Have a gentleman's tea at The Milestone

Your author rarely visits the hotels at the top end of London's range, but when an invitation came from friend and hotel expert Rajul Chande recently to sample a special afternoon tea at a hotel that is consistently rated one of London's best by its customers, it seemed like a decent opportunity to catch up with Rajul and see how the other half live, and any usual principles on these things went out of the window. So it was that we met in the rather grand lounge of the hotel, surrounded by business people having "important" meetings and one American teenage guest having an even more important mobile phone call, and were served finger sandwiches, a selection of small English specialities like Toad-in-the-Hole-in-a-Blanket and a mini Beef Wellington, and some cakes and that sort of thing.


There was also tea, there was definitely tea, and given that this was a specially-branded Gentleman's Afternoon Tea, there was also a choice of an ale flight, or a whisky flight. Though the ale choice we were served - Bishop's Finger, Old Speckled Hen & Guiness - felt a little pedestrian, the whisky list at least sounded a bit more interesting, with a Scapa 14 year old from Orkney, an Auchentoshan Three Wood and a Glenmorangie 18 year old on offer. Towards the end of proceedings, there was also a rather left-field bacon scone, which is exactly as confusing as it sounds, though it turns out to be pleasant enough if you think of it as a savoury snack rather than a scone. And then, after a glass of iced water, we were thrust back out into the Kensington sunlight for the walk to the tube, for even at just shy of £50 you don't get to keep your seat forever.

For more, see http://www.milestonehotel.com/bar-and-dining/afternoon-tea

Disclaimer: We didn't pay for our afternoon tea, and your author only agreed to go as the invitation came from a friend. PR people, please do not send constant afternoon-tea related emails, as they will be largely ignored.