Review: Bees, teas and macarons at St Ermin’s Hotel

Afternoon tea at St Ermin’s, Westminster. Tasty tea and honey treats. Is there a better way to spend an afternoon in autumnal London?

Afternoon tea is such a civilised past-time isn’t it? It’s also a great excuse to gorge yourself on mountains of sweet delights and slurp a dozen cups of tea in posh surroundings, without anyone around you even batting an eyelid.

From a chef’s point of view, it’s also become an extremely creative affair. Waltz into any reputable hotel these days and you’ll probably find an afternoon tea on the menu (priced on a sliding scale of fairly reasonable to downright extortionate), with many treats and savouries unique to that place.

The bees get busy

I recently visited St Ermin’s Hotel in Westminster with a good friend of mine, for an afternoon of sampling what’s probably one of the most locally sourced afternoon teas in London. You see, the honey for the hotel’s Honey Afternoon Tea comes from just a few storeys up – busily produced by their 200,000 resident Buckfast bees.