Mad Hatters Afternoon Tea at the Cedar Court Grand, York

If there's one thing I love even more than afternoon tea, it's afternoon tea with a theme! So when I heard that my friend Kel (who incidentally loves cake as much as me) was organising a trip to the Cedar Court Grand in York for their Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea I immediately invited myself along.

Being served in the only 5 star hotel in York, the Mad Hatter's Tea is booked up months in advance and is a hefty £33 per person which is pretty much unheard of outside of London so I had high expectations. 

The hotel was gorgeous, and as we made our way upstairs to afternoon tea I enjoyed taking in all of the surroundings. I'd definitely like to stay at the Cedar Court for a special occasion one day. It was the fanciest hotel I've ever been to outside of the capital. 

The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea takes place in a room adorned with chandeliers and filled with white linen covered tables. I barely had time to appreciate any of it though as my eyes were immediately drawn to the centre piece - a large table full of colourful treats.

We were shown to our table and our hot drink order was quickly taken as we enjoyed our "Drink Me" shots of pineapple which were tasty and a fun way to introduce the theme of the afternoon. 

 

These were shortly followed by a plate of scones. I loved that they were served in the traditional way, wrapped in a linen cloth and hot from the oven.  They came with a selection of jams which seemed pointless to me because everyone was sharing the two small pots of strawberry jam. I was also slightly baffled by the tiny amount of cream we were given to share between 9 of us!

Then began the chaos!  The Mad Hatter's Tea is unconventional in that everyone takes their tea at the same time and rather than being served with a cake stand you help yourself in a buffet style. 

I could appreciate the idea behind it and the long table certainly had the wow factor. Decorated with huge sunflowers, a giant pyramid of cards, smoking tea pots and colourful cakes in all sorts of fun shapes.  It certainly looked like the Mad Hatter would very much be at home.

Unfortunately for the Mad Hatter's guests it wasn't quite as fun. The table became a bit of a free for all as everyone started helping themselves to food and I felt a bit like I was at a children's party frantically trying to beat other people's sticky fingers to the best of the food. 

We also had a bit of a mission working out what was food and what was decoration and as fun as the idea was, I think it would have been far better for each table to have it's own smaller centre piece and then to be served tea in the more traditional way.

A good 10 minutes after getting our food a lady appeared to talk to me about my nut allergy that we'd mention at the time of booking. Better late than never but it was a bit disappointing suddenly being told out of the blue that I couldn't eat some of the cakes on my plate.  When I asked her exactly what nuts were in the cakes she shrugged, said she was just passing on a message from the chef and then walked off. 

I was offered no alternatives to the food I couldn't eat which was very unusual but luckily there was still plenty I could munch.

The savoury section of the afternoon was a bit minimal. There was a small selection of sandwiches but they were tiny and rolled up which made them rather soggy. 

After that the sugar just kept on coming with a white chocolate and vanilla lollipop, a cup of green strawberry mouse, raspberry jelly, a cupcake and a white chocolate candle. 

I loved the variety and the amount of colours but after a while everything did become a little too sweet, even for a professional like me!

On the whole, once my initial excitement had worn off I was disappointed by the tea. I was expecting perfection and it felt a little like the presentation of the food had made the quality and service take a bit of a backseat.  

If you want to try out the tea for yourself the hotel are taking bookings in to next year here.

Note: since writing this review we have told the Hotel about our problems with the afternoon tea and they sent us a lovely apologetic e-mail and are offering us a complimentary afternoon tea for all 9 of us!  Amazing customer service!