Leeds latest hotspot Dakota, a sylish, modern boutique hotel is tucked away down Russel Street – a prime location for shopping, dining and drinking. Whilst the place quite obviously offers a place to rest your head, they also have an incredibly trendy bar and grill that boasts and extensive cocktail menu, and serves up one of my most favourite treats ever… afternoon tea.
Afternoon tea is priced at £25 per person, and is served daily between 12 and 5pm. You can also add two glasses of prosecco for £15, or two house cocktails for £10. Tea and water are included in the price.
A selection of finger sandwiches is offered; smoked salmon & lemon crème fraîche; classic coronation chicken; roast sirloin & horseradish mayonaise; and marinated cucumber & cream cheese (the highlight). Each person gets one sandwich flavour each (so that works out as four sandwiches per person), which were pleasant enough, if not a little boring. I didn’t have an issue with mine, but some of my friends did complain about the beef in their sandwiches also being a little on the fatty side.
You then have an offering of fruit and plain scones (two scones each), with a generous serving of jam and cream. The scones were again okay, but they didn’t blow me away, if I’m being honest… Then dessert is a well balanced offering of homemade sweet treats. Again, as pleasant as they were, I didn’t find them the most exciting I’ve ever eaten on an afternoon tea… but I couldn’t fault them for taste and presentation.
What did really impress me however, was the cocktail offerings. I opted for a non alcoholic espresso martini (my favourite cocktail ever) – and they really hit the mark with it. I usually find that non alcoholic cocktails are pretty rubbish to be honest (fruit juices in a stupidly large glass with some leaves thrown in for good measure…), but this was exactly like drinking the classic, just without the alcohol, and I probably enjoyed it more than I would an alcoholic version. Really well played Dakota.
The afternoon tea experience here was as a whole really lovely. I do think it’s worth a visit, and would also make a wonderful experience for a birthday or a special occasion; but I think if you’re someone like me, who goes for afternoon tea alot, it just doesn’t stand out majorly from all the other offerings. Presentation was beautiful, and that did make a huge difference and upped them in my “afternoon tea rankings” but I guess I was just left wanting a little bit more excitement… Nonetheless, I would return – and I’d also recommend it to anyone looking for an afternoon jaunt in Leeds.
