Where: SoHo, New York City Style: Vibrant, whimsical contemporary Tea Selection: 11 loose leaf teas Teatimes: Daily, 11 to 5 Reservations: Suggested Contact: Reserve here or 212-226-6400 Cost: $85-$90 Royal Afternoon Tea; $75 Afternoon Tea Destination Tea Tip: For the very hungry, you may also order from the lunch menu.
Destination Tea Notes: Built in 2009 on a cobblestone street, Crosby Street Hotel has two sister hotels in New York City that also serve an afternoon tea: The Whitby Hotel and Warren Street Hotel. All are part of London-based Firmdale Hotels, conceptualized by Founder and Creative Director Kit Kemp, a British designer who creates spaces that have a “crafted feel” and elicit an “instant sense of adventure.” It is therefore no wonder that the best part of this afternoon tea experience is basking in Kit’s vision, a visual wonderland alive with custom textiles and furniture in a bold palette appointed with curated art. When it comes to the actual afternoon tea service, we were surprised to find the picture-perfect three-tiered tray did not deliver on flavor overall. Looks were deceiving as we smiled over the arrival of long, perfectly trimmed finger sandwiches, golden scones nestled in cloth napkins and prettily garnished pastries (details below). Because this afternoon tea in such a creatively inspiring setting is available daily, and one of the more reasonably priced in Manhattan, we’d love to see recipes tweaked and tea preparation method improved to make this an afternoon tea we’d recommend.
Seating by the front floor to ceiling windows for people watching
Like stepping into an art gallery, there is so much to take in.
All the colors are happening here.
Handcrafted handle chairs by Kit Kemp
Afternoon tea is held in The Crosby Bar, which abuts the beautiful Sculpture Garden that is only open to guests of the hotel.
Luckily, we were seated against the glass-paned French doors, allowing us to peer at the Sculpture Garden beyond.
We call this installation “I’ll Be Your Queen for All Seasons” (for the Grease 2 fans).
Tea Selection
Appreciating the tea varieties in this selection, as we each choose our teas: the Wood Dragon Oolong and White Peony Bai Mudan.
We love that Kit Kemp partnered with iconic English potter Wedgwood to produce her Mythical Creatures bone china teaset (teapot retails for $233, teacup for $100).
Rather than brew these quality teas, decant them and bring them to the table ready to serve, The Crosby Bar provides each guest a beautiful silver tea strainer alongside three-cup teapots with tealeaves loose inside. We find fault with this method because: 1. inexperienced guests may pour out their first cup too soon, weakening the brew and/or 2. as the tea wears on, the tea leaves are left to oversteep in the pot.
We do appreciate the server who graciously brings around a beautiful silver pot of hot water for a second infusion.
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
a beautiful afternoon tea presentation
While we saluted the generous finger sandwich sizes, the Roast Beef with Red Radish and Sweet Butter, and Egg Salad Sandwiches were the flavors we finished. Erring on both ends of the spectrum, the Smoked Salmon Salad was very wet, while the Cucumber Dill had a pasty creamed feta that dried it out.
As lovely as this picture looks, and as happy as we were to have a plain and fruit scone each, we actually found these scones to have a consistency reminiscent of a packaged muffin, if you tried to cross it with a scone recipe. We also doubted that this was a true clotted cream, it had the spreadability of a mascarpone blend.
The Pavlova with Chantilly and Berries was the only bite that tasted as good as it looked. At first glance, we liked the diversity of the dessert course, but found that in flavor and texture, these were nothing to write home about: Macaron, Chocolate Panna Cotta, Lemon Madeleine and Vanilla Frosted Blueberry Pop-Tart.
How disappointing that the taste didn’t match how it looked. Certainly a very pretty presentation, but I am all about how things taste. I know my scone loving husband would refuse to go anywhere that scored a 0 on scones 😀 Thanks for the review!
We love comments! Destination Tea's comment policy shares a guiding principle with afternoon tea etiquette: please be gracious. We welcome honest comments that are not rude or scathing.
How disappointing that the taste didn’t match how it looked. Certainly a very pretty presentation, but I am all about how things taste. I know my scone loving husband would refuse to go anywhere that scored a 0 on scones 😀 Thanks for the review!
Most welcome, thanks for reading! Yes, a fabulous scone is a major highlight of a good afternoon tea.