Summer is now upon us and I find myself scouring all must-see hot spots, even revisiting my personal favorites throughout Europe…the only problem is I won’t actually be going, but with a smattering of friends and family coming at me with where would Carrie go requests for their upcoming trips to London, Paris and Madrid it got me thinking…specifically about London, and high tea. An English indulgence, I’ve done traditional at Claridges and uber-luxe at the Lanesborough, however, a contemporary tea popular with the glamourous-set and media crowd is at the Charlotte Street Hotel, a quintessential British- and stylishly eccentric- hotel from the hip Firmdale Hotel Group, which owns 7 boutique hotels in London such as Haymarket Hotel and Covent Garden Hotel, as well as one of my preferred downtown New York destinations, Crosby Street Hotel in Soho.
The chic Kit Kemp owns the hotel group with her husband Tim, and is the interior designer of Charlotte Street where you will find Dickens novels and Wedgewood China amidst buzzy crowds while sampling fine teas from China, India, and South Africa. To accompany these teas, coffees, and bubbly, freshly made flaky scones with clotted cream and preserves, dainty cakes and pastries, macaroons, profiteroles, banana cake, miniature berry tarts and tasty finger sandwiches are avaliable and served all day in the bright bistro Oscar– named after the Academy Award winning movies shown in the hotel’s private state-of-the-art screening room- where specially commissioned bright murals blanket the walls. For those who’d prefer to keep their eating in check, gluten-free and wheat-free options are also available…but seriously, why bother? www.firmdalehotels.com
