Celebrating Christmas with Harrods Teddy Bear Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental

‘You need to try it, mummy! Do you think it’s yummy?’

It looked like three-year-old Big Girl was ready to throw a snowball across The Rosebery Lounge in luxury hotel Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park last Friday. She wanted me to taste her snowball, which wasn’t quite real, but a beautifully made pastry.

It was one of the many unique Christmas and winter-themed cakes and treats we’d been served as part of the Harrods Teddy Bear Afternoon Tea, the afternoon tea menu at Mandarin throughout December which we’d been invited to try.

Big Girl was grinning, tasting everything on her plate, including a teddy chocolate biscuit, a cracker cake, a Christmas-tree style cupcake and a snowman pear and caramel tart.

The creative pastries by The Rosebery Lounge‘s head pastry chef Heather Kaniuk were truly unique and impressive to look at for both young and old, and to have afternoon tea in this chic and luxurious setting felt like the perfect celebratory mother-daughter Christmas treat. The only challenge was that the cakes were too desirable. I couldn’t persuade Big Girl to taste the finger sandwiches, and she was soon full of energy, wanting me to chase her around the nature-themed and light Rosebery Lounge, which is not the typical place for playing loud games.

After munching on cakes and talking about how we both felt completely full, we were asked if we were ready for scones.

I couldn’t resist. And neither could Big Girl.

We left on a sugar high, hugging the giant-sized Harrods Teddy in the hotel lobby and shaking the presents under the Mandarin Oriental Christmas tree.

Afternoon tea at the prestigious Mandarin is a memorable London experience with or without little ones, and at the moment it’s the perfect destination for a celebratory family Christmas treat.

The Harrods Teddy Bear Afternoon Tea (£53 per person (£28 for under 12s)) is available until 10 January as part of a festive partnership between Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park and Harrods. The hotel also offers A Very Harrods Christmas room package, starting from £615 per night for two rooms with two adults and two children and including breakfast, Christmas welcome gift and presents, including the Harrods 2015 Teddy Bear, and a VIP appointment with Harrods Gift Bureau.

Tags: Afternoon tea, Children's afternoon tea, Christmas, Harrods, London, Mandarin Oriental