Easter afternoon tea at The Landmark London hotel: Review

Set within the opulent location of the Winter Garden Restaurant in The London Landmark hotel in Marylebone, afternoon tea here feels more like eating in an exotic restaurant miles away from the hustle and bustle of London.

With décor inspired by South Asia, featuring tall palm trees and gold lanterns, and a live pianist in the corner, the whole experience of dining here feels like something out of a classic film.

The décor is inspired by South Asia, with tall palm trees and gold lanterns (Image: Emily Davison)

Currently the hotel is serving an Easter version of its traditional afternoon tea, their afternoon tea changes on a regular basis with changes to the scones and sweet treats to mark the occasion.

I was invited with my mother to head down and try the new afternoon tea for Easter, and being something of avid afternoon tea enthusiasts we were keen to add this one to our list.

The hotel is a stone's throw away from Marylebone.

Entering, slightly agog at the restaurant’s splendour, we were sat at a table before being presented with the afternoon tea menu.

The hotel is serving an Easter version of its afternoon tea (Image: Emily Davison)

The afternoon tea menu consisted of a selection of sandwiches, scones and sweet Easter-themed treats, along with a very extensive selection of teas to choose from.

I tried three different options including the Winter Garden blend with a mix of Chinese and Indian loose leaf tea, The Landmark Blend with a hint of rich vanilla for my sweet treats, and to finish Rose Pouchong which was a fragrant and aromatic blend of rose and Chinese black tea.

To begin with we started with a selection of classic afternoon tea sandwiches, including a classic cucumber and organic egg mayonnaise sandwich with black truffle and chives, coronation chicken and smoked salmon.

With this afternoon tea you can also request more sandwiches if you want to, although I would save room for the sweet treats.

There is a very extensive selection of teas to choose from (Image: Emily Davison)

For scones there were two options, including a plain scone and a seasonal option, which consisted of soured cherries and dark chocolate chips served with salted caramel ganache.

I really enjoyed the novelty of the rich chocolate spread with the scones, along with the sweetness of the Rhubarb Jam served with the plain scones.

By scone standards, these ones were up there with some of the best I’ve ever tried.

For me, one of my favourite touches was the live piano music which really added to the opulent feeling of the space, and what made it even more special was that you could request songs to be played.

I made a request for one of my favourite pieces of classical music – Clair de Lune by Debussy – and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever felt so special when the music started to play.

The sweets were decorated for Easter and had a mix of flavours (Image: Emily Davison)

Finally, moving onto sweets, we were served four options all decorated for Easter that hosted a mix of chocolate, fruity and citrus flavours.

The sweet treats included an English Rhubarb and Star Anise Tart, Valrhona Chocolate made with caramel and peanut, Choux with pineapple and mango compote, and a Citrus Pavlova.

I think my favourite out of them all was the Citrus Pavlova with its mix of textures and flavours, with the sharpness of the citrus and sweetness of the meringue.

The peanut and caramel Valrhona was a delicious tiered cake with chocolate, soft sponge, rich cream and crunch from the peanuts, and went nicely alongside the vanilla notes of the tea.

I think for sweet treats this afternoon tea has a broad palette of flavours to explore with decadent flavours.

The pop-up Cake Shop serves a range of Broissants and crafted Easter eggs (Image: Emily Davison)

After all that food we then headed over to the hotel’s Cake Shop pop up, which is currently open until March 31 serving a range of Broissants (a fusion between the croissant and brioche) along with a selection of crafted Easter eggs.

We took away a selection of Broissants including eggnog mascarpone cream, salted pistachio and praline custard, raspberry gel and Madagascan vanilla custard, Valrhona chocolate créme with caramel sauce, and Valrhona chocolate pastry cream with hazelnut praline.

If you’re looking for a decadent place to have afternoon tea for a celebration or special occasion, The Landmark London is up there with the best of them and definitely worth a visit this Easter.

Easter afternoon tea at The London Landmark will be running until April 6 with the Cake Shop open up until March 31.