didn't exactly blow my taste buds away, would have to go up there as one of the prettiest things I've ever had to drink. The fruit tart was lovely, but aside from that unfortunately I can't remember anything exceptional about any of the food served. Perhaps, I would even go as far as to say that the best thing about the entire experience was the setting itself, and so it is exciting news that The Palm Court is now being renovated, and expects to open again early next year. In the interim, The Park Lane Hotel Afternoon Tea Service has been taken over by Patissier of the year, Eric Lanlard, and though I haven't had the opportunity to sample his version yet, it promises to be an 'edible travalogue' inspired by foods from around the world, which sounds divine.

The afternoon tea we had though was sadly not what I would class as 'a must do', still I will probably be keeping an eye out on the reopening because there's likely to be celebratory promotions, and I'd like to see what has been done to revamp the space itself, because that is well worth a visit.