Just for 2
High Tea
TEXT CORMAC BAKEWELL
Isn’t it time that you give yourself a little treat?
ONE LUMP OR TWO?
If your idea of decadence is munching on a chocolate eclair then you really need to get out more. You can make a start at Afternoon Tease! — a cheeky spin on the traditional tea dance at London’s Volupté cabaret club.
You’re served by waitresses dressed as naughty French maids while burlesque performers with names like Cherri Shakewell and Golden de Licious artfully peel off their fancy outfits on stage.
Even more popular with the girls than it is with the boys, the £35 tickets always sell out in advance.
+44 (0)79 7113 0611 www.TIMEFORTEASE.CO.UK
BREW YORK CITY
Want to look like a pair of slick hipsters on your visit the Big Apple? Being seen in the right places helps so head for TeaNY — a smart, sunny vegetarian café in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, part-owned by tree-hugging superstar DJ Moby.
The idea that Americans don’t really get tea just doesn’t stack up against the 98 different loose-leaf choices available here. Afternoon tea is a snip at $38 (just over £19) for two.
This being New York, you get cupcakes with your scones and it’s served day and night so you don’t even have to wait for your body clock to adjust.
+1 (212) 475 9190 | www.TEANY.COM
FRENCH FANCIES
Whoever said music was the food of love clearly hadn’t had enough chocolate. He would certainly have changed his tune if he’d tasted l’Africain, the rich, velvety chocolat chaud they serve at Angélina, one of Paris’ finest traditional salons de thé.
You’ll probably want to split the other house speciality — the Mont-Blanc, a cream-filled meringue covered with chestnut purée — before you sit back and take in the sheer belle époque opulence of the place.
+33 (0)1 4260 8200
WHO BUN IT?
London, New York, Paris… Belfast? The comparison won’t seem quite so strange when you’re in the Great Room of the Merchant Hotel. The civilised elegance of its beautifully restored interior feels like it could be the setting for an Agatha Christie novel.
Their afternoon tea (£27.50 with Champagne, £17.50 without) is an added old-fashioned treat, with scones still warm from the oven and a pianist playing quietly on the baby grand in the corner.
And, as the cocktail hour comes around, you can adjourn to the equally opulent bar — just make sure you’ve got a good alibi.
+44 (0) 28 9023 4888 www.THEMERCHANTHOTEL.COM
JERSEY CREAM
To get the best of something it’s usually a good idea to go to the source and, when it comes to cream tea, that source must be the Channel Islands. You can test this theory out at the Longueville Manor in Jersey. Fill your boots traditional style at the idyllic 14th-century country house hotel and then wander in the acres of private woodland, spotting black swans in the lake.
+44 (0)1534 725501 www.LONGUEVILLEMANOR.COM
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