Afternoon tea at Andaz London: a taste of Japan.

Miyako is the only sushi bar we know of inside a London hotel - which also serves a rather distinctive Japanese afternoon tea

I recently went on an afternoon tea tasting with Laura Porter of About.com London – but one with an unconventional and distinctly Nippon flavour.

As a committed Japan-o-phile who has already blogged about London hotels for Japan addicts, I was keen to check out the Miyako sushi bar nestled inside the beautiful Andaz London.  And with Laura being just about the world expert on afternoon tea in London, we felt reasonably qualified between us to run the Miyako afternoon tea through its paces.

The first thing I noticed was the price list - from which it was clear that this is definitely one of the best-value London hotel afternoon teas.

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The selection of Japanese green teas offered at Miyako

Having perused the various options, Laura and I decided to make different choices in the name of research.  Laura went for the £15 version which consisted of sweet white peach bean paste wrapped with soft rice cake, a Japanese style vanilla cream filled cookie and chestnut and sweet red bean paste wrapped in Japanese cake.  That probably sounds a bit mysterious and we had no real idea either of how these items would look and taste!

My £21 version was equally intriguing: Japanese sponge cake with green tea and another sponge with honey, a milky flavour white bean paste in Japanese cake and “pure chocolate” wrapped in rice cake topped with cocoa powder, as well as warabi mochi wrapped in red bean jelly.

You can see both of our plates pictured below (courtesy of Laura’s review).

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The two afternoon tea menu options at Miyako as sampled by us (photo courtesy of About London - link below)

The experience was quite unique and nothing like the conventional show-off afternoon tea of scones, cakes and sandwiches which traditional London hotels do so well – particularly the likes of The Langham and Brown’s.  In general it was less sweet and possibly had a more diverse (or at least unfamiliar) range of flavours than a traditional English afternoon tea.  It suited my palette perfectly but I admit may not be for everyone.

As a bit of a green tea freak, I was impressed by the authenticity of their various in-house blends.  In fact one of them was so strong, they told me it wasn’t even listed on their menu!  They seem to relish doing “proper” Japanese teas here of the sort you’ll find in Japan…

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Green tea at Miyako - this blend had a proper, soup-like consistency and so was appropriately served in a big bowl. Apologies for the slurp marks on the side!

The staff at Miyako know their stuff too – they provided clear explanations of some of the more mysterious items on the menu and helpfully presented us with a tray of fresh tea leaves when we ummed and ahhed about our tea choice.  We were told they plan to add a proper Japanese tea ceremony to their afternoon tea offering in the near future.

So if you want to experience a no-holds-barred Japanese tea ritual in a luxury London hotel, Miyako is definitely the place you should head to.  And doing so might put you in the mood to take a train to Holland Park afterwards for a walk in London’s secret Japanese garden.

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Photo credits: Miyako at Andaz London, London Hotels Insight photos, Laura Porter (About London).

Tagged as: Andaz Hotel