"The Parlour" was one of the places in London that I enjoyed visiting for afternoon tea and recommended to visitors to London or when asked for options. It's more laid back than enjoying afternoon tea at a hotel, and visitors can get a pretty good idea of actually what afternoon tea is. Also, you do not need to book so far in advance like you do some of the other venues in London, so it was always a go-to place for me to take visitors to, and I've had nice visits here before. The previous visits that I had were quite a few years ago; I took friends from America in 2013. The same friends visited this July, and they asked to go again during a whilrwind trip to London.
You can read about my first visit here (Lunch and Tea at The Parlour, Fortnum & Mason) and my second visit here (Tea in London at 'The Parlour', Fortnum & Mason). As you can see, the afternoon tea at "The Parlour" in Fortnum and Mason has changed quite a bit. The decor has changed, and the theme has changed to an even less formal appeal with cartoonish characters and illustrations on the walls and teapots.
This time, you could pick from a small selection of savoury snacks including a toasted cheese sandwich (that my friend had) or the tomato and pesto sandwich that I had. The ingredients tasted lovely and fresh with plenty of flavour.
A plain and fruit scone were provided with the clotted cream and strawberry jam.
Lastly, the afternoon tea offering included your choice of two flavours of ice cream from a small list.
So, here are my thoughts on the new "The Parlour" afternoon tea. I feel that it has lost its appeal in modernisation with more "trendy" and colourful flair. It has become more of a cafe now whereas I felt it was a little more upmarket before. My first visit was in early 2012, which I am aware that they were renovating the tearooms on site, so the only place to have afternoon tea here was in "The Parlour". For that time and the time following, the afternoon tea was more traditional with finger sandwiches, little frozen ice cream treats, scones, loose leaf tea, and a selection of ice creams at the end. It felt special. On the second visit, the visit that I had with my friends, we even received a small box of tea.
Also, the service was lacking this time as we had to wait a long while to be served, initial orders, and receive refills. In the past, we had wonderful service; the service was more professional.
Let's now discuss the food. The savoury was very nice. I'm not sure if the tea was loose leaf or just bagged tea; I actually forgot to look. It did not taste top end and I cannot remember choosing a tea. Like the previous visits, the scones were nice as well, so I cannot fault the scones or the savoury. However, the ice cream (which is one of the key aspects of "The Parlour") did not taste good. The ice cream tasted as though it had melted a little bit and refroze, but it didn't have much of a flavour nor a creamy consistency. The ice cream had previously been very good.
So, in short, I cannot recommend "The Parlour" as a place to visit for afternoon tea or ice cream. I think it would be a good stop as a cafe, but I feel that the sweet side of it has become an afterthought. It is sad to visit a place that I've once loved and thought highly of and to see that it has changed in an undesireable direction.
Leave a comment