GLC’s Indian afternoon tea at the Strand Palace Hotel

Daawat’s Indian afternoon tea

“I’m having tea at the Strand Palace Hotel”, I declared in a faux-grandiose manner to my landlord.

As a gentleman who has known the London arts scene for many a year, he then recounted tales of pre-Perestroika Soviet orchestras staying at the very same hotel during UK tours – making the very most of the buffet breakfast by eating and stashing as much as they possibly could in the hope of saving-up their Pound Sterling per diems as cold hard cash.

A check on the ever-trusty Wiki reveals that it was also popular amongst US troops in the Second World War as a ‘rest and recuperation residence’. With the legends that were created around American troops stationed in Britain at that time, I’m sure the ‘recuperation’ often went long into the night.

I’d say two thirds of the Strand Palace Hotel’s name is correct – it’s on the Strand and it’s definitely a hotel, but gone are the days where it could be considered grand. There’s a good chance that many of the current fixtures and fittings would have been brand new to those Russian musicians.

But though many of the original features and later deco additions are long gone, it is still there, thriving as a hotel in the heart of London and now with a different international feature – the Indian cuisine of Daawat.

I have to admit, I was quite excited at the prospect of an Indian afternoon tea – I fancied I would travel back to the time of the British Raj, fanned by palm leaves and watching exotic wildlife trot past the window.

But as this is a modern hotel restaurant in the heart of London, I had to make do with air con and a couple of pigeons pottering around on the pavement outside.

My friend Claire (with whom I share a wonderfully standoffish relationship) and I took our seats in the initially empty dining room and were soon brought our teas (the fancy Assam / Darjeeling / Chai types) and our stand of savouries and sweets.

Savouries

Chicken tikka mini burger and Achari prawn open sandwich stood out, and the Bombay Mix quickly disappeared, before the sultana scones Victoria sponge cake Macaroon and mini fruit tarts were seen to.

Close-up of the savouries

Nothing brought to us was exceptional, but it was decent, tasty stuff on the whole.

So the food was all perfectly fine, but I couldn’t help feel it could all have been ‘more’ Indian – a braver attempt at doing a themed afternoon tea from a restaurant which, according to Trip Advisor, does seem to do its á la carte offerings pretty well.

It felt a little a little too Anglicised: more Banbury than Bangalore; Chichester than Chennai; Colchester than Kolkata…you get the idea.

Sweets

The people at Daawat have definitely got the right idea – afternoon tea is big business and a no-brainer for restaurants hoping to fill that ‘twixt-theatre gap between lunch and dinner. Plus they have a decent shtick.

But instead of offering their current menu at £16.95, they should go the whole hog, or even the whole elephant, ramp up the price to £30 and give their diners a real treat.

I’ll definitely keep this place on my radar but right now it’s not troubling the standout afternoon tea offerings in the capital.

Thank you to Strand Palace Hotel for hosting us.

The Strand Palace Hotel can be found at 372 Strand, London WC2R 0JJ. Nearest tubes are Covent Garden and Embankment.