Mariage Freres

Mariage Frères, founded in Paris in 1854 and still trading as France’s oldest tea house, brought its full concept to King Street in Covent Garden: a ground floor tea emporium with close to a thousand varieties stored in antique black canisters on shelves that run the length of the room, and a hundred cover restaurant upstairs built around what it calls cuisine au thé.

That means tea worked into savoury dishes as well as drunk alongside them: duck foie gras, smoked salmon tartare and croque monsieur sit on the menu next to tea infused pastries and Parisian style scones, with afternoon tea starting at £39 a head and running through breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner across the day.

The first floor dining room is lit by an atrium above and feels calm rather than busy, a genuine contrast to most Covent Garden afternoon tea spots nearby that trade heavily on volume and quick table turns.

Because tea preparation here is treated properly rather than as an afterthought, service can be slower than expected for what looks on paper like a simple afternoon tea booking, and £39 a head is a serious outlay for what remains, underneath the ceremony and the presentation, essentially tea and cake.

For genuine tea specialists it is worth the visit for the ground floor shop alone, with its wall of rare varieties; for everyone else, it is a considered but distinctly pricey afternoon out rather than a casual stop.

The King Street address puts it a short walk from the Royal Opera House and the main Covent Garden piazza, so it works well as a pre or post performance stop for anyone wanting something more refined than the market square cafes nearby. Staff are knowledgeable about the tea list specifically, able to talk through the difference between a first flush and a smoked variety without prompting, though that same expertise means orders can take longer to explain and serve than a standard cafe visit. Anyone in a hurry before curtain up should factor in extra time or choose a lighter order from the tea room rather than the full afternoon tea, which is built for a leisurely couple of hours rather than a quick pre show stop.