Mandarin Oriental Paris Tearoom, 750001 Paris

If you’re into cool tea rooms with lots of flowers,  solicitous waiters, linen place mats, fine china and so on then the tea served in the Camelia Room of the Mandarin Oriental is  for you.   But you mustn’t look too closely at the bill, because all this does nor come cheaply….

The most famous item on the tea menu is the St. Honore patisserie, named aptly after the fabulous shopping street on which the Hotel lies.  It is probably the most complicated cake made by patissiers in France.  Three sorts of pastry, three sorts of cream and everything has to be just perfect as otherwise the pastry gets soggy.  Here is a photo of the cake we had at the Mandarin Oriental and it was d e l i c io u s.!

There are full set teas available at Euros 45 with finger sandwiches, patisseries etc. and  another menu with champagne,  even if it is teatime.  Otherwise you can just have tea and cakes  and there is  a wide range of teas, infusions and  coffees available as well as  a tempting array of other cakes in all shapes and sizes.

An outing not to be undertaken lightly, but a lovely experience, especially the massed red tulips everywhere and the charming and helpful staff.

There is also a very  welcoming bar on the opposite side of the hotel foyer – but that will be for another time!