Afternoon Tea at the Montague (Restaurant)

Top 10 things you need to know about Afternoon Tea at the Montague on the Gardens:

1) Time stood still at the Alice in Wonderland tea party and, similarly, at Montague on the Gardens, it’s always tea time between midday and 6pm.

2) The Mad Hatter advised to be nice to time, and it will always be whatever time you want it to be. Be nice at the Montague and you can make teatime a light lunch or a traditional afternoon tea. On Sundays it can be a boozy time with free-flowing champagne. Or, on weekdays, pay just £2 more and have a cocktail thrown in.

3) Enter via the hotel lobby and sitting room; all very Regency style with gold-painted picture frames, marble fireplace and heavy drapery.

4) The summery tea rooms lighten up the scene with steampunk fans hanging from the ceiling and light flooding in through the windows. On a sunny day this scene is even curiouser, as Alice would say, as you can sit out on the decking in the centre of the city, near the British Museum, but idyllically surrounded by greenery.

5) Time here unwinds slowly and comfortably. Sofas and armchairs, carpets and calmness, quietly spoken staff - the result discourages loud conversations and creates a mood of contemplation and civility - but no sleeping dormouse or March Hare.

6) You’ll discover Alice in Wonderland magic when you look out the back window and find there’s a beach bar with real sand and surfboards!

7) Proceedings kick off with the arrival of a teabox at your table: little jars of black tea, white tea, herbal infusions and a dried grass from South Africa that sort of looks like tea.

8) With your sense of time gone out the window, a tiny sand timer - measuring 3½ minutes for the perfect brew - is helpfully provided.

9) The goodies come on a three-tiered cake stand: cucumber sandwiches with their crusts off, egg mayonnaise beside them, tasty free-range chicken with almonds, and smoked salmon at the bottom, two types of home-made scones wrapped in a napkin for warmth in the middle and, atop, gorgeous cakes - eclairs, strawberry tarts - daring you to eat them first.

10) Clotted cream and jam complete the food scene. It’s all terribly English. Time for a refill. Slip down the rabbit hole and leave time behind....read more