Afternoon tea review: Mint Hotel, Manchester

We stayed for a couple of nights at the simple but lovely Mint Hotel and enjoyed their surprisingly good (not to mention good value) afternoon tea. They had a lovely selection of sandwiches, nice scones, and nice, not too heavy cakes. The Piccadilly Lounge is a lovely place for people watching.

It gets a solid 8.5 out of 10 on the Scott Scale.

That makes my current rankings look like this:

1. Peninsula Hong Kong 9.5/10

2. Lovejoy's San Francisco 9/10

3. Mint Hotel Manchester 8/5/10

4. Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong 8/10

4. Westin Melbourne 8/10

6. Ritz-Carlton Singapore 7.5/10

7. Four Seasons Hong Kong 7/10

7. Hyatt Hotel Canberra 7/10

7. Langham Place Hong Kong 7/10

7. Regent Singapore 7/10

7. Sheraton on the Park Sydney 7/10

7. Swissotel The Howard London 7/10

Afternoon tea review: Swissotel London

Just back from a whirlwind European trip. We had a lovely time but of course now I am struggling with the post-holiday blues (for which apparently the only cure is to book another holiday). We went to Singapore, London, Winchester, Manchester, Berlin and Amsterdam. We spent most of our time in Berlin. I had never been to Europe in Winter before. It was quite cold!

I did of course manage a couple of afternoon teas. Tom and I met with his sister Christina, who has been living in Switzerland the past few years, at Swissotel the Howard hotel in London on a chilly afternoon for afternoon tea. We had their traditional tea but on reflection I think we should have had their special TL afternoon tea, which includes fun little cakes in the shape of London icons such as Big Ben (see picture).

The weather was perfect for indulging in tea and scones. We also had sandwiches and pastries. I thought the cakes and scones were very good and I enjoyed the tea. I thought the sandwiches were a bit dull. The Mauve Bar is quite nice, but I found the chairs to be far too low.

Overall, it gets a 7 out of 10 on the Scott scale.