lol2g

We're leaving for London this Sunday. My 5 year old daughter loves tea parties with her friends. I thought it would be nice to take her to have afternoon tea while we're in London. Looking for recommendations of somewhere not too fancy, nice selection of baked goods. Appropriate for family with little kids. Thank you.

Carrybean

I see children at Fortnum & Mason when I'm there having lunch or tea.

Carrybean

If you'll be taking her to the Princess Diana playground, you might want to have tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace.

travelgirl2

When our kids were younger, we had tea at the British Museum. There is a small, very casual, restaurant squeezed in upstairs. They serve afternoon tea with little sandwiches or cake. The kids loved it and I didn't have to stress out that they were too young.

It is very informal though, so if you are looking for a 'fancy' tea, it might not fill the bill. The sandwiches and cake were very good. We actually ordered seconds and then ended up going back another day for more.

travelgirl2

It's called the Court Restaurant. And, of course, they have scones too. According to the British Museum website, afternoon tea is 3:00 - 5:30 pm. It combines well with a short visit to the museum. The museum is free.

janisj

The Court restaurant can hardly be called "very informal". It is a semi-posh place as museum restaurants go. There are very casual places w/i the museum and w/i the Great Court, but the Court Restaurant isn't. It would be fine for your afternoon tea - but it would also be fairly expensive.

For casual - the Orangery would be a good choice, or any Patisserie Valerie (they are all over).

But Fortnum and Mason would probably be my first choice.

RM67

Fortnums also has the Parlour restaurant which has lots of fancy ice-cream sundaes (incuding boozy ones for grown-ups!), and posh patesserie, which I would think makes it child paradise. It's pricey as ice cream and cakes go but still considerably cheaper than a hotel tea.

RM67

http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Our-R...estaurant.aspx

nona1

Patisserie Valerie could be a good alternative. Scrummy but not 'posh' and not too expensive. They have several locations.

lol2g

Thank you all. I got them down on my list. Depending on where we're located at the time, we'll definitely be visiting 1 or 2 of those places.

kmbp

The Portrait Restaurant on the third floor in the National Portrait Gallery has tea service as well as a spectacular view of London--Nelson in Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye.

http://www.npg.org.uk/live/portrest.asp

The design is sleek and modern; be certain to get a table at the window facing Trafalgar Square.

travelgirl2

Well, I thought it was the Court Restaurant, because that's the only place listing afternoon tea on the British Museum, and it was upstairs.

We sat upstairs in an area tucked out of the way and overlooking the huge library area below. Is that the Court Restaurant? Or maybe an offshoot of it? There was kind of a tented area and we sat outside of that, along the wall overlooking the library below.

bilboburgler

Savoy at £36 a pop sounds good. If you pop on the BBC web site for radio 4 had a comedy sketch for Thursday (probably downloadable) on a visit.

janisj

travelgirl2: Yes, that describes the Court restaurant. But it isn't a super casual place like you mentioned. White linen w/ Champagne teas, lemon grass/ginger soup, squid salad, poached salmon, cheese board - those sorts of things on the menu.

Your description made it seem like an inexpensive/casual cafe.

Londonres

This place should impress your children and it's mentioned on a family website:
http://www.thewolseley.com/

Brown's Hotel would give your daughter a 50% discount and children under 3 eat free.

The Orangery Restaurant in Kensington Palace has a special children's tea menu and adult's afternoon tea menus start from £12.50. You daughter would be able to tell her friends that she had "tea at the Palace".

smarty

There is both a Restaurant and a Cafe in the Great Court at the Museum.

janisj

The Court Restaurant is the "formal" restaurant at the top of the Great Court. There are other cafes/kiosks downstairs in the Great Court, but none are called the Court "Restaurant".

The downstairs ones are called Court cafes - they are definitely casual - but travelgirl2 mentioned being upstairs.

travelgirl2

Yep, definitely upstairs with a great view into the library downstairs.

Maybe it seemed casual because we were outside of the main restaurant in an area of just a few tables. Plus, I think they were serving just tea, not the fancy lunch and dinner menus.

Looking at the British Museum website, tea and biscuits are 6.50 GBP. Traditional English afternoon team is 18.50 GBP. Just tea is 2.80 GBP and individual cakes run about 4 GBP. One son had hot chocolate, which is 3.20 GBP.

travelgirl2

Not super casual, but I think I would call it informal, for an afternoon tea. As compared to the only other tea I've been to, at Harrod's in a huge ballroom type room, with a piano player.

travelgirl2

Afternoon tea at the Orangery is 12.50 GBP. I've meant to go there on several visits to London, but haven't made it yet.

lol2g - wherever you go, I think your daughter will love having a real tea party. Have fun!