Monday, December 15, 2014

Afternoon Tea at the Tokyo Shangri-La

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write about this, but back in October Raku and I went to another afternoon tea with our friend Kristen. This time we went to the Shangri-La hotel in Marunouchi.

This was one was harder to find much information about before going, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Does it make me a huge nerd that I research afternoon teas? The Shangri-La turned out to be fantastic though. The sitting area was more spacious and relaxing than some other places, and we never felt rushed, even though we stayed for a full three hours.

We had a choice between the signature afternoon tea and the seasonal afternoon tea, both of which sounded great. Normally when there are two choices one is substantially fancier and more expensive, but these seemed very comparable. After some discussion we opted for the seasonal menu.The food was generous, with plenty of sweets, savories, and three types of scones. Then at the end they brought out another plate of small cookies and chocolates that we couldn't even finish. I thought the quality of the food was good, and there was a good amount of diversity in the menu, although two of the savories were fish. The salmon was good, but the saurey with eggplant puree, while beautiful, had a very strong fishy flavor. Otherwise I enjoyed all the food. We all agreed that the chestnut pies were divine, especially when topped with a little maple cream.

Among the teas we tried the Italian Almond, Chestnut, and Chocolate Raisin were favorites. Raku ordered the Rose with French Vanilla tea, and while she was very satisfied with it, we might have noticed that it smelled a lot like frilly soap.

As I mentioned before the atmosphere was very relaxing, and the three of us stayed pretty late enjoying the view of the sun going down and all the lights coming up in the city. Although they dimmed the lights and started to prepare for the evening we never felt rushed or pressured to leave.

While I wouldn't rank this my very favorite afternoon tea experience it was very enjoyable and definitely ranks in the top half. I would happily recommend it to other people.

Tokyo Shangri-La Afternoon Tea
Hours: M-F 2:00-5:00, Weekends and holidays 1:30-5:30
Phone: 03-6739-7888
Address: 1-8-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Menu
Map



The Spread

Chestnut Pies


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