If you’re seeking a sophisticated and whimsical afternoon in the heart of the city, look no further than the Pavilion at The Langham Hotel. This elegant space, with its soaring ceiling and marvelous city view, including the world-famous Wrigley Building, offers a serene environment perfect for indulging in an afternoon of relaxation and charm. With its Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea available on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Pavilion provides the ideal setting to unwind with friends or loved ones.
The ambience is truly one of the great selling points of the Langham Tea experience. With its sweeping views, genteel seating arrangements, lovely flower arrangements and a harpist entertaining patrons, it’s an exceptional setting to enjoy a refined dining experience.
I also need to do a shout out to the Langham’s staff right up front. There was not a person we encountered who was not pleasant, helpful, and knowledgeable. Our server was a delight and I felt utter confidence in taking her advice. Trust the Langham staff if you have any question.
Inspired by the film and running through July 7, 2024, the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea is a fantastical journey into a world of whimsy and delight. Curated by Executive Chef Damion Henry and Executive Pastry Chef Walleska Cianfanelli, the menu is an eccentric mix of petite sandwiches, house-made scones, and intricate desserts that are as visually stunning and interesting. The playful, imaginative presentation of flavors, colors, and shapes promises to excite your taste buds and rekindle your sense of wonder.
We began our tea with sparkling wine and lovely fresh water. As well, Langham has a wide variety of traditional and herbal teas to choose from. I am a black tea fan, and am a believer that it’s always a good idea to try anything named after the location, so I had the Langham Proprietary Blend. It was basically a nice English breakfast tea and I could not detect anything different about it than typical Twinings other than it being brewed loose leaf rather than from bags. My companion had the Darjeeling and it was a lovely traditional Darjeeling. I can’t speak to any of the herbal blends, but many sound intriguing and if I was going to have a second variety, I would have ordered one of them. If you are a black tea drinker, know you will have a pleasant and unchallenging assortment to choose from.
We were treated to two kinds of scones, buttermilk, and lemon confetti. Both were far too sweet. The buttermilk was ok, but after you added lemon curd, Devonshire cream and strawberry jam it became cloying. The lemon confetti was almost like eating frosting straight out of the bowl. I couldn’t recommend either.
The savory course was mostly full of newly-interpreted high tea standards. The Silver Dollar salmon and dill sandwich was very nice; the Crispy Noodle cucumber sandwich was typical but also exactly what it should have been; the Golden Egg salad in the tomato cone was wonderfully presented and an absolute highlight of this course; the Magic Hat chicken salad was the loser here. It had quite a few flavors that did not play well together and tasted quite unpleasant. There was too much going on and a lot of it wasn’t good.
The savory course from the Chocolate Factory tea was inspired by the gum chewed by Violet Beauregard beginning with the absolutely outstanding Tomato Water, which was the best chilled tomato soup I’ve ever tasted; the uninspiring Roast Beef Carpaccio with toasts, followed up with the deconstructed blueberry pie that was also splendid.
The sweets course was very nice, but again, mostly too sweet. There was a too sweet caramel macaron that was otherwise decently executed. The Silver Cloud coconut was nice, except for adding the nerds, which was too much. The Bad Hair Day chocolate was again a lot like eating a piece of frosting direct from the bowl. It absolutely melted in your mouth into a pile of sugar.
We were also provided with a piece of pound cake, a strawberry, and a homemade marshmallow to use in the dual-flavor chocolate fountain. It’s wonderful fun, but after the sugar overload of the sweet course, I could barely manage the strawberry, but the chocolate on it was nice, though again, overly sugar-forward. Seeing the other side was pink-colored white chocolate, a slightly more bitter dark chocolate would have been welcome.
There was a massive amount of food here, so even though some bits were not outstanding, there is more than enough here to have a very fine tea even if you skip a few offerings that are not to your taste.
Whether you’re savoring the sparkling wine option at $130.00 per guest or indulging in the Perrier-Jouët experience at $150.00 per person, the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea is a delightful escape from the ordinary in the heart of the city.
Reservations are highly recommended to secure your spot in this magical setting. And truly the ambience adds to the entire experience. It’s a lovely location and a very pleasant way to spend several hours in a refined and elegant way. You can make reservations by contacting the Langham.
All photos by Suzanne Magnuson
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