A whim is a wonderful thing. Fancy free eating off the cuff is certainly one of life's little pleasures, particularly if it's on a clear, sunny December Sunday, the night after a heavy Christmas party, with someone you love. I am severely dewy-eyed remembering this day because it capped a weekend of glorious nostalgic loveliness. As I have touched on previously, I was recovering from surgery last winter. I hadn't played football for months and I was missing a lot of my close friends through not attending the games.
We threw a Christmas party on the Saturday, keeping true to our rather classy traditions which started with lunch at Joe Allen then escalated to a night of drinking (not by me) and dancing (absolutely by me, despite the crutches.) The next day I was decidedly sore of heel and hand, but the other half and I wandered down to Regents Park to cheer on the boys on the field, take in a stunning sunset and then thought: 'tea time?'
Tea time is not something one should take lightly on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not referring to tea as a drink, since I don't really go for hot drinks in general. Nor am I referring to afternoon tea in the scones and sandwiches sense, although I do love one of these once in a while. I'm talking about some proper early dinner, but some proper early dinner where you can reel your neck in whilst going a little bit crazy too. Paté and chips. Roast dinner and pastries. Burger and soufflé.
We found ourselves facing The Langham on Portland Place. A big, bristling hotel with enough old London class to make us feel welcome whilst enough Christmas drapery was enticing tourists elsewhere. We'd been here much earlier in the year as part of London Restaurant Week and had two thirds of a great dinner. The occasion was lovely and only disappointing main courses soured it. By then, the Landau franchise had gone. (Though it has recently gone back to The Landau, with the Rouxs throwing their names on it.)
We sat in the rather cosy bar and debated whether or not we should have an afternoon tea for two. The little stacks of food going around the room did look quite enticing, but we adopted the mish-mash approach to afternoon eating as outlined above, which I think was the right decision given the season and the Saturday we'd just enjoyed.
The tea room at The Langham is lovely. Warm, comforting and retaining just enough grandeur to feel special, it does indeed give off the impression that one ought to splurge and order whatever looks good. They presented us with some complimentary crisps and nuts to start with, followed by some charming jars of Hellman's mayonnaise and Heinz ketchup. I loved these. Jars of proper sauces!
The reason for these sauces were our choices of main course: a club sandwich and a burger. Good tests of a teatime bar for sure. The food was good. Two bowls of chips on the side (high-fives all round for the sauce) of both plates did the job rather well. The burger was by no means a classic, but it had the rare and innovative gift of making me enjoy an onion ring. Whilst I usually find them too pungent, oily or inconvenient, this one (served inside the burger) wasn't half bad. Great relish on the side too.
The club sandwich came with a pile of home-made crisps on the side. The sandwich itself wasn't quite the picture of comforting, moist layers that make club sandwiches great. It was more of a tarted-up hotel bar effort which, while predictable, wasn't unpleasant. I'd eat it again, but more readily if they weren't charging nearly £15 for it.
Price was a sticking point for me. The burger cost £17.50 as well, which all of a sudden made a lovely room seem a little less cosy. Dessert was actually rather impressive: an apricot tart with honey and lavender ice cream. It was 'tangy', as the menu stated, with the ice cream complementing it in the smoothest way. But... it cost £7, so the cost of some fun afternoon tea was racking up.
Price is (obviously) the area with which I have most quarrels with Palm Court. The concept is sound, the surround is nice, the staff are attentive, but the price is high. Having said that, I suppose you pay for the area in London a lot of the time, and The Langham at Portland Place isn't exactly somewhere you go to slum it.
After all is said and done, the main question you can cut through all my needling on the bill about is: did you enjoy it? And I certainly did. Maybe that's all that really matters.
Palm Court at The Langham
No comments:
Post a Comment