Delaunay Afternoon Tea

Last Thursday, Molly and I had the afternoon off, so we decided to have tea at the Delaunay. Since the afternoon tea was under 20 pounds, I assumed there would be no refills, and wasn’t expecting much. I was wrong. Very wrong.

We walked in to the Counter at the Delaunay, a little pub-like-cafe-restaurant and said we had a reservation for afternoon tea. The waiter then brought us to a different, fancier restaurant with coat check and a humungus booth.

Once we ordered our teas, we quickly got the drinks (Earl Grey and Assam) as well as the 3 tiered food tray. When we saw there was only one of each dessert, Molly asked if we could get free refills, and they assured us that we could get as much as we want of everything. Color me impressed.

It is a Viennese afternoon tea, so I knew it would not be my traditional fare. There was an interesting eggplant spread with peppers, smoked salmon with cream cheese, cheesy crackers with cream cheese and then a kind of scone topped with jam, cucumber and meat. Different, but yummy. And that black bread is obviously incredibly healthy, right?

When asked, Molly and I both opted to try both the traditional scone, and the Poppy Seed Gugelhupf. It was recommended that we pair the Gugelhupf with the apricot jam and whipped cream, and the scone with the clotted cream and strawberry jam. The scones, especially the second order, were warm and buttery, while the Gugelhupf was so incredibly soft and moist and I am a huge Poppy Seed fan, so it was amazing.

The desserts were excellent. My favorite would be the pistachio square with lemon icing in the center, but the rhubarb tart, cheesecake and battenberg each held their own. I even tried a bite of the chocolate mint cake, and the coffee cake, and though they are not flavors I enjoy, they still tasted pretty good 🙂
Molly wanted more sandwiches, and I wanted to try the Battenberg cake that she’d had, but the waitress misunderstood, and we ended up getting refills on all 3 tiers. We tried our darnedest, but we just could not finish it.
I would also give this place an 8, because it is the most incredible value for your money, a very fancy atmosphere, and the food, albeit non-traditional, was delicious.