Chocolate Afternoon Tea At The Chancery Court Hotel London
Last year I was lucky enough to sample a range of fantastic chocolate-themed afternoon teas, so when my friend told me about a newly launched afternoon tea at The Chancery Court Hotel I jumped at the chance to try it.
I took food blogger friend Kavey along to sample the extensive menu and see how it compares.
The Chancery Court Hotel is a beautiful setting for afternoon tea. Located a short walk from Holborn station, it’s a hidden gem in central London. Afternoon tea is served in The Lounge, a comfortable and relaxed setting facing the hotel’s central courtyard. It wasn’t busy when we were there, but there was plenty going on around us and our tea was accompanied by live piano music.
After being given the opportunity to examine the range of teas on offer, we made our choices and a tiered tray of sandwiches and scones arrived. With simple fillings and fresh bread, they were tasty, but not really what we were there for. A hint of what was to come came with the scones, which were perfectly baked, beautiful and light. Served with delicious fresh jam and clotted cream, it was difficult to resist having more than one each, but we knew we had to save space for the rather exceptional ‘chocolate’ part of this tea.
You see, as afternoon teas go, this is a little different. The main part – the patisserie – is served as a buffet – an all you can eat buffet, at that. At just £23.50 per head, that would be enough to recommend it itself, but this was some of the best patisserie I’ve ever had.
The buffet, arranged around tables and the top of the piano in the centre of the lounge was simply stunning. With beautiful cakes, brownies, desserts and even a chocolate fountain to choose from, it was difficult to know where to start. Knowing that we would soon be full, we went straight for the best looking patisserie and were rewarded with amazing flavours and attention to detail.
The range of items to choose from is extensive and it would be impossible to cover it all here, but they’re made using Valrhona chocolate and look exquisite. The Black Forest gateau comes wrapped in a thin cylinder of chocolate and is packed with flavour, as is the delicous Opéra. The blood orange and chocolate tart, topped with tiny macarons was another revelation, with a thick layer of jaffa cake-style orange jelly in the base.
The rapsberry chocolate macaron was another fantastic looking creation. With a base made from the top half of a macaron, decorated with whole raspberries and chocolate ganache and topped by the cutest, lightest mini macaron you could imagine.
There were so many highlights that it feels a little wrong to mention the creations that didn’t quite work as well for me. The Sacher torte was slightly dry and didn’t have lot of flavour and the pistachio torte looked great, but the flavours didn’t really come together. But those are tiny criticisms of what was without doubt the nicest afternoon tea I’ve had.
For chocolate lovers looking for a refuge from the Christmas shoppers or just looking for somewhere to take someone special, I can’t recommend this highly enough. Wonderful patisserie, friendly staff, a great atmosphere and exceptional value make this an unmissable chocolate experience.
Note (December 2020): The Chancery Court Hotel is now Rosewood London, but I haven’t been back since reviewing this afternoon tea in 2011, so can’t talk about the quality of the current offering.
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That looks fantastic! I’m pleased to see they didn’t mess with the sandwiches and scones – I had envisaged total chocolatey-heavy-handedness but actually this looks perfect. Very keen to try it out, thanks for the review.
The rapsberry chocolate macaron looks amazing! 🙂
It was all amazing – but yeah, the mini macarons were so cute!
Just wow. I’m reading this in Australia & dropping *very* unsubtle hints to the Hungry Husband about going to London so we could maybe, perhaps, sample this divine looking choc high tea 🙂
You lucky Londoners!
I’m an Aussie living in London and let me tell you, Australia has much better high teas/afternoon teas than London! Although this particular one is great, it’s rare as most of Brits prefer the limited choice on 3 tier plates option, instead of buffet style. Meanwhile in Sydney there are over 50 high teas buffet style that beat anything in London and are much cheaper. Start with the Intercontinental Hotel high tea on the weekend, then do the Sheraton Hotel Hyde Park any day of the week, Swiss Hotel weekends, Sofitel Hotel any day of the week, Sheraton 4 Points Darling Harbour weekends and check with the Marriott Hotel in the summer only. There are many more but these are just the top ones.
Oh wow, thanks for the tip on the afternoon tea! I’m slowly working my way through some of the wonderful afternoon teas that London has to offer but this one looks great, I’ll definitely try it! I’m off to the Sanderson next weekend, it’s a mad hatters afternoon tea! 🙂
I went back today as a paying customer, and it’s just as good. There was a slightly different selection of patisserie, but it was just as amazing. Wonderful service and great value – can’t recommend this highly enough.