db eats: The Gore hotel

The Gore hotel has orchestrated the clash of two unlikely British institutions: afternoon tea and rock ‘n’ roll.

There is some background to this, dating back to 1968 when the hotel’s Bar 190 played host to the Rolling Stones “Beggars Banquet”. Five decades on, guests can enjoy a rather more sedate version in the very same room. 

 As you might expect, the spread combines the best of a traditional afternoon tea with the occasional rock ‘n’ roll twist. A selection of sandwiches, freshly baked scones and chocolate éclairs is given some edge with Jack Daniels muffins, rather tasty music-shaped cookies and the option to swap your pot of tea for a Jack Daniels & Coke. 

The tea scored full marks for the sheer artery-clogging deliciousness of the clotted cream and generous quantities of chocolate sitting on top of the beautifully light choux pastry éclairs. Given they’d got some of the more difficult bits so right, it was a shame the bread used for the sandwiches resembled the dried out tail end you occasionally find hiding behind the fruit bowl at the end of the week. Easy enough to rectify, so let’s hope they do.

Of course, doing tea properly is as much about the surroundings as the sandwiches. If the opulent Ritz is the Harrods of afternoon tea, then The Gore, with its wood panelled interior and quirky British detail, is more of a Liberty. If you’re looking for privacy, extra decadence or just the full VIP treatment, then get some friends together and book out Cinderella’s Carriage at the back of the room.

For those with something to celebrate, a Champagne upgrade is available for an extra £7.50 on top of the regular tea price of £22.50. Not bad value given you certainly won’t be needing dinner that night. The tea is served daily from 3-7pm, which makes for a good pre-concert feed if you’re planning a night out at the Royal Albert Hall, just two minutes walk away.

Indeed, it’s partly this proximity to one of London’s most famous concert venues which, coupled with the odd rock ‘n’ roll food fight, has led The Gore to cultivate this association with the world of music and film, attracting everyone from Lily Allen to Judy Garland. Guests can even sleep in the latter’s bed in one of the themed rooms named after some of the hotel’s more glamorous former regulars. Apparently Take That were in a meeting upstairs during our visit – not quite the Stones perhaps, but a respectable score on the celeb-ometer for a cold and gloomy January afternoon.

The Gore,
190 Queen’s Gate,
London SW7 5EX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7584 6601
www.gorehotel.com

Gabriel Savage, 26.01.10