Gluten Free Tea in London

I have not been to tea in London myself, but this article purports to select "the best" in gluten-free:

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/best-glutenfree-afternoon-tea-in-london-9286244.html

I just wish the Princi bakery would make gluten-free focaccia!

Scones are an integral part of English tea - you have to have them as the base for your strawberry jam and clotted cream! If a place doesn't serve scones remove yourself rapidly!

'Afternoon Tea' is what I'm sure you're referring to. Check out http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/uk/london/, and you can refine your search with Gluten Free, of which 81 places are listed. Without tea, cakes, scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam, small sandwiches, etc. it's not an 'Afternoon Tea'. You might see 'Cream Tea' which is more or less the same thing, less grand and generally with only the scones, cream and jam, but it varies.

Hard to say a 'good' one, I'd imagine more or less all of them are nice, not too many crooks in the cream tea business, but of course, the lesser ones might serve pre-made scones warmed up, as opposed to home made scones.

My wife had Afternoon Tea at the 5 star Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly, in the Palm Court and she said it was wonderful and cost around £33 per person. http://www.palmcourtlondon.co.uk/. I think you need to book online, not just turn up.

Most expensive ones I've seen are The Ritz or The Dorchester at around £50 per person, but that may have changed. You can also have a glass of Champagne added for around £10 per person more. These hotels are the top, top ones in London so actually the price didn't seem unreasonable to me. Very grand surroundings.

Picking any 5 star hotel in and around Piccadilly and I'd say you'll be in for a wonderful experience, something very traditionally English, even though most of us have never done it, lol.

I'd call and ask the venue that you choose which aspects of the Afternoon Tea are Gluten Free, just to be sure. I'd assume all of it, but you never know.

It's not something I'd personally try to do 'on the cheap' although M&S in Westfield, White City, do a very nice Cream Tea for about £5 per person.

Thank you, all! Mike, since you bring up cost, that was actually one of my other questions - whether or not the quality of the experience correlates to the price. It sounds like you think yes.

Also, (forgive the ignorance of this question), what is the proper time for Afternoon Tea? Is it in place of lunch? or a light dinner? It seems like a fair amount of food is served - more than I would consider a snack.

I do think you get more, the more you pay (of course there are bargain places out there... if you can find them), but the essence of afternoon tea will be largely the same, you are ultimately talking about small differences in quality of produce, service, and of course quality of surroundings. As it's not something you are going to do every day, or maybe even ever again, personally, I'd pay for something a little more special.

The Palm Court is really nice (don't know if they do Gluten Free though), and for a couple of hours entertainment, some food and drink, and a memorable experience, £132 all in sounds pretty good. You can of course find cheaper, £20 per person is an upper mid price to pay, a cheap afternoon tea I'd say around £10 per person, but you'd be taking more of a 'chance' on the experience, but even the worst afternoon tea is still pretty good :o)

Afternoon Tea is generally between 2-6pm. So you can relax for a couple of hours and enjoy the surroundings, arriving around 4pm works well... before the evening dinner crowd start arriving.

Afternoon Tea is more about the ritual than 'filling yourself up with food' so unless you eat like a mouse, you may still want to plan an evening meal. But it is more than a snack, depending on your appetite.

Caffe Concerto are also nice, quite a few in London, again the Piccadilly one is nice, if busy at times... http://www.caffeconcerto.co.uk/Restaurant/Menus.aspx. Their AT is better value at £30 for two, and the essential difference will be the less grand, but still nice, location. Again, not sure if they do GF.

Much appreciated advice.... thank you :)