Tea at the Wolseley

No trip to London would be complete without experiencing a proper English tea service. I've lived here for nearly a year and haven't had the chance to go have one myself, so when my mom mentioned she wanted to go for tea I jumped at the opportunity.

We thought at first we would splurge and go to The Ritz, but they were fully booked for the week before Easter way back in February. So I settled on The Wolseley, with the thought that it would be a more accessible venue for the gents in my family. It was definitely a better choice, stylish, fancy, and traditional without being too stuffy or uncomfortable.

The tea service comes two ways - cream tea and afternoon tea. Cream tea is just tea and scones, whereas afternoon tea is tea and a selection of little sandwiches, scones, and pastries. Of course we piggy Americans went for afternoon tea and had two towers (a tower serves two people) on our table. It was a lovely spread of food, and definitely filling; the brother eats for two, sometimes three, and even he was stuffed towards the end. We even left two pastries which is unheard of in our family.

Afternoon tea at The Wolseley is pricey, but worth it in my opinion if you want an authentic English afternoon tea service but not feel like you have to wear a three-piece suit to do so. I will definitely go back (after I lose a stone and save my pennies).