Puttin' on The Ritz

For a very special boy in my life, I treated him to afternoon tea at The Ritz to celebrate his birthday.

We are huge afternoon tea buffs and are trying to work our way around all of the prestigious, must-try and local ones: The Ritz was one yet to try but much talked about.

The first two things to say about afternoon tea at The Ritz is that it is pricy (starting around £60 per person) and also that you need to book well in advance. I booked for the 4th of January over 3 months ago, and the only times left were 11.30am or 5.30pm...

Going on the 4th of January meant that all of the Christmas decorations and #TheRitzChristmas Tree was still up, it was utterly gorgeous. We pulled on our glad rags- boys must wear a tie and jacket and I wore a simple black dress and fur coat- and waltzed around the hotel.

The tea itself is in the open Palm Court, which is lovely and airy, set at the heart of the ground floor. We had the champagne tea with celebration cake (of course!), and I opted for the dairy free choice.

Having historically been very disappointed with dairy free options (I'm sorry but jellied sweets/jelly are not substitutes for cake...), I was delighted to be presented with my own tray of 10 sandwiches, and my own cakes, scones and even a clotted cream substitute- sunflower cream. The only jelly I was given was as a substitute for the 5th course of cake... a delicious berry jelly with granola on top. The sandwiches were salmon, chicken, hams, cucumbers and all utterly delicious served without butter and on dairy free breads. The cakes were fruity and sticky- my favourite was the ginger muffin which was unbelievably delicious. The scones were just like normal scones and the sunflower cream, whilst not quite Cornish clotted, was absolutely perfect.

As for the drinks, The Ritz house champagne didn't disappoint- fruity and very tasty. I opted for a Darjeeling first flush tea, which was really refreshing.

Chris was equally delighted with his standard afternoon tea- mine was so delicious that I wasn't envious of his at all (aside from that yummy looking macaroon)... He was also super delighted with the birthday cake which appeared right at the end, a hand finished chocolate mousse cake (it took all my energy to not be selfish and order the vegan banana and chocolate cake when booking!)- it really finished the special occasion off perfectly.

The final review note on my time at The Ritz is that the service was, as expected, impeccable. The Ritz spend months training their staff and it shows in the professionalism they demonstrate. They are invisible- topping up tea and picking up napkins, offering fresh plates of sandwiches and additional cakes. All with a smile and an air of true pleasure for their job- I loved it!

I'd 100% return to The Ritz for a special occasion. It's a remarkable experience and one I'd love to share with other people again! It is very formal, expensive and not a spur of the moment thing (clearly from their sincerely advance booking requirement), but definitely an afternoon tea I'll remember for ever!

I'm hoping to document a few of the ultra special and memorable afternoon teas on here, so stay tuned! In the meantime, please drop recommendations below, or tweet us @prettyposhomg.

Lauren