Wow what a cute place and a great find. It’s a small tea house directly across the street from the British Museum. The ground floor is a bookstore, but on the lower floor they offer hot beverages, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes. You will almost certainly have to reserve in advance because it’s quite popular and it’s tiny. We made reservations a couple of weeks in advance and when we arrived, there was a sign on the door stating that the place was fully booked and that walk-ins could not be accepted.
What I really love about this place is that you can go for a proper afternoon tea, but not be obliged to order their pre-fixed tea menu – meaning you can order everything a la carte. So many times we’ve wanted to have afternoon tea, only to be put off by the fact that you can never determine what you want and how much of it you want. We happen not to like each of the sandwiches and cakes that are automatically included, nor do we want to eat any prescribed amount of food. Here, you can choose from the menu exactly which items you’d like and how many of them. And if you didn’t order enough on the first go, you can order again.
We each ordered the tea and scone option. There are about 13 choices of tea and 4 choices of jam to go with your scones. They also have 5 cakes, 13 sandwiches, and coffee beverages. For our tea choices, we chose the Darjeeling and Kenyan Fannings teas (both black teas) and for our jam choices, we chose the strawberry and black pepper and the damson (plum). Everything that they offer – the scones, jams, and cakes – are all homemade and as a result, the quality is quite superior.
From the time you order, the scones take a while to come because they are fresh baked and there served to you warm. They are delicious – just delicious. But they are smaller than you would expect and you will absolutely have to order another round or two like we did. It’s so worth it. They are soft, fluffy, with a hint of sweetness. Fantastic. Do note, though, that unless you request otherwise, the clotted cream and jam will come on the scone and not on the side as most places serve it. We requested it on the side and the amount that came was enough to see us through multiple rounds of scones. If you order additional scones (with no extra jam/cream), they will be at a discounted price. Their jams are also popular enough that the store sells them on site.
The service was good, we did not feel rushed at all, the quality of the offerings are fantastic, and the room is quaint and cosy. We had a great time and highly recommend this place!
