The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea – Review

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea – I last visited The Principal York for afternoon tea when it was still The Royal York Hotel.  You can read that review here

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

It remains one of my favourite places to take afternoon tea in York though, due in large part to the lovely Garden Room where it is served.  It is tastefully decorated in shades of restful grey and is large and airy.  Our table for two came with comfortable arm chairs and a beautiful view out to The Principal’s gardens and beyond.  

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The Garden Room at The Principal York

You may be wondering what I mean by Twilight Tea – well, it’s served from 5pm until 8pm rather than the usual early teatime slot.  This makes it a perfect time for a pre-theatre tea (the Theatre Royal is a seven minute walk away, while the Grand Opera House is a little further at eleven minutes).  It would also be a perfect relaxing finish to a day out in York – it is right next to York Station, so no worries about missing your train!  The traditional afternoon tea differs from the Twilight afternoon tea – in that there is a soup course initially and tea (but no cocktails) otherwise I believe the two are the same.

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

I don’t normally make videos of my afternoon teas but thought it might be of interest!

(Champagne not included but always advised!). 

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

The twist on the traditional afternoon tea comes right at the start when you are invited to try either a Bramble cocktail or Virgin Blueberry Mojito.  My guest had the Bramble cocktail.  It came with the sugar syrup in a cute little transparent teapot that you then poured over your ice.

The Principal York Afternoon Tea

While I chose the Virgin Blueberry Mojito, which was so good, I had to double check it definitely didn’t have any alcohol in it as I was driving!

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

The Principal York Afternoon Tea

Then the main tea was brought over in all its glory.  Here we have the finger sandwiches:

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

Here we have Grilled chicken, wild rocket and pesto sandwich and Chickpea, lemon and basil mayonnaise sandwich.  The grilled chicken was delicious, light and zingy in flavour.  My friend enjoyed the chickpea sandwich (I dislike chickpeas and made rude comments about it!).

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

Next we have the traditional scones, served still warm from the oven.  On the left you can see sultana scones which were lovely.  On the right were Earl Grey and lemon scones.  I have to admit I was a little suspicious of these, especially coming so soon after the chickpea sandwiches, but they were quite frankly divine!  The lemon really came through and reminded me of lemon curd tarts – delicious!

 

The Principal York Twilight Afternoon Tea

Finally the best bits – the top tier!  Here we have Raspberry and Champagne trifle, Green tea and white chocolate slice, Triple Pimm’s macaron and a Sweet Yorkshire pudding with lemon meringue.  We divided these between us.  My friend loves macarons while I love trifles.  The other two items we divided in half!  My favourite was the trifle – I could definitely have eaten more!  We enjoyed the afternoon tea very much and I would definitely recommend it. 

Many thanks to The Principal, York for inviting us to review their twilight afternoon tea.  Any opinions expressed, as ever, are my own.

Also have a look at my round up of some of the best Afternoon Teas in York.