Afternoon Tea at Gordon Ramsay at The London

We’re currently in Southern California visiting my parents, and as I was researching places to eat, I found a Chowhound post detailing afternoon tea at Gordon Ramsay at The London West Hollywood. Having afternoon tea had never really been on my radar but I knew my wife would be interested, and it seemed like a great way to see what Ramsay had to offer, especially after it was awarded a star in the 2009 Michelin guide.

The main dining room at Gordon Ramsay is a really beautiful space. In the daytime, it’s bright and has a decent view considering its located in the middle of West Hollywood. In relation to the picture below, we were seated at the farthest table in the blue booth where the window meets the wall.

Here’s the menu we were served.

 

 

Selection of Teas

earl grey, English breakfast, green tea, chamomile, darjeeling,
organic peppermint, cassis, mountain berry, tangerine, fresh mint

Freshly Cut Sandwiches

Prosciutto and mozzarella with pesto butter
Goat cheese, watercress and sundried tomatoes
Smoked salmon
Prawn cocktail

Scones

Plain and Raisin
served with chantilly creme and blueberry jam

Pastries

Coffee and walnut cake
Chocolate and lavender cake
Lemon tart with pistachio
Fruit tart with lychee cream
Lemon pound cake

 

 

Here’s the whole spread as it arrived at our table:

 

 

My wife had the tangerine tea and I ordered the earl grey. I normally drink my tea straight up, but since we were doing a British-style tea, I added warm milk and sugar. The tea was really smooth and very soothing. I may start doing the milk-and-sugar thing more often.

 

 

 

We started with the plain and raisin scones, which were served warm and went perfectly with the creme chantilly and blueberry jam. One bite and you understand why this is a staple British treat. Here’s a close up of the raisin scone.

 

 

Of the tea sandwiches, the prosciutto/mozzarella/pesto butter (below) was a standout along with the goat cheese/watercress/sundried tomato. The smoked salmon and prawn cocktail sandwiches were also very good.

 

 

A perfect mini spinach quiche was served along the sandwiches.

 

 

 

The pastry selection was nice, though it was a challenge to split each bite-sized piece between the two of us. Since I love lemon flavors, my favorite was the lemon tart with pistachio. It reminded me of the lemon tart Thomas Keller serves at Bouchon except this one had light, custardy texture that I liked a lot better.

 

 

 

The chocolate lavender cake was nice because it wasn’t too sweet.

 

 

 

The fruit tart was interesting because it had passionfruit seeds and lychee cream. My wife thought the seeds were a bit weird and picked them out, but I didn’t mind them at all.

 

 

 

I don’t have a picture of the coffee/walnut cake :( but it was really good. The frosting tasted almost exactly like the mocha buttercream frosting in Goldilock’s mocha chiffon cake. (All you Pinoys out there should know exactly what I’m talking about.)

 

Tea service ended with salted caramel truffles and a pineapple pate de fruit. They really were as good as they looked.

 

 

 

Afternoon tea is served from 3-5pm between lunch and dinner service. Our reservation was right at 3 and there were still from stragglers from lunch in the dining room. Tea service is $28 per person, which is a bargain, especially when you consider that at Ramsay’s The London Bar in New York City, it costs $40 per person.