National Afternoon Tea Week 2019 - The Midland Hotel, Manchester

The Tea Room at The Midland Hotel

Peter Street, Manchester

Today’s featured afternoon tea is an extra-special experience I had at Manchester’s Midland Hotel back in August 2017.

The Tea Room is a special restaurant dedicated entirely to serving afternoon tea. It’s opulent, glamorous and sophisticated. Our afternoon tea at the Midland was a present from me to my Grandma for her 80^th birthday. 

Each table is dressed in a crisp white table cloth with silver cutlery and China cups and saucers. There’s a floor-to-ceiling cake stand next to each table: a genius idea, as it means that your table doesn’t become cramped and you can actually see your companions.

They serve a selection of afternoon teas. The Traditional one was £25 per person at the time. Now, almost two years later, it’s £27. For the price, you got five miniature sandwiches, two scones and four delicate cakes.

For the sandwiches, we had duck egg and mustard cress on white bread, smoked salmon and lemon verbena crème fraiche on dark malt bread, honey-baked gammon and garden pea mousse on granary bread, goat’s cheese with beetroot chutney on walnut bread and Goosnargh chicken with barbecued sweetcorn on a brioche bun. A little bit more up-market than your standard egg and cress; your palate needs to be just as sophisticated as the surroundings. 

The scones were covered up in order to keep them warm – an excellent idea. We had a plain and a sultana scone each – let’s be honest, on an afternoon tea, two scones are always better than one. You could have, instead, opted for the ‘scone of the day’, which in our case was strawberry. They were a little bit stingy on the jam though: you were served a scoop onto your plate and that was your lot. You can never have too much jam and cream on your scones. We were given a choice of three preserves: strawberry, raspberry or lemon curd. They were, quite possibly, the best scones I’ve ever tasted. They pulled apart on the seams effortlessly, without crumbling, and had the perfect crunch on the outside.

For the cakes, there was a passionfruit and white chocolate tart, a dark chocolate delice with a cranberry filling, a pistachio and olive oil sponge cake topped with orange curd and a Scottish strawberry and champagne mousse with a Victoria sponge base. A fine selection of flavours and textures.

Afternoon tea at The Midland Hotel is one of the finest examples of this great British tradition I’ve ever experienced. It oozes glamour and elegance, putting a contemporary stamp on this conventional pastime whilst remaining traditional. The staff are trained to carry off the service with slick perfection and there’s an unlimited supply of tea – what could be better?

The quality of the food is stunning and the quantity is also excellent. Afternoon teas are often over-priced for the amount of food you actually receive, but the £25 was more than worth it for the whole experience here.

Make a special occasion that extra bit special with afternoon tea at The Midland’s Tea Room. With vegetarian, vegan and children’s versions available, as well as a recently-launched brunch alternative, there’s something to suit everyone’s tastes.

Up-to-date menus are available here: https://tearoomatthemidland.co.uk/