London: Afternoon Tea at the Langham

 

Our desserts and scones at the afternoon tea at The Langham London

A trip to London is not complete without a proper afternoon tea. Where to go? The Langham London. When we found it in the West End, we discovered it is steps away from the BBC's new headquarters which was cool. Too bad the broadcaster had an event in the courtyard area which was cordoned off, otherwise we'd have wandered a bit closer...

In any event the Langham London is a pretty grand place and we made a reservation for tea at 3.30pm, though we arrived a bit earlier. Afternoon tea was already in full swing in Palm Court, and we were seated near the piano, where the pianist played easy-listening classics that were enjoyable to listen to for a few hours.

Really delicious sandwiches to start off

The afternoon tea here is not cheap -- starts at £62 (US$78) per person to £68, which includes a savoury dish -- but you will be extremely full afterwards and the service is impeccable. The staff are very courteous and attentive to your needs.

The first order of business is deciding which tea to drink, and there is an extensive tea menu of black, white and green teas, infusions, and oolong teas. Guests are even encouraged to try different teas throughout the afternoon.

We started off with sandwiches, and usually these savouries are not given much thought, tasteless and dry. However here, each one was delicious -- cucumber and cream cheese, Scottish smoked salmon with horseradish cream, peppered beef pastrami with artichoke, smoked chicken, and brown egg and autumn truffle brioche bun.

An extra course of tomatoes and goat cheese tart

When we were finished them, a server came around with a silver tray with more of the same sandwiches. If you insist! We took one each.

Our next "course" was an extra savoury dish. I tried the Isle of Wright tomato and goat cheese tart, with lots of slightly unripe tomatoes, though the pastry was crispy, while my cousin had the Orkney scallop with dill beurre blanc.

Then came our sweets with fun names. For example Precisely Prescilla! is a raspberry sponge roll with raspberry confit, while It's all about Brigitte is caramelized puff pastry, coffee pecan and chocolate. I really liked Brigitte and the fig tart. Oh and the blackcurrant sorbet with green apple compote.

Desserts with scones in the back and champagne if you wish!

If that's not enough, the main event are the scones. Each person gets a plain one and one studded with raisins. Even though both have been sitting at the table for a while, they are still fluffy and delicious with clotted cream and a choice of strawberry jam or marmalade. When you finish those, you can have more, if you can fit them into your stomach. We sadly declined seconds.

And before we left, we each received a small round lemon and olive cake. I brought mine back to Hong Kong for my colleagues to try and it was still moist. It sounds like a strange combination of olive and lemon, but it works.

The afternoon tea experience wasn't complete without lots of people watching in the room, young couples, young women catching up, a business meeting, a husband and wife indulging in some time together, and even a baby took in the sights and sounds.

Freshly-baked scones that were fluffy

We literally rolled out of there around 5.30pm with memories of a delicious afternoon tea. Those scones are seared in my memory as some of the best I've had!

Palm Court
The Langham London
1c Portland Place, Regent Street
London
W1B 1JA
langhamhotels.com

Life as a Cruiser

Delicious grilled halibut with polenta was one of the dinners I ate

This blog post was originally written on October 8 but being published now. Thanks for reading!

Today we spent the day at sea and are on our way to Boston. Last night the ship was rolling over the waves and I got a bit seasick! I felt as if I was carsick and tried to get to bed as early as I could to sleep it off.

We went about our day and my brother and sister-in-law took in a tour of the galley kitchens. An interesting fact is that the Queen Mary 2's kitchen staff prepare 15,000 meals a day.

Marinated Peking duck was a bit of East-Meets-West

For breakfast we usually grab something to eat at the buffet area called King's Court, and there's everything from fried eggs to oatmeal, fresh fruit, pancakes and sausages, muesli, yogurt, and today I even saw congee, though it was plain.

In the evenings we dress up for dinner to eat at Britannia Restaurant, where we are served a more formal meal. While the presentation of the dishes isn't exactly refined, churning out thousands of dishes around the same time isn't an easy feat either.

Already missing the fluffy scrumptious scones at afternoon tea

For the most part the food has been fantastic. The salads have always been fresh and crisp, mains are a good portion and on the whole delicious. I particularly liked the vegetable and cashew korma I had last night with popadums.

However, tonight we were disappointed by the grilled lobster tail. We had assumed the crustaceans were ferried on board yesterday from Sydney, Nova Scotia, but we were wrong. Our waiter told us the lobsters had been put in storage at the beginning of the trip and only now were cooked.

That explains why the lobster tails hardly tasted fresh and were soft in texture. While it is understandable the kitchen wanted to save the lobsters for a particularly formal occasion, freshness is of the essence when it comes to seafood and should have been consumed as quickly as possible.

The Indian vegetarian cashew korma was a winner

A good way to make up for it would be to use the shells to make bisque the next day so we wonder if that will happen tomorrow.

I have mostly avoided dessert, though the soufflé with vanilla sauce was pretty good, fluffy and light – not bad again considering hundreds of these are being served around the same time.

This afternoon the Queens Room held not only the traditional afternoon tea but also the tea dance and so it was packed by the time my mom and I arrived after watching a one-hour condensed version of Romeo and Juliet.

Desserts anyone? In the Queens Room

Many people were on the dance floor, while others sat back to enjoy the proceedings. We had to share a table, and sat with a couple from Toronto but were originally from Hong Kong.

I tried to make conversation with them, asking if they were enjoying the cruise. The wife immediately replied that this one wasn't as good as Celebrity Cruises because the ships were newer and the food tasted better.

This made conversation awkward as we thought it was pretty good (again considering how big the ship is), but she and later her husband chimed in that this cruise was more British, meaning it was more formal at dinner, how the ship was old (2004?!) and how it catered more to elderly people.

Um, yes… the vast majority of cruisers are elderly people, and Cunard is known for its Britishness – to separate itself from other cruise companies. Even more so, the Queen Mary 2 is large enough that it doesn't feel crowded which is no easy feat.

The one bad meal -- not fresh lobster tail (right) with shrimp

My mom later told me that cruises on Celebrity are very expensive, practically double the cost of ones on Cunard. So of course if you pay more you get better service…

The wife sat there, her arms folded, as if nothing was good enough for her. She didn't even eat anything, nor did they want to dance. So why be there?

Even though they immigrated to Toronto, they are still very much like Hong Kong people – ones who think they are too good for anything and deserve even more.

Who do these people think they are?

Feting some of the chefs who cook 15,000 meals every day

One wonders where this superior attitude comes from – is it insecurity from being ruled by the British, and now under the Chinese? What about being a bit more appreciative of the most basic things, starting with good health?

Perhaps then Hong Kong people wouldn't be so miserable? While having high standards as a customer challenges the hospitality industry in a good way, never being satisfied seems too extreme…

Keeping Entertained at Sea

The sun peeking through the clouds on the way to Boston from Nova Scotia

This blog entry was written on October 6, but only uploaded now because I have internet access.

The nightly entertainment on the ship has been pretty good so far. As entertainment director Joanna Haley has arranged a jam-packed schedule of things going on – sometimes simultaneously which can make it hard to decide what to watch.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the first night featured Quebec singers and musicians performing folk songs and dances. We didn't know quite what to expect but they were fun to watch and provided a taste of Quebecois culture.

Last night was Broadway performer Jeri Sager. She made her mark in Fiddler on the Roof, played Fantine in Les Miserables, was Grizella in Cats and Evita in the title role.

The string quartet performing during afternoon tea service

Sager was not only a great singer belting out show tunes, but also funny, though at times talked a bit too much about herself – even singing a song about how people think her name is Teri not Jeri…

She gave a bit of insight into show business, how she made her break in dinner theatre in Maryland – "view and chew" people in the industry nicknamed it. Not only did she perform on stage, but had to wait on tables too. Talk about multi-tasking.

Then tonight we were treated to a show called "Viva Italia" put on by the Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers.

They sang or danced to anything Italian – from Galileo to Michelangelo, to Luciano Pavarotti to pasta, and Andrea Bocelli. Most humorous was the second number where they had almost all the dancers – men and women – wear long dark-haired wigs and carry picture frames so they looked like Mona Lisa. Then their bottoms were pulled off to reveal skimpy underwear or boxers.

The delectable fluffy scones we ate several times on the cruise

Some of the dancing was impressive, particularly involving some acrobatics, and the singing by the two men and two women were excellent. Some of the costumes were a bit on the tacky side, like the painting the Birth of Venus on a dress, or small lutes sewn onto ballerina dresses…

Today was a day at sea and we kept ourselves busy. We listened to a talk given by Sir Alan Collins, former British High Commissioner to Singapore and Taiwan, the Philippines and New York.

He talked about Queen Elizabeth II and how she has not only served her people well for over 60 years, but is also the best representative of the UK. Having worked closely with her on some occasions, Collins stressed many times how The Queen is down to earth, loves children and has a great sense of humour.

Standing ovation after the Viva Italia performance

One anecdote he recounted (though he was not there) was a meeting of the Privy Council that she presided over, and one of the members, a woman, had a large handbag and at one point her mobile phone rang.

Embarrassed, she tried to find it, but couldn't and resorted to dumping everything on the table before she answered the phone, by which point the person on the line had hung up.

"Oh dear," The Queen said. "I hope it wasn't anyone important."

And Collins also played the video of the opening of the 2012 London Games when James Bond picked up The Queen at Buckingham Palace to take her to the stadium where she jumped out of a helicopter to make her entrance.

The diplomat informed us that two dresses were made – one for her and one for her stunt double and this was top secret… uh sure.

We also caught the last half of classical guitarist Christopher Bundhun's recital. He played a variety of pieces by JS Bach, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Isaac Albeniz.

The highlight was afternoon tea in the Queens Room. We got there half an hour early to line up and were surprised to find we were the first in line. Time passed relatively quickly, though an Asian man – Japanese? walked in and out and then back in with another woman. Didn't they see we were standing in line?

When we were finally allowed in, they and a group of others were already seated. So strange. One wonders why the staff didn't shoo them out, and anyway didn't they see we all had to line up?

In any event, a four-piece string quartet played for us as we dined on finger sandwiches – OK just one for me – and those amazing scones topped with icing sugar. The scones were the fluffiest and lightest ones I have ever tried. So good.

The atmosphere in this room is so elegant even though we're in casual clothes. The staff wear white gloves and it's a treat to be there, though it's all over within an hour. We might just have to go back again the next day at sea to soak it all in – and savour another scone!