{"id":24138,"date":"2009-11-25T07:33:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T06:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/nl\/high-tea-at-fortnum-and-mason-london\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T09:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:35:26","slug":"high-tea-at-fortnum-and-mason-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/high-tea-at-fortnum-and-mason-london\/","title":{"rendered":"High Tea at Fortnum and Mason, London"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"St.<\/p>\n

St. James’s Restaurant at Fortnum and Mason \u00a9Fortnum and Mason<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When I arrived at Fortnum and Mason, it was after sundown and the right time for High Tea. High Tea is served later in the day and is a more substantial meal than the lighter fare that is commonly associated with afternoon tea. \u00a0After entering through F&M\u2019s\u00a0oak doors on Piccadilly, I took the lift up to the 4th Floor St. James\u2019s, a full service restaurant that serves meals and teas of all kinds. The restaurant is light, airy, has a quiet ambiance, tables set a good distance apart, live piano music, and for a lucky few, tables next to the windows overlooking Piccadilly below. \u00a0Even though I requested one, they were all reserved for a function later that evening.<\/p>\n

After opening\u00a0on this spot\u00a0in 1707 as a small grocery shop, Fortnum and Mason have been doing business\u00a0at 181\u00a0Piccadilly for over 300 years.\u00a0 They have a long history of dealing in\u00a0exotic imported foods and other fine goods, including full leaf teas of all kinds, and have earned numerous Royal Warrants<\/a>. From the beginning, Fortnum and Mason have sold tea to anyone who asked, a novel idea in the 1700\u2019s when tea drinking was limited mostly to the aristocracy.<\/p>\n

On F&M\u2019s tea menu, your choices will be 1) Fortnum\u2019s Classic Afternoon Tea, 2) Fortnum\u2019s Estate Afternoon Tea, or 3) Fortnum\u2019s High Tea. The difference between the two afternoon teas and the high tea is that you receive finger sandwiches with the afternoon teas, but a choice of a heartier meal for the high tea. On the High Tea menu are (choose one) Welsh rarebit, English muffin with Free Range Poached Eggs, Smoked Haddock with Poached Egg, St. James Shepherd Pie, or a Blue Cheese & Fig Tart.<\/p>\n

After being in the tea business for more than 300 years, Fortnum and Mason sells 130 different teas in its main store on Piccadilly. Of these, the tea menu at their St. James\u2019s Restaurant contains a staggering 75 different choices of teas from around the world, some common varieties and some very rare single estates. There are 22 blends, 6 herbal infusions, and 47 single estate choices.<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom says that I should have selected a strong Assam-like tea to stand up to the heavier \u201cHigh Tea\u201d foods on the menu, but I don\u2019t always like to follow the rules.\u00a0 In reading through the tea menu, I was stopped in my tracks by the description of a Darjeeling FTGFOP that grows in challenging conditions high up in the foothills of the Himalayas from bushes over a century old.\u00a0 How could you possibly pass that up? It was fantastic but in retrospect, maybe\u00a0a little too light. For you tea connoisseurs out there, FTGFOP stands for Fancy (or fine) Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe,\u00a0one of the\u00a0grades\u00a0of high-quality Darjeelings.<\/p>\n

The High Tea starts out with a plate of canap\u00e9s, which include a salmon mousse, a ham roll, an anchovy bread stick, and a cheese stick \u2013 a nice light start to get the taste buds working. Then for my heavier selection, I chose the Welsh rarebit with confit tomato.<\/p>\n

\"Welsh<\/p>\n

Welsh Rarebit served with High Tea at Fortnum and Mason \u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I could see how a dish like this would really satisfy after a long day of laboring in the city or in the fields.\u00a0 It was warm and delicious.<\/p>\n

Then the scones arrived with Somerset clotted cream and strawberry preserves.\u00a0 Most clotted cream comes from the southwest English counties of Devon, Cornwall or Somerset – they raise cows there (Jersey) that yield the high fat milk that is ideal for making clotted cream.\u00a0 Fortnum and Mason\u2019s Somerset clotted cream was thicker, firmer, and more yellow (higher buttermilk fat) than Devonshire clotted cream and really delicious.<\/p>\n

However, for me, the surprise of the High Tea was Fortnum and Mason\u2019s strawberry preserve. \u00a0I have been to quite a few afternoon and high teas, and have tasted berry preserves in many forms, shapes and sizes, but this one just stood out. It had chunks of fruit and just the right amount of sweetness. I was so enamored\u00a0with the strawberry preserve that I can\u2019t even tell you much about the scones themselves, except that there were plain and raisin varieties.<\/p>\n

\"Strawberry<\/p>\n

Strawberry Preserve \u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

They were merely the transport mechanism for delivering the clotted cream and, especially, the strawberry preserves.<\/p>\n

Right about this time, the piano player started up with a version of happy birthday to a young couple seated near the front. Then everyone nearby joined in, and the couple\u00a0seemed quite pleased by the attention.<\/p>\n

The sweets included a slice of date and walnut loaf and madeleines.\u00a0 Your waiter will bring you a tray of about 6-7 additional types of sweets for you to pick from. I chose a chocolate tart and an almond plum tart.<\/p>\n

\"High<\/p>\n

High Tea Table Setting at Fortnum and Mason \u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After the High Tea was over, I took the lift back down to the ground floor and purchased a jar of strawberry preserve to bring home to my wife.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the baggage screeners at Heathrow had a different idea and\u00a0confiscated the gift since it, according to them, exceeded three ounces.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about that, because it was labeled in grams, but it had to be awfully close. Next time, I will \u201ccheck\u201d a bag to be sure to get some of this\u00a0sweet nectar home, safe and sound.<\/p>\n

\"Fortnum<\/p>\n

Fortnum and Mason Main Entrance on Piccadilly \u00a9HighTea.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When I arrived at Fortnum and Mason, it was after sundown and the right time for High Tea. High Tea is served later in the day and is a more substantial meal than the lighter fare that is commonly associated with afternoon tea. \u00a0After entering through F&M\u2019s\u00a0oak doors on Piccadilly, I took the lift up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2570],"tags":[2552,2607,2598,2608,2554,2555],"class_list":["post-24138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-en-uk-ireland","tag-en-afternoon-tea","tag-en-clotted-cream","tag-en-england","tag-en-fortnum-mason","tag-en-high-tea","tag-en-london"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24144,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24138\/revisions\/24144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hightea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}