Afternoon Tea with my Mom in Manhattan

 I always try to take an afternoon tea when I travel with my mom.  I knew I wanted to find the perfect tea for our trip to New York City so after much research and debate we settled on tea at the Pembroke Room in the Lowell Hotel.   What can I say....excellent decision!!!!   

The Lowell Hotel is located in a townhouse in the Upper East Side (East 63rd between Park and Madison Avenues).    One night in their cheapest room was equal to the cost of our entire 5 day 4 night trip to New York City travelling by bus and staying at an economy hotel.   LOL!  What can I say but it was pretty "swishy!"

Everything about the afternoon tea at the Lowell was delightful.   It was a relaxing respite in our hectic NYC itinerary.  A heavenly oasis in the middle of the chaotic city. 

  
The opulent room is beautiful and well suited to afternoon tea.  The walls are covered in antique mirrors imported from France.  There were fresh roses on the table and the meal was served on fine china.  There were only two other tables in use which meant it was quiet and private too.  

We each chose Earl Grey Tea to drink and were glad to see that it was loose leaf as it should be with any proper tea.   I think our server's name was Vernon.  He was friendly and attentive, always quick to bring us more hot water or fresh tea leaves when we needed it.  .   

We started with sandwiches such as quail egg, lobster salad, smoked salmon and cucumber.   They were lovely.    Then we were on to the warm cranberry and blueberry scones with Devon cream, lemon curd and strawberry preserves.  The lemon curd was a really nice touch as it is not always offered with afternoon tea.  It was delicious! 

  

   

If I had to find a complaint it would be that I had indicated in our reservation and again to our server in person  that I was allergic to strawberries and as such the strawberry preserves should never have been offered.    Some of the empty tables were set for breakfast with mini jars of jams and I'm sure they could have found raspberry or currant or any other flavour to offer us.   We moved the strawberry preserve away from my side of the table and my Mom ate some on her scones but made sure not to contaminate the Devon cream by accidentally getting some strawberry on the spoon.     This was disappointing but a minor problem in the grand scheme of things.  

We ended the tea with a variety of tiny petit fours.  Each time I bit into one of them I'd say "Oh 
is my favourite."  Then it would be "Oh this is my new favourite," and so on...  Though they were small, we simply couldn't eat all the sweets and we ended up with a little take out box, elegantly housed in a fancy Lowell Hotel shopping bag, to take home with us.

    

We were not rushed out the door, in fact I think we were there for about 2.5 hours.   We had a nice chat with the Food and Beverage Manager, Patrick,  in which I indicated that I had researched where to have tea and had looked at several web reviews before deciding on the Pembroke Room.  He had an interesting comment that he tries to impress on the staff the fact that with websites such as yelp and chowhound every customer is now a potential reviewer.   Quite right!

We reluctantly departed feeling thoroughly rested and relaxed.  My Mom and I both agree that it was quite possibly the nicest afternoon tea we had ever had (and we've had lots).      

Afterwards, we strolled down Madison Avenue and my mother was quietly singing to herself.  "It's De-lightful, It's De-lovely, It's De-Lowell!"   

It really was delightful.  A special tradition with my Mom and a perfect ending to our trip to New York City.