High Tea at the Victoria Room
I’d say our reaction to the Victoria Room was mixed. I like the idea of it far more than the execution. My first impression of the place was that it was very dark (just as Grab Your Fork noted), and together with the eclectic decor it really created a unique atmosphere. Unfortunately the place was absolutely HEAVING with people, 95% of whom seemed to be women at either Hen’s Nights or Baby Showers. (I’m not kidding. I could only see three guys in the whole place who weren’t working behind the bar.) It was quite noisy, and the tables really were crammed in together closely. We opted for the “Royal” Tea, which meant we started with a glass of champagne. Our tea and nibblies came not long after. The food was all very good, though you certainly don’t get very much! We did have to ask for milk to put in our tea though, which really is a shocking oversight in a place like that. Snookums was most disappointed in the place settings: it was just plain white stoneware, like something you’d get at IKEA. He thought he was taking me somewhere a bit more special. Still, I had my first cucumber sandwich and my first pot of Earl Grey, and I’m glad I did. We stumbled back out into the sunlight feeling that we’d had an “elegant sufficiency,” but that the whole experience was sorely lacking in romance and tradition.