If you managed to catch my Five Days in Las Vegas post, you’ll see that whilst I was over there, I indulged in afternoon tea at the Waldorf Astoria. It was probably one of the most memorable afternoon tea experiences for me (hello, I was in Las Vegas!), and so I wanted to remember the event in its own special blog post.
Previously known as The Mandarin Oriental, The Waldorf Astoria has now taken over the established spot on the strip, but kept the popular Tea Room and afternoon tea offering. Situated on the 23rd floor, you’re transported to the jaw dropping comforts of the tea lounge, where you can sit for a couple of hours overlooking the entire strip from floor to ceiling windows, in complete relaxation and calm.
Afternoon tea is served daily from 11.45am to 4.14pm, and can be enjoyed with a selection of loose leaf teas, endless mimosas, or a glass or two of champagne, dependent on your preference. The atmosphere is relaxed, elegant and yet casual, and you can dress up if you wish, but it wouldn’t be frowned upon if you didn’t arrive suited and booted. We certainly didn’t, we opted for the “jeans and a nice top” ensemble, which seemed to be the general dress code for most, but there were a table of ladies there looking gorgeous in their dresses and fascinators.
It’s the usual traditional serving set up here; a tier of savouries, a tier of scones, and a tier of desserts; but they do it with a slight twist, and they do it well! Savouries do include finger sandwiches – black forest ham and cucumber & dill cream cheese on pumpernickel bread – then you get smoked salmon tartar; chicken curry with trumpet mushroom & Asian pear on a sesame cone; and egg salad and chives on croissant bread (my personal favourite, the sweet and savoury combination worked a treat). But all were lovely, and I particularly enjoyed the concept of the chicken curry cone – I love anything that manages to keep tradition but still adds a bit of innovation with an afternoon tea…
Scones were beautifully doughy, and kept nice and hot, so when we got to that tier, it was as if we were eating them fresh from the oven – a lovely touch, and they were served with a really decent amount of clotted cream (a must!) and jam.
I believe the dessert selection can change depending on what the chef has put on, but these were immaculate and got the perfect balance of fruit and chocolate options. A really good selection of textures too – pastries, biscuits and sponges kept everything interesting. Sometimes on afternoon tea, you’ll have that one dessert item that no one is really interested in, and gets left, but we enjoyed every single one here and also found the portion sizes were just perfect – we were adequately full, but didn’t feel stupidly full to the point where we needed to go back to the hotel room for a lie down!
The tea selections were also incredible, they had so many to choose from – including lots I’d never heard of before. I went for a good old organic vanilla rooibos; but there were fruity, herbal, green, sweet and traditional offerings so tea lovers won’t be disappointed.
I had such an amazing, memorable experience here. It was so lovely to just escape the craziness of the strip for a few hours, whilst still being able to look out over it, and just take some time to relax and indulge. If you enjoy afternoon tea, I’d highly recommend booking yourself in if you do take a trip to Vegas.
