With the in-laws in town, we thought we would treat them to one of those quintessential English traditions – high tea. The venue: The Wolseley on Piccadilly, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace. Never mind that I can count the number of high teas I have had on the fingers of one hand – when in London, do as tourists Londoners do!
So in we went, greeted by the cockney doorman and taken to our table by the East European waitress. We were served through the meal by a Chinese, Indian and another Eastern European waiter – more a modern London than traditional English experience. All were excellent – the service was attentive and professional, all the more impressive due to the numbers of tables they had to wait.
First, we were each brought a silver teapot of our chosen tea. A whole teapot each! As we found out, this was about 5 cups of tea per person. We each used the toilet twice during the experience.
And then, the food – sandwiches, scones and cakes. All excellent. It’s impressive how tasty a simple sandwich can be when prepared by hand with attention to detail – no crusts, perfect amount of delicious filling, sliced into fingers.
We rolled out of there throughly satisfied, ready to face the tube home with our bellies full.