High Tea at the Merrion Hotel
An Elegant Afternoon Tradition
As a little girl I loved all things elegant and all things dainty. I was quite the girly girl, a trait which my mother indulged a bit. Every once in a while she would take my sister and I to high tea at the Adolphus Hotel in our hometown of Dallas. In the elegant sitting room, we perched on the silk and damask sofas, practicing our best manners and enjoying acting like grown ladies with tea cups balanced in our little hands.
I'm not a little girl any more, but my love of high tea and all things fancy carries on. The other day as I was working away in my room at The Merrion in Dublin, I was overcome with the desire for a pot of tea... and then I saw that I could have tea with all of the trimmings delivered to my room. Clearly, that was the choice for me. Room service delivered a darling little table trimmed with a silver tea service and the hotel's signature china.
The Menu
finger sandwiches
with assorted fillings including minted chicken salad,
egg salad, salmon and cream cheese,
and the tea room classic: cucumber with cream cheese
three kinds of scones
with clotted cream and raspberry jam
an assortment of tea breads, tarts, and pastries
tea or coffee
with cream and two kinds of sugar
The menu varies daily but always includes the high tea basics: finger sandwiches, scones, sweets, and tea. If you are not staying at The Merrion, you can still have the high tea experience. Heated with peat-burning fireplaces, the three drawing rooms on the first floor are cozy and charming, and you get a sense for the Georgian majesty of the entire hotel. Each afternoon the drawing rooms were full of people sipping tea, and I even spotted a few mothers with their daughters engendering a love of tea in yet another generation.
Afternoon Tea
Cost: €35 per person
The Merrion Hotel
Upper Merrion Street
Dublin, Ireland
Ph: +353 1 603 0600
http://www.merrionhotel.com
