High tea at London’s The Park Room ‘superb & very attentive’

HALAL STATUS Fully Halal

By Rehan Siddiqui

For my wife’s birthday she wanted a relaxing high tea. We had already had many high teas including The Dorchester and at Claridges; and being avid high end travellers anyway, we knew what to expect when we booked.

However, this time I left it a bit late and found that most places were booked up, except for The Park Room at the Grosvenor House, J W Marriott Hotel, London.

I called, made the booking, and told The Park Room of our Halal dietary requirements – which they advised was no problem at all.

On the day, (11/09/2021) we actually met with a lot of traffic and when I called the hotel, they were very accommodating and changed the booking to a bit later.

On the way, I called concierge and asked that as I’m disabled, in that I wear two below-knee artificial legs and have no hands, could I park on-site? Mohammed and Jamie on Concierge were superb and arranged everything. They also advised that I wouldn’t have to pay. Now that’s customer service.

On our arrival, Jamie was standing at the entrance looking as if he was expecting me and immediately sent someone to help us out and park the car. Chatting away whilst walking, Jamie personally escorted us to The Park Room.

We were met by Herlyn who was to be our host for the afternoon. We actually got the best seat in the house and were sat at the same place used for their brochure pictures – a sofa seat over looking Hyde Park.

Our menu for the Grosvenor House Spring Afternoon Tea was as follows:

• Selection of Delicate Finger Sandwiches: Cucumber, garden mint butter • Smoked Oakham chicken, tarragon, crème fraîche • Roast Aberdeen Angus beef, creamed horseradish • Cheese and pickle • North Atlantic cold water prawn, classic Marie Rose sauce.
• Open Sandwiches: Foreman’s smoked Scottish salmon, cream cheese • Burford Brown Clarence Court egg, mayonnaise, chive • Plain and Raisin Buttermilk Scones.
• Devonshire clotted cream accompanied with your choice of British preserves: Strawberry • rose petal • rhubarb and ginger • gooseberry • raspberry • blackcurrant.
• Assortment of Tantalising Afternoon Tea Pastries: Seasonal fruit tart • Mini Battenberg cake • Strawberry cream horn • Lemon meringue • Valrhona milk chocolate and ling honey mousse • Fresh Home Baked Cakes.
• Offered with a choice of: Exclusive Tea Selection at £55.50 per person.

For our seven-year-old daughter, we chose the Grosvenor children’s tea (£25) which was a perfect size; and Herlyn was amazing with our daughter, explaining things to her and treating her like a little adult!

The food was beautiful. Service was slow; but that’s because it’s unrushed, relaxed and unpressured. We spent three hours just sitting, talking, eating, people watching – we were totally relaxed – just what we wanted.

At the end, a very attentive, professional and confident Leo brought out a slice of Victoria sponge cake and candid for my wife whilst the pianist played happy birthday – beautiful.

Our party all agreed that the menu was perfect; not overly opulent. The ambience was relaxed, light and airy, and not at all stuffy.

Service by the Grosvenor House hotel team in terms of who we met was superb and very attentive. Thank you to the team and please keep up the superb work you’re doing.