Thames Foyer, Savoy Hotel, London

I am still in Europe and in UK's capital, London for some afternoon tea at Thames Foyer of the Savoy Hotel. I was accompanied by my wife, who being the afternoon tea loving type, was very excited in being here.

Being a top hotel, the room where tea was held was in a large hall,  with glass dome ceiling with tables well spread apart and arranged around the centrally placed grand piano (where the pianists played an eclectic mix of songs from different genres). We were shown to our table as we had already made a reservation, which was all set up with the nice crockery and cutlery.

Table Setting

Our waiter was a friendly chap, informing us of the varieties of tea they have on offer and the two different dining options, traditional and high tea. I chose the latter, which has more savoury dishes in lieu of scones and cakes.

The tea was served as a formal meal, with the sandwiches arriving as a first course. these arrived promptly after we ordered. There were five different fillings of Cucumber, Egg Mayonnaise, Chicken, Ham and Mustard and Smoked Salmon. All arranged in a pretty radial formation and formed a good 'starter'. The sandwiches arrived along with the Assam tea I chose. 

Sandwich First Course

After we made inroads into the sandwiches (which were replenished upon request) I was served my second course of Scrambled egg with Salmon. The egg was cooked well and salmon tasted nice after drizzling with lemon juice that came with it. It was also served with some thin slices of toast that I forgot to eat.

Salmon and Scrambled Egg Second Course

My third course was toasted Crumpet, which was accompanied with honey, orange preserve, and strawberry jam. These were more filling than tasty and to me crumpets are more of a breakfast item but they were not bad.

Crumpet Third Course

The last course was a choice of cakes for 'dessert' so I chose the classic Victoria Sponge. This was really lovely and a nice way to  end the tea sitting, of which I had sufficient. The sponge was light and there was a good amount of cream and sweet jam.

Cake Fourth Course

The scones came after the sandwich course for my wife and at our request they brought along the tray for presentation, as shown in the photo below. Below the scones on the bottom tray were the accompaniments of clotted cream, jam and lemon curd. My wife was generous enough to give me one scone, which was OK, but given as it was the end of the day, did not have that freshly baked taste. However, the lemon curd was lovely.

Scones with Jam & Cream

We were both really full and were able to take away the sandwiches and the staff were kind enough to give us extra slices of Victoria Sponge and chocolate cake.

The Savoy is not cheap and my high tea set cost slightly more than the traditional set my wife had, which had more pastries, cakes and scones.  Thinking about it that was probably better value for money considering the effort in making the sweeter items. However the grand hall is a lovely place to spend the (late) afternoon, where the service was very polite, helpful and attentive, the food is good and plentiful, with the standout item being the lemon curd.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Setting: 5/5

Overall: 18/20

Cost: £42.50 for my Afternoon High Tea, plus a 12.5% service charge.

I ate: All of the my Afternoon High Tea set and one Scone.

I drank:  A lot of cups of Assam tea.

I wore: Smart Loake shoes I had not worn for 18 months.