That left the Sunday, which happily meant we could eat somewhere in London and I could review it. Given that we had a fairly extravagant dinner on the Saturday and another on the Monday, the Sunday was effectively some light relief with afternoon tea. We've sampled some excellent afternoon teas over the past few years (the outright best still being The Dorchester) so trying a new place is always exciting.
This time we opted for The Palm Court at the Park Lane Hotel which, for the most part, follows The Dorchester's method of making the lobby the place to be. It is every inch a luxury Mayfair hotel, with high ceilings, plenty of natural light, opulent décor and generally a well-furnished setting in which to take in some sandwiches and scones.
The standard tea menu costs £33 which is high enough to reasonably expect a better than average afternoon tea. Add to that they had just won the Tea Guild's Award of Excellence for 2013 and suddenly I was hoping for an experience to rival The Dorchester. In terms of setting, there is definitely something to be said for the grandiose Art Deco room at The Palm Court and the lighting in particular was quite amazing. However, I am one for comfort when it comes to eating an afternoon tea and The Dorchester's unique blend of relaxed, warm intimacy just edged it for me.
This gets to the real problem with the sandwiches: they were all a bit dry and a bit underwhelming overall. Despite interesting and generally good combinations, if you're going to serve finger sandwiches which are starting to show signs of staleness, you're already losing the diner. These were not great sandwiches in the main, affected by some iffy presentation (at these prices, in this setting, I expect my sarnies to be ruler-straight cut) and some questionable freshness. What really sums it up is we didn't have any seconds.

If you've read (or even skimmed) my review of afternoon tea at The Dorchester, you'll already know The Palm Court just isn't in the same league. It is a gorgeous room with big ideas but seemingly little knowledge on how to execute them. It was indeed a memorable weekend but, following the relative disappointment of England's only two-Michelin Starred pub, this was another downer. There is wonderful afternoon tea to be had in London, which means I'm unlikely to come back to The Palm Court at The Park Lane Hotel.
The Palm Court
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