The Caramel Room, The Berkeley Hotel, Wilton Place, London SW1X 7RL

The Caramel Room, The Berkeley Hotel, Wilton Place, London SW1X 7RL

12/04/2013

www.the-berkeley.co.uk

She said: Mmm, an afternoon of tea and cakes; I was looking forward to this. The Caramel Room is a fairly benign, inoffensive space by the entrance of this Knightsbridge style hotel but the unique afternoon tea certainly makes up for any lack of star-factor of the surrounds. We were seated by a large window at a perfectly set table with a place name inscribed within a cut-out fluorescent pink stiletto. The service was immaculate. We were given a full run-down of the ceremony and delicacies to come. I did struggle to keep a straight face and avoided eye-contact with him when we were shown a brochure of fashion designs upon which the Pret a Portea is modelled; to name but a few: a mouse inspired by a Burberry trench coat and umbrella; a Fendi ankle-boot biscuit; a YSL sponge handbag; and in their words not mine ‘Diane Von Furstenberg pink lady apple mousse and kalamancy cremeux topped with playful interlocking sugar puzzles’.

Our desserts were preceded by an excellent choice of sandwiches and nibbles such as mini falafel and humous, a spoon of marinated tuna, a glass of cold soup all of which were perfectly formed and pleasantly appetising. Having learned from previous afternoon teas, we paced ourselves well and tried not to fill up on the variety of teas on offer. Staff regularly checked and refreshed our tea, savouries and desserts – YES – the ultimate gold star here is that is confirmed to the ‘keep ‘em coming’ school of thought for afternoon tea allowing us to have as many rounds of whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. At £39 per head, afternoon tea at the Berkeley should be on the top 3 of anyone’s list and the novelty factor of the Pret a Portea is actually rather superb…

He said: Afternoon tea, for me, should be either very basic or very posh: a grannyish, chintzy tearoom in a faded seaside town, or the maximum luxury experience of the Savoy (see below). No-one can accuse The Berkley Hotel of being a retiring wallflower: this Knightsbridge stalwart is the first hotel that I can remember charging £15 for a drink, back when that was a lot of money. But Pret-a-Portea is, sadly, tucked into a corner, with far too little space for it to deploy its many charms. And there is a definite disconnect between its bubbly fashion vibe, and the rather dark, and masculine room. The waitress came with the menus, and it was pure David Brent cringe as she explained, at length, the Manolo inspired biscuits and other insane Fashion conceits. I hoped to see coke-addled Edina and Patsy come crashing into this bizarre Sex And the City scene. But Pret-a-Portea scores highly on food (including tasty canapés), enthusiastic service; a little takeaway box of your favourite sweets was a very nice touch. In the end, tea here was actually a fun and pleasant experience, but the concept is a little forced.