Just a few minutes' walk from Earl’s Court, Hotel Xenia is a charming spot for afternoon tea in Kensington. The stylish hotel offers afternoon tea ‘with an Italian twist’, courtesy of the hotel’s head chef, Raffaele Lauriola. He pulls flavours and techniques from his native Puglia, resulting in a brilliant selection of Italian-themed sweet and savoury treats. It’s the perfect way to while away an afternoon in Kensington, especially when paired with a glass of Prosecco or Champagne.
The hotel restaurant, La Terrazza, is a light and bright space with plush seating and hanging plants above the bar. Given the hotel’s location, this dining room is the perfect place to stop in after a morning of exploring the Design Museum, Natural History Museum or V&A.
For your afternoon tea at Hotel Xenia, we recommend starting things off with a glass of bubbly. From there, you can enjoy various sandwiches, cakes, scones and teas. Expect classics like egg mayo and rocket, roasted English beef with mustard or smoked salmon with cream cheese, as well as some more Italian entries like focaccia with confit tomato, basil pesto and olives or gorgonzola and mascarpone with walnuts.
The sweet selection follows a similar theme, with British entries like homemade scones with clotted cream and jam alongside Italian desserts like chocolate tiramisu with pistachio crumble, baci di dama cookies with coffee ganache and Amalfi lemon curd tartlet. We do, however, recommend staying for dinner afterwards. That way, you can sample the full menu of delicious Italian fare including antipasti, pasta, pizza, risotto, meat and fish too. There’s a great list of Italian wines to try too, featuring options from all over the country. To make a booking for afternoon tea at Hotel Xenia’s La Terrazza restaurant, simply select a time and group size on the right.