Girl (And Boy) About Townhouse | Afternoon Tea at Dean Street Townhouse, 69 – 71 Dean Street, London W1D 3SE

Picture this…

Afternoon tea in London is showing no signs of disappearing, new twists are added all the time. There’s one for men (up our street), themed ones, Route Master ones, burger ones (surprised that took so long).

In case you’re wondering, the top 10 in London named by OpenTable are:
1) Fortnum & Mason Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon
2) The Savoy, Thames Foyer
3) The Orangery at Kensington Palace
4) Palm Court at the Langham Hotel
5) The Delaunay
6) The Criterion
7) Fortnum & Mason Fountain Restaurant
8) The Wolseley
9) Berners Tavern
10) Dean Street Townhouse

We popped down to Dean Street Townhouse to try theirs, mainly because it’s somewhere that I’ve wanted to go for years and haven’t got round to it. Plus we like an underdog (they came in at number ten on the above list). The option of mixing and matching with their High Tea menu which sounded ideal to us too. On a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon the place was packed, seems a spot inside the Georgian townhouse is more appealing than a spot outside in the sunshine.

Guess who got the girlie cocktail… Oh yes, Ade as always!

Decor is rather ‘establishment’ or old school private members club mixed with the vibe of Joe Allen’s in Covent Garden. Table setting is fairly formal, crisp white linen and sparkling glassware, but the atmosphere is relaxed. Loved all the painting and artwork on display, if you run out of conversation (like the couple opposite) you can always admire what’s hanging on the wall. We perched at the bar sipping cocktails whilst waiting for our table (we were 15 minutes early – but any excuse for a cocktail). A fiery long Soho Mule (£10) for me and a Griffin Sidecar (£10) for him.

Tea for two… just about!

Duck! Egg…

You gotta roll with it (this is the second time today I’ve written this caption)

We decided to share one Townhouse tea (£19.50) between the two of us as – Finger sandwiches (salmon & cream cheese, egg mayonnaise and ham and mustard) scones with jam and clotted cream, a selection of fancy cakes and tea of our choice. First up was the items chosen from the High tea menu – a magnificent Sausage roll (£6) served with a dollop of ketchup on the side of the plate and perfect Scotch duck egg (£7.50) sat atop a creamy chive mayonnaise.

Then the afternoon tea arrived, I was already worried about how we were going to get through it all, we’d popped into Smoking Goat earlier (another place on our list). We saw on Instagram that they were testing a new dish and giving it away for free, we went along ended up ordering too many other dishes, great marketing, very clever.

Anyway back to my bloated belly, I hate wasted food so hatched a plan to save a couple of slices of sausage roll for a homeless woman we saw just up the street, sadly she was no longer there by the time we got out.

Often there can be restrictions on afternoon tea, it has to be for a minimum of two people etc etc. The Townhouse tea is flexible, we liked that. Although as everything comes in threes these days (apparently it’s proven to look better aesthetically) we had to split sandwiches and cakes.

The only disappointment was the macaron which was hard and hollow. The waiter swapped it for a couple of fresh ones which were marginally better but still not quite right. The choice of tea is more than enough, all the old favourites are on there, my soothing Jasmine tea and Ade’s fave Lapsang Souchong, served in pretty navy ditsy floral tea cups.

Service was impeccable, our waitress was so efficient and kept a smile on her face, even after a few stroppy requests – yes, from the couple opposite! We were here to test the afternoon tea but I must admit that we had a chronic case of food envy every time a roast dinner with all the trimmings went by.

Ade very nearly ordered a mac and cheese because they looked and smelt so good, but even his expandable belly was full to bursting. As well as the fab main menu and expertly made cocktails, Dean Street Townhouse has 39 stunning bedrooms in which to stay, ideal after all that food. So off we went to try to find somewhere to sit and have another little cheeky cocktail in the sunshine – which is a lot harder than you would expect!

deanstreettownhouse.com
69 – 71 Dean Street, London W1D 3SE

Telephone: 0207 434 1775

Opening hours:
Breakfast: Monday – Friday: 7:00am – 11:45am, Saturday & Sunday: 8:00am – 11:45am;
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday: 12:00pm – 5:00pm;
Lunch: Monday – Sunday: 12:00pm – 5:00pm;
Dinner: Monday – Thursday: 5:00pm – 12:00am, Friday & Saturday: 5:00pm – 12:00am, Sunday: 5:00pm – 10:30pm

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Nearest station: Leicester Square (6 mins walk) Tottenham Court Road  (7 mins walk)

We ate as guests of OpenTable, this does not affect our review in any way. We always write with complete honesty.