My summer 2016 visit to the UK came a couple of weeks after my 50th birthday. My London-based, youngest sister, Lindsey, celebrated her 40th birthday seven months earlier. A posh tea in town was top of our list of several celebratory outings while we were together on the same continent.
I looked around online at the usual suspects for high tea in the most stylish of hotel settings. I'm not opposed to traditional teas in velvet chairs at tables set with starched, white linens and fellow guests whispering in polite tones. But this time, given that the oldest of Lindsey's two little girls was more than ready for the real deal of taking the train on a Sunday afternoon in her best dress and sparkly ballet pumps for a proper cuppa, I was keen to sleuth out something out of the box and unforgettable.
Good timing, Sanderson Hotel this past year has been inviting guests to tumble down the rabbit hole for the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with a Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea. Think menus hidden inside vintage books, teapots decorated with kings and queens, quirky sandwich plates with birdcages, carousels and ticking clocks, specialty sandwiches — classic cucumber on green bread, goat cheese Croque-Monsieur, white crab eclairs, scones, red velvet ladybird cake and chocolate coated, coffee-flavored pocket-watch macaroons. A "drink me" sorbet potion completed the suitably eccentric picture, with a selected of fruity and tailor-made Alice teas to boot. We each picked our own teas from a choice of China Black Tea infused with hints of blackcurrant, vanilla, caramel, citrus, bergamot, blue cornflowers and blue mallow flowers.
I made a booking a couple months ahead of time, seeings as this particular tea is, not surprisingly, a hit on the “must-do” lists of London’s elite. Tea is served daily and is priced typically high, as with most of the big treat tea spots in London, between £48 and £65 per person excluding service, £35 per child for children 4-11 years old.
To our added amusement, we were escorted past the hotel's legendary Long Bar (quite the scene for cocktails later on, I heard), into the restaurant. I had expected we'd be seated in the modern and refreshing courtyard. Deemed suitable for the "VIP" experience, not sure why, our special tea time was taken within a sheer-blacked curtained circular tent-like dome, in a quiet corner of the restaurant. I suppose if you're Gwyneth Paltrow taking tea with London pals you wouldn't want to be gawked at by fellow guests (taking indiscreet selfies). Lindsey and I didn't think we'd have too much of a problem with that, but my niece was suitably impressed by this extra level of enchanted tea taking, creative, visual and delicious enough for her and executed at a super sophisticated level for the grown ups.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland turned 150 years old in 2015. Charles Ludwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name of Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. He was a natural storyteller, inventing new stories to entertain his friends.
According to Aliceinwonderland150.com :"Inspired by real events and a real child, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was dreamt up on a summer’s day in Oxford. The river outing with the Liddell family on 4 July 1862, from Folly Bridge to Godstow, is now famous for the Alice story to which it led. Charles L. Dodgson traveled downriver with the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford (the college at which Charles was a lecturer in Mathematics), and his family. Along the way he told the family a story about a bored little girl called Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The family loved it and at the end of that day, the daughter, Alice Liddell, asked for the story to be written down. Charles Dodgson agreed and began writing the manuscript the next day. It eventually took him two and a half years to complete."
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was a publishing sensation, beloved by children and adults alike. Among its first avid readers were Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde. The book has never been out of print and has been translated into at least 176 languages.
I wanted to know about the history of this initially stark looking mid-century modern building, listed for its architectural and historic conservation interest. According to Historicengland.org.uk: "The firm of Sanderson was established in 1860 by Arthur Sanderson, an importer of luxury European wallpapers. It transferred its operations from Islington to Marylebone in 1865, and by 1869 was commissioning its own designs in addition to its imported wares.
In the course of the 20th century, Sanderson established itself as one of London's most fashionable suppliers of wallpapers, textiles and paints. New showrooms and offices, designed by Sir Albert Richardson, were built in Wells Street in the early 1930s, but by the mid-50s the company – granted a Royal Warrant in 1951 after its papers had been used to decorate the Royal Festival Hall – was ready to build on a larger scale.
The architects Slater, Moberly and Uren, who had lately completed the flagship John Lewis store on Oxford Street, were commissioned to design a new headquarters and showroom building to replace Sanderson's original premises in Berners Street."
Design was influenced by US corporate architecture, including the Seagram and Lever buildings in New York. Collaboration between principal architect Reginald Uren, landscape architect John Hicks, interior designer Beverley Pick and artists John Piper and Jupp Dernbach-Mayern places it in the Bauhaus-inspired tradition of the 'art building'.
Construction commenced in 1957 and was completed in time for the company's centenary in 1960. Sanderson vacated the building in 1992 and in 2001 it was converted into a hotel by architects Denton Corker Marshall and interior designer Philippe Starck.
The designer's focus was a surreal Cocteau-like dream world — pared-down, minimalist luxury, tempered with fun and ironic furnishings. My niece was especially delighted to test out the various art form seating throughout the lobby and courtyard (pictured below with her mum, my lovely sister, Lindsey).
Sanderson Restaurant updates its seasonal menu focusing on British cuisine with a continental influence. Every single member of attentive staff spoke with a different accent from all corners of Europe and beyond, many of whom must be wondering if they, too, have fallen down the rabbit hole, post-Brexit. The cogs on the wheels of London hospitality would grind to an absolute halt if the international workforce disappeared overnight. Quintessential English experiences such as a Mad Hatter's Tea are made all the more cultured and cosmopolitan with such a professional, multi-national team of pastry chefs, kitchen staff and servers.
Click here for the hotel website, located at 50 Berners Street
London, W1T 3NG
44 0 20 7300 1400
Tea hours are:
| Monday through Saturday | 12.30PM until 4PM |
| Sunday | 1PM until 5PM |
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