Afternoon Tea at Harvey Nichols, Manchester

As part of my long weekend 30th birthday celebrations, Scott and I checked into a hotel in Manchester (I’m pretty sure they call that a “staycation”?) for the night and headed to afternoon tea at Harvey Nichols.

Despite the flashy department store having been in Manchester for several years now, and despite working in Manchester for three of those years, I had never previously set foot in Harvey Nichols before. Maybe it was the smell of expensive that put me off.

Anyhow, after jealously lusting after photos on friends’ Facebook walls of afternoon tea with a view out over the city at the store’s Second Floor Restaurant, I knew I wanted to try it out. It also ticked off not one but two of Scott’s English food bucket list items: afternoon tea and scones with clotted cream.

Afternoon tea, for those international folks who may not be familiar with the term, basically means indulging in a tiered cake stand filled with small finger sandwiches, cakes, pastries and scones while drinking tea (or coffee, if you want to buck tradition). It’s particularly popular among ladies, but men love it just as much (although perhaps don’t feel too manly eating finger sandwiches). 

Basically, it is a more expensive method of eating lunch later in the day (afternoon tea is typically is only served between 3pm and 5pm).

We reserved a table online, although probably needn’t have bothered as it was a Tuesday afternoon and so the place was half empty. As promised from my friends’ Facebook photos, the restaurant does indeed boast a dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows which looks out across The Shambles. 

We were given a menu of the items that would be served, before being asked of any dietary requirements (is “bring me a lot of food” a dietary requirement? If so, I think I need to start letting people know). I chose a pot of green tea while Scott ordered the English Breakfast tea.

The cake stand arrived promptly with the daily food selection on it. 

The sandwiches were nothing to write home about, with the fillings being rather uninspired and the bread tasting much like any supermarket-brand bread. Most people, however, come mainly for the cakes rather the sandwiches; they are just the warm-up.

The fillings included: cucumber and cream cheese, prawn marie rose, roast beef and horseradish, ham and mustard, egg mayonnaise and cress. Surprisingly (and very stereotypically) the cucumber was actually my favourite. 

We started the cake tiers with the scones as they were warm. I was quite disappointed to find that they had raisins in (I hate raisins) but luckily a very small amount, and when slathered with jam and cream, I was able to overlook this oversight. The scones were crumbly and obviously freshly made, and served with Harvey Nick’s own brand of jam and clotted cream – the perfect (and only, in my opinion) accompaniment.

Next up with the orange macarons. They were wonderfully tangy and sharp in flavour, yet the cream in the middle provided a blast of sweetness. They had a perfect flaky top and chewy centre. I don’t eat macarons often, but these were definitely some of the best I had ever tasted due to overall intensity of flavour.

We then moved on to the raspberry cheesecake.  This was surprisingly soft and light inside the crumb exterior and tasted more like a very creamy mousse, sat on top of a biscuit base. There was an injection of raspberry sauce hidden within the cheesecake mousse; all in all a fairly complex and surprising dessert for one so small.

Last but not least was the carrot cake square. Again, it disappointingly had raisins in it, but was moist and flavourful and the cream cheese added the right amount of sweetness.

The afternoon tea was definitely delicious, although not quite as creative a spread as I have had in the past. However, for the price (£16.50 at time of posting) you cannot beat the location of the dining room and the overall “expensive feel” experience.  I have since seen afternoon teas priced at lesser locations for higher prices than you’ll find here.