At the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B. C., the price was $49--55, Canadian.
Much as I wanted to have tea there, I could not bring myself to spend that much for afternoon tea. Now I regret not having that experience. After all, it's just numbers on my Visa bill...

Thank you guys *so* much! This should get us started.

Where exactly (and what exactly) is Richoux? I think the best thing would be to find a place near something else we happen to be doing. Then we stop, have tea, soldier on.

Cindy -- pretty clueless about what afternoon tea is her own self, but who loved the scones with clotted cream that British Airways gave her some years back

I agree with Janis that afternoon tea can replace a meal. We've done afternoon teas in other cities (although not London) and each time we had enough to eat that we were not hungry for dinner. In one instance we actually had to cancel our dinner reservations because we were still quite full from the tea.

I enjoy afternoon tea but $300 is something that I personally could never justify paying.

Tracy

Have you considered Harrods? I believe we looked into it the last time we were in London. From what I recall there is a restaurant there that does afternoon tea and I think it was relatively inexpensive compared to some other places.

Tracy

the thing about Harrods - there are more than 25 restaurants/cafes in the place. Some are fairly inexpensive but others are really high. A set tea in the Georgian Room would cost about as much as at one of the posh hotels.

My three girls and I had afternoon tea at Harrods in their very pretty dining room. The 15 year old and I were charged full price,( can't remember exactly, maybe 20 LBS) and the 11 and 13 year old half price. We were so full we didn't have dinner. It was a fun experience to do once.

We did have the tea in the Georgian room. If you decide on a place, ask about reduced prices for kids.

We did the snack tea at Fordam and Mason and it was a little cheaper. We had scones and DON'T FORGET the clotted cream, it's to die for! There were also some cookies (biscuits) on the tray and of course, tea. The ambiance was very nice and you sit just outside the "high tea" room, You can still take advantage of the piano player and everyone dressed nicely, but the price was a little cheaper. I think we paid 25 pounds for three people. This was in 2005.

You could also go just about anywhere and get cream tea, which to my amazement, was not tea with cream in it, but it's tea with scones and clotted cream.

My husband did not understand my sudden desire to have cream tea every day. When we got to Bath, we took him for cream tea and he had his first taste of scones and clotted cream. Then he understood.

I can't imagine anything thing in Harrod's being even relatively inexpensive.(:)

In response to the question about Richoux. There must be 5/6 in central London. I prefer either the one across from Harrods or the one on Piccadilly. It's a chain of traditional British style tearooms offering light meals, drinks ( both alcoholic and non-alcoholic)desserts and the ubiquitous afternoon tea.

Ah, OK. I'm getting it now.

I found the menu from Richoux.

http://www.richoux.co.uk/media/pdfs/PiccMainv7.pdf

I wonder . . . should we spring for the full tea or go for the cheaper version? Are the sandwiches worth it, do you think?

Maybe the children can afford college after all? :)

At £8.25 for a cream tea or £16.50 for a full set tea I'd personally go for the whole 9 yards - it will probably save you money in the long run not having to have a big lunch and dinner that day.

A full tea at Harrods' Georgian Room is £20 for sandwiches, pastries, scones & tea which is loose leaf, not bags so the kids can try out the strainers. It's certainly enough for me for an early dinner. Don't know about a teenager not being hungry a few hours later. The pianist is free.

There's also a Richoux across Brompton Road from Harrods.

In the basement of Selfridges there's a cafe which does afternoon tea, complete with cakestand and tea leaf menu for £7.50 per person. No, it's not a grand old hotel, but the food is actually very good and you'd be hard-pushed to beat that price. You get finger sandwiches (cucumber, salmon, chicken etc), french style pastries with fruit, and scones with jam and clotted cream - very tasty and plenty of it.

Afterwards the kids would probably love looking round HMV, the beauty hall and Miss Selfridge.

cindysphinx:

What a delightful read this turned out to be and good for a chuckle.

Please don't miss having a lovely cup of tea/scones, cream tea at any of the numerous tea shops you'll find all over but if you do splurge for the $305 tea please report back and tell us if you think the kids thought it was worth it.

Sandy

The Selfridge suggestion sounds excellent. Thanks for that.

Cindysphinx, I'm sure if you had spent $60 more per person on airfare or an apartment, no one would have batted an eye. Whether to do the tea or not - who knows. I've both regretted spending money and not spending money.

You only regret what you didn't do on a trip, not what you did. Many years ago my dream trip was to England, Harrods in particular. Don't ask me why, but Harrods was the place I had to see. My family had tea there and it still makes me smile when I think about that afternoon-and I can't remember what it cost. I have since tried to have tea on every trip that I go on - the Empress in Victoria, The Peninsula in Hong Kong.
Take your kids because even that Dollar Menu at McDonalds will be $2.00 when you convert the price of a cheeseburger.

We just spent I think 38 pounds each for tea at the Savoy. (Plus tax and tip.)
It did, however, include a large flute of champagne (about 31 pounds maybe without the champers).
It was a great experience as we went at 4pm and left at 6:15pm just in time to walk to 'The Lord of the Rings' musical which started at 7pm that day.
We were brought sandwiches (excellent) constantly and could have extra cakes, scones etc. and were told to try all the teas on their menu if we so wanted!
We tried six and each time out came clean cups, saucers, fresh teapot (none of those tea bags on the side!) and perfectly brewed tea.
Having said that, the scones were dry and the cakes not that great, but the ambiance and the pianist etc. plus the fabulous service were terrific. (If you are celebrating tell them as they will present you with a special dessert.)
This took the place of dinner and we had snacked for lunch. I therefore justified the expense and put it down to one of life's 'experiences'. I love to take afternoon tea wherever we travel, and so far the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town ranks first for me and the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong second.
PS We ate at the local pub the next night for 6.99 pounds each!

Well, you'll be pretty hard pressed to match the scones and clotted cream you get on BA at one of these fancy HOtels.

A couple of times at the British Museum, we took a break for afternoon tea in the cafe upstairs. My kids were 10 and 12 and enjoyed the tea with cake or tea with sandwiches. It wasn't fancy, but a good casual 'tea' experience.

cindysphinx, the cheapest and one of the best afternoon teas is The Wolseley Cafe on Piccadilly. It's $39, around 23-25 pounds each. As you probably know, they are all sky high. Consider calling some of the dept. stores and see what they have available.

Cindy,

Frommers Budget Travel Magazine had an article on this topic this month, but sadly no options are really "budget". The article does give prices and nice descriptions though. See http://tinyurl.com/2jogho

and I second the choice of Selfridges. I haven't had the tea but the store itself is fabulously contemporary. Also on the "lower ground" floor is a branch of the great Foyles book shop. It is a highlight on what I think is otherwise a disappointing street (Oxford Street).

I suspect the kids don't care too much about the food. They want to experience the ambiance and the perceived 'tradition' of such an occasion.
My neighbour took his daughter to the Ritz and said its something everyone should do once. One of lifes experiences he says.

So in conclusion; I suspect you should take afternoon tea and enjoy it, then you will never have to do it again.

I would make the kids pay at least half as they want it so bad.

Next day nip off to one of Flanners cafe's and compare which one they prefer, truly character building stuff !!

Above all enjoy it, relax and spend your money how you want.

In saying that I wouldn't do it, its just not my cup of tea.....

;-)
Muck

You could always tell them that 99.99999% of British people don't do this expensive ceremony and would laugh at the cost. Just a Typhoo teabag in a mug surfices! Then again, thats not much fun is it lol ;-)

flanner has a cafe(s) can you enlighten us Fodorites?

Fear not.

While my cooking's just fine, being nice to bleeding idiots all day (or worse, trying to hire antipodeans or Eastern Europeans and training them to be nice) really isn't my idea of the perfect life.

My contribution to Britain's catering industry will remain limited to random and intemperate attacks on its more extreme ineptitude and greed.

If you do opt to do one of the more expensive places, steel your nerves and don't think about the cost. Just take the plunge and pretend you're paying in Monopoly money. You won't enjoy it if the calculator in your head keeps ticking away and your kids will feel the stress.

Flanner,
I guess the saying two countries divided by a common language (or something to that effect) is true because I haven't a clue what you just said! But, you seem like a great guy to work for and I'm sure you're just being modest.

We Brits take our tea very seriosl;y indeed. So much so we have a Tea Council who have annual awards for tea. This year it was won by the Dorchester.

http://www.tea.co.uk/topteaplaces.php

Once you've done that you could as suggested go to the New Picadilly cafe in Soho (before it gets turned into another shop selling bongo and fanny hammers) or Dinah's Diner in Endell st and try the other kind of traditional tea.

Dennis Nielsen used to cook at Dinah's Diner - but don't let that put you off

"hey want to experience the ambiance and the perceived 'tradition' of such an occasion."

In such a case you should take them to someone's Granny's house. Only place I ever had full on afternoon tea: Granny in her housecoat and slippers, Grandad smoking roll-ups and drinking tea from the saucer in the corner by the gas stove, table groaning in the kitchen, everything home baked (bread pudding mmmm), PG-Tips and a hand knitted cosy for the pot. Running in your socks across the frosty lawn to get to the outside toilet to relieve your tea bloated bladder, and getting back before contracting frost-bite.

That is authentic!

No, its not, Waring: you forgot the over-powering scent of tinned salmon, sitting out on the plate, in slimey,skin-on, bones-in splendour...

If anyone mentions pilchards......

"tinned salmon, sitting out on the plate, in slimey,skin-on, bones-in splendour"...

would be quite inauthentic.

Mashed-up tinned salmon (bones, skin and all), on the other hand, with a few dashes of brown malt vinegar, made into Hovis sandwiches, then left a couple of hours till ths bread's just beginning to get a bit curly and crispy. Now that's real food.

And with such ambrosia at home, why would anyone go to all the expense of a 3* place in Brussels or Lyons?

Orange squash?

Hovis and salmon? Bleeding toff, Sunblest and Shipmans.

By the way, waring, you'd ADORE South Africa:

http://www.lannicesnyman.com/publish..._pilchards.htm
www.luckystar.co.za/recipes/pilchard_recipe.php

Strewth Flanneur - you ate this stuff?

Being a soft shandy drinking southern pouffe we would have Shipham's fish paste sarnies, Shortbread from a tin with a man in a kilt on it; them bloody awful pink wafer biscuits; McVities digestives, and angel delight.

Made a man of me and no mistake.

People eat them voluntarily?

Tizer for those too young to drink tea.

Try this, its a london superthread and has a lot of links to do with afternoon tea.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2