Afternoon Tea addicts will love The Green Parlour, found inside one of the capital’s most historic hotels. We went in to raise a cup.

Tourists to London do love an Afternoon Tea, and The Green Parlour now serves up Afternoon Tea and Breakfast menus for both hotel guests and visitors. On a miserable, wet, typically London day, we went along to try.

It’s a lovely room, but if you look closer, the wallpaper is rather surreal, almost trippy, but we liked it. The whole space is very relaxed, warm and comfortable with smartly turned out staff gliding between a compact number of tables, all properly dressed too with linen napkins and beautiful green teacups and saucers. The windows give out onto the street which is slightly higher than the room, so giving a nice cosy subterranean vibe.

This being elevated afternoon tea though, we were offered a choice of botanical-inspired cocktails such the floral Lychee on the Heath and the peach-bright Regent’s Breeze,  even a non-alcoholic Green Parlour Spritz. Determinedly English sparkling wines include Louis Pommery and Henners, sit alongside a wide choice of artisan loose-leaf teas. These are selected from a menu that not only details each team but also shows off the actual leafs.

We ordered some cocktails and chose our teas. So far so good, but then the tea arrived before the cocktails. I did try and gently suggest this wasn’t a good idea, but I didn’t seem to get through and I am too polite to make a scene, so we watched the tea get cold as we waited for the cocktails.

They were good cocktails, but both were a bit too sweet for our tastes, we prefer something a bit more astringent, but this was afternoon tea so perhaps sweetness is appropriate. We drank them, with perhaps indecent haste, as we wanted to get onto our sandwiches and the more appropriate tea.

Sarnies were proper size and shape, I hate an overloaded open sandwich where the filling goes up your nose, and we had beetroot-cured smoked salmon layered with lemon-parsley cream cheese; peppered pastrami paired with a, mustard aioli; a truffled egg mayo with chives on buttery tomato bread; and a garden-inspired combination of minted ricotta and cucumber ribbons. Refills are encouraged so we had some more pastrami sarnis, which this time came with more filling, which we appreciated

Warm scones under a ‘keep warm’ cloche, came, in both traditional plain and a fragrant star anise and orange zest variation. This was interesting, the star anise being quite assertive. They were of course served with raspberry and blackberry organic preserves and Cornish clotted cream. In case anyone’s interested I usually put the cream on first, but for no particular reason. The jam was very good.

The sweet course draws inspiration from London’s parks. A lavender-kissed cheesecake for Primrose Hill; a chocolate éclair for Hyde Park; a spiced choux bun topped with gold leaf for Green Park; and a pineapple-and-yuzu entremet for Holland Park’s Kyoto Garden.

As I say, I don’t have a sweet tooth and so some afternoon teas overwhelm me with sugar. These were much more restrained and all the better for it. The cheese cake base was a little too ‘short’ as it fell to crumbs instantly, I think that should be addressed so it is more structurally sound in future, otherwise these were all very good being carefully thought out and executed.

Overall a good afternoon tea in a crowded market, sure to please hotel guests and drop ins.

Also The Green Parlour offers breakfast of favourites and modern classics, from crushed avocado on sourdough and truffle-topped eggs benedict to berry porridge and a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. Plus there are pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries, and the Royal Horseguards Breakfast Doorstep. The in-house bakery adds croissants, almond pastries and pain au chocolat, all alongside coffee, speciality teas or cold-pressed juices.

Reservations are open for breakfast and Afternoon Tea. Book here.