After all our running around for the first few days, Kate and I splurged a little with a posh Fortnum & Mason afternoon tea. Their Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon is decked out in one of my favorite colors – mint – so of course this is where I got a reservation. As soon as you step into the tea salon on an upper floor of Fortnum & Mason, the atmosphere completely changes. With a tranquil color scheme and music playing, you feel as if you can comfortably linger awhile – and we did.

The staff turns the tea into a bit of a formal affair, as I was helped into my seat by the host and given two weighty, bound menus. One for the meal, and one for tea blends. We both ordered the traditional afternoon tea, although there were savory and vegetarian afternoon teas available. I opted for the Royal Blend tea, and Kate opted for the Jubilee Blend. They were both excellent! We had to try a sip of each other’s tea for comparison’s sake – while we each preferred my own choices by a thin margin, they were each delicious.

Speaking of delicious – the whole afternoon tea was amazing. The little tower of delicate plates may not look intimidating, but by the end we were so full we could only eat half of the sweets and cake – and I always finish dessert.

(We did, however, order extra salmon tea sandwiches. Those things were impossible to put down.)

I started with my scones, clotted cream, and jam before moving on to the tea sandwiches. I think one of the things I missed most about the UK was clotted cream and salmon on everything. (Other sandwich flavors were Coronation chicken, ham, and cucumber. All good.) We hadn’t even eaten breakfast and those two courses alone would have been able to tide me over until a late dinner. But we didn’t want anything to go to waste, so after another round of salmon finger sandwiches, we tasted each of the sweets and an amazingly rich chocolate mousse cake.

It was raining outside pretty heavily after our 1.5-hour lunch was over, so we browsed through the rest of the department store for a while. I decided that if I ever have the funds, I’m stocking my future kitchen with china sets from Fortnum & Mason. (I also wouldn’t say no to an endorsement deal, if any F&M employees come across this! ha.) Eventually, we had enough space in our stomachs again to hit the tea tasting counters… But not enough to visit the ice cream parlour. All in all… it was a very delicious afternoon.