I went to Manchester for a few days for my boyfriend's 30th birthday, and although Afternoon Tea isn't really his thing, I decided to book it anyway, as a little 'extra', and I'm glad I did, because he really enjoyed it.
We arrived at the Opus Lounge at The Radisson Blu and were told to take a seat on the plush sofas. Another member of staff came to greet us and directed us to another section of the Opus Lounge that overlooked Peter Street. We were seated next to a floor to ceiling window, which enabled us to people watch (and for people to also watch us!). We were given a small menu and was able to pick from around 4-5 different teas. I settled for the Cylan Tea, which was very similar to traditional tea, but with a sweet kick. Being a person that doesn't usually order tea, I wasn't sure if to add milk to this or not, so tried it both ways, just in case!
Food wise, we were able to pick from either Gentleman's Tea (which consisted of sandwiches, pork pies, and fish n chips) or a Traditional Afternoon Tea. We obviously went for the latter.
We were presented with a 3-tier stand, full of delicious looking food. I was a bit apprehensive that this would fill both me and my boyfriend (who loves his food) but we walked away from there bursting at the sides, with cakes still left on the stand.
We started at the bottom and worked our way up. The sandwiches were gorgeous! That nice that I wish there were more sandwiches and less cakes (and I can't believe I just said that!).
The warm scones were yummy, with fresh cream and our own little jar of strawberry jam. I was a little gutted that I had to leave one of these scones (I would have asked for a doggy bag but thought they may have frowned upon me ;-).
The Pimms jelly and fruit was a refreshing way to end it all.
Safe to say, I was bursting at the sides for a few hours after this and actually felt rather uncomfortable.
It made a really nice change to experience something different, and it's something I would definitely do again in the future. The staff at The Radisson were fantastic and we didn't feel out of our comfort zone one bit (something I fear when going into posh hotels!).
