Last Updated on September 20, 2025
A celebratory cream tea at the Hilton
The Podium Restaurant at the London Hilton on Park Lane is offering an afternoon tea that’s the ideal way to fortify yourself before or after coming up to town for Christmas shopping or visiting Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. It’s also a great opportunity to experience the incredible pastry skills of an award-winning team whose members include the winners of 2018’s Bake Off: The Professionals.
The Hilton is fully decked out for Christmas and the centrepiece in its foyer is a huge sparkling tree. The Christmassy theme continues in the restaurant – it’s a bit like entering a gingerbread grotto and sure to delight any children in your party.
We were greeted by the Podium’s friendly waiting staff and shown to our sunny window seats overlooking the hustle and bustle of Park Lane with Hyde Park in the distance.
We decided to enter into the festive spirit and opted for the champagne version of the afternoon tea. We enjoyed perfectly chilled glasses of Pommery Brut Royale, an excellent foil to the sweet onslaught to follow.
Tea itself is taken very seriously here. The wide selection of premium organic leaf teas is supplied by Hope and Glory, which sources only from ethical growers. We both chose the Lapsang Souchon and it was possibly the nicest I have had – smooth, not too smoky and very refreshing. Our individual teapots were kept topped up and the chance to try different teas offered. For those who aren’t tea drinkers, the usual range of coffees is also offered.
Next came platters of perfectly formed finger sandwiches and miniature rolls featuring – I’m pleased to report – the classic flavours of the British afternoon tea. Cucumber and cream cheese was served on fluffy white bread – a rare treat these days. The delicate flavours were allowed to come through as the sandwiches were not over seasoned. Tuna and Pommery mustard on wholemeal was filling and meaty. Coronation Chicken was creamy and delicious, with a subtle curry flavour, juicy fruit and moist chicken served in a dainty brioche bun. This won the prize of top sandwich of the day for me and I could have eaten several. Egg and cress was again a very good example of an old favourite, generously filled and full of flavour in a good mayonnaise. The smoked salmon and cream cheese on brioche – another classic combination using fine ingredients.
All of these were delicious examples of the classics. The bread is perfectly fresh too – there is no danger of curling edges and disappointment here.
The savoury course polished off and after a bit of recovery time, the sweet elements of the tea were brought to the table – a selection of scones, pastries and fancies to share beautifully presented on a three-tiered stand. Our helpful waiter carefully described all of the delights on offer and happily answered our many questions.
We tucked into the scones, served fresh from the oven. I started with a sultana scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. It was warm, well risen and bouncy and not at all stodgy. My companion meanwhile tackled the plain scone, which she declared very light. She is someone who prefers the crustier top of a homemade scone but this didn’t stop her from enjoying it. Then it was on to the chocolate chip scone – a first time for me. Being overly greedy, I added cream and caramel spread. I imagine these scones would go down extremely well with children – a bit too sweet for this adult.
Next came a feast of creams, light sponges, elaborate chocolate work, textures, jellies, mousses. The array of sweet treats offered by the Podium Restaurant are picture perfect and lean to the continental in style.
Standouts included the passionfruit and mango gel, a delightful combination of chocolate mousse, with contrasting fruity sharp fruity flavours. We were both impressed by the pretty pink choux bun filled with a rich blueberry jelly and cream and topped with chestnut cream and a tube of meringue. The Podium’s take on the chocolate log has a golden metallic sheen and comes topped with white chocolate shards and a witty white chocolate toadstool. The brandy mousse came with a pretty white chocolate snowflake on top and lots of Christmassy cinnamon but the promised fruit cake was rather swamped by the creamy mousse.
We finally reached the top tier and the most dramatically festive specials. The chocolate reindeer macaron was as good as it looked, with a mix of crunch and melt-in-the mouth-elements. The chocolate antlers were both fun and nice to eat. I even ate the raspberry chocolate nose. We both liked the Christmas tree too. The perfectly piped pistachio cream hid a dark chocolate waffle cone inside, all sitting on a contrasting slightly salty pastry.
I would strongly suggest not having lunch before tackling the Winter Wonderland afternoon tea. You will need an empty stomach to do justice to this enormous and delicious Christmas treat.
The Winter Wonderland Afternoon Tea is offered until 2 January 2022.
Served Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12.30 – 6.00 pm, last seating 4.30 pm
Podium Restaurant and Bar
London Hilton on Park Lane
22 Park Lane,
London, W1K 1BE
(0) 20 7208 4022
Looking for a different tea? We’ve also recently reviewed the tea at Dalloway Terrace and at Gatsby’s Room at the Beaumont Hotel
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