London's Top Tea Parties

By Catherine Calvert
June 5, 2007
0707_teaparties
Sue Parkhill
Here are the best spots to enjoy a traditional afternoon tea in London.

For all its swank and glamour, a formal afternoon tea still has a place in British society. Of course, you'll see Russians surrounded by shopping bags and bodyguards, Japanese photographing the teapot, and Americans buried in guidebooks. But you'll hear British accents, too, as they celebrate, or seduce, or do a deal. (Meaning you should book that teatime at least six weeks ahead; these are popular spots.)

The Ritz has been serving tea ($72) in the flowery, domed Palm Court, where golden cupids frolic around the ceiling, for a hundred years. It's so romantically over the top that if you aren't in love when you sit down, you soon will be, if only with the baby-carrot cake. Waiters in swallow-tailed coats bear many silver trays of tea sandwiches; the smoked salmon ones are especially fine.

Once the tearoom at Brown's Hotel was quite, well, brown; now that the hotel has been given a stylish shake by new owner Rocco Forte, the golden oak paneling is joined by modern olive and cranberry low-slung chairs, attracting the trendy without scaring the traditionalists. The smart little pastries look like something from nearby art galleries, but there are also the tea-sopping cakes--Victoria sponge, Dundee cake--that have partnered with tea here forever ($65).

If you crave more of a high tea--and remember, a high tea means a workingman's supper--The Dorchester has a very highfalutin one ($85), with main courses like poached salmon. The Dorchester stands out for its emphasis on house-made treats and seasonal ingredients. Choices change with the chef's mood: One day may bring a caramelized-pineapple brûlée, another rose-petal jam. The afternoon tea starts at $57.

Sleek art deco drama is Claridge's keynote: The china lacks the rosy-posies you find elsewhere, and the room is lit for intimacy. Walls are hung with photos of past patrons, including the Duchess of Windsor, and there's a discreet buzz in the darkened room; it's not surprising, as champagne appears on many tables. This is a sensuous sort of teatime ($62), where the chocolate cake is an uncivilized ooze.

Another worthwhile tea ($39) is at The Wolseley, the clubby, high-ceilinged café on Piccadilly where the waiters barely stop short of kissing hands. The sparkling space is prime territory for the dealmakers and the diamond-adorned, the bankers and the Beckhams. After a subtle ogle at the crowd, eyes drop to the plates: Finger sandwiches march in precision, scones break open with a twist of the wrist. This is where old and new England meet at the tea table.

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Humble Beginnings

Forget everything you learned from The New World and Pocahontas. The real story of the Jamestown colony is more intriguing than the movies. Pocahontas, probably about 10 years old when the colonists arrived, never had any romantic entanglement with Captain John Smith but did eventually marry an English-man named John...John Rolfe, that is. Smith was a notorious braggart who arrived here in chains after being arrested during the voyage. By his account, he saved the colony every other week (and it needed a lot of saving; in the winter of 1609-1610, for instance, more than 70 percent of the population starved to death). Now is a great time to experience this story firsthand, minus the starving. The first permanent English colony in America--Smith and the others landed here in 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock--celebrates its 400th anniversary with special events all year long, including a visit this past May by Queen Elizabeth II. Jamestown is divided into two parts. Historic Jamestowne is the site of the original colony, and from April to late September or early October, visitors watch archaeologists working where the fort once stood, and rangers and volunteers discuss the progress of the digs, which have turned up about a million artifacts. Last summer, the crew found a 17th-century luggage tag: It's marked YAMES TOWNE but arrived in the right place anyway (a nice little lesson in efficiency for today's airlines). In a visitors center that debuted in January, a short film explains that the colony, a commercial venture, was meant to find gold or at least a passage to the Orient. The Archaearium, which opened last year, shows off artifacts found at the site. One exhibit presents information on colonial-era medical practices (including brain surgery) and tools. Other objects tell a lot about daily life: A small silver implement shaped like a dolphin, for example, has a spoon at the tail that was used for removing earwax. The museum is above the ruins of a 17th-century statehouse; you can see the remains through glass floor panels. Historic Jamestowne shows the bones; Jamestown Settlement, built for the 1957 anniversary (which Queen Elizabeth also attended), puts flesh on them. There are replicas of the three ships that brought the colonists, as well as full-size re-creations of their fort and a Native American village. Guides in period dress show how colonists raised crops, treated hides, built canoes, and more. It'd be corny if the guides weren't so knowledgeable. A recently completed visitors center houses a 30,000-square-foot museum that traces the history of the area from the arrival of the first Native American settlers, around 15,000 years ago, up to the 18th century. Included with entry to Historic Jamestowne is Yorktown Battlefield, to the northeast. It's at the other end of the 23-mile-long Colonial Parkway (America's narrowest national park) and the other end of the colonial era. The site of the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War, it's where British forces surrendered to George Washington in 1781. Like Jamestown Settlement, Colonial Williamsburg is an open-air museum--and again the folks in period dress raise concerns, but there's much to learn, and the experience is a lot of fun. The town does seem to have covered all the bases on trinket sales (need a tiny tricorn hat for your Pekingese?). It's easy to walk the area, and maybe more enjoyable to rent a bike from Bikesmith. When it's time for a bite to eat, Josiah Chowning's Tavern is a friendly spot: Tables are shared, the period music is live, and the waiters teach colonial-era dice games. The Sampler Platter, with ribs, coleslaw, tangy cheese dip with slivers of toast, and more, easily feeds two. The Quality Inn Lord Paget, a few minutes drive from the colonial area, is an old motor inn; some rooms have four-poster beds, and the included self-serve breakfast (cereal, yogurt, bagels, fruit, even biscuits and gravy) is nice, though the breakfast room can get full to overflowing. Some genius at Berret's Seafood has topped a crab cake sandwich with more crab--the result is untraditional, but delicious. Transportation   Bikesmith 515 York St., 757/229-9858, bike $14.50 per day Lodging   Quality Inn Lord Paget 901 Capitol Landing Rd.,800/537-2438, choicehotels.com from $54 Food   Josiah Chowning's Tavern 109 E. Duke of Gloucester St., 757/229-2141, Sampler $24   Berret's Seafood 199 S. Boundary St., 757/253-1847, crab cake sandwich $12 Activities Note: Multisite passes are available   Historic Jamestowne 757/229-0412, historicjamestowne.org,$10, kids 15 and under free   Jamestown Settlement 888/593-4682, historyisfun.org, $13.50, $6.25 kids 6-12   Yorktown Battlefield 757/898-2410, nps.gov/york   Colonial Williamsburg 800/447-8679, history.org, $36, $18 kids 6-17  

Hong Kong Gets Green

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