Petersen's High Tea at the Paris Ritz

Saturday 3rd July 2010 my wife Bernie (short for Bernadette) and I are getting dressed for our High Tea at 3pm. I am in my black pants, shoes, shirt, jacket, tie and the gold bits. Bernie has a nice grey brocade dress, shoes, cardigan and jewels good enough for a Queen. Accordingly we are now looking like we are living on the top shelves all the time!! We are ready to be putting it on the Ritz. We arrived 2.30 pm at Hotel Ritz, 15 Place Vendôme, 1st Arrondissement, in Paris to participate in what feels like the best High Tea ceremony in Europe. 

Place Vendôme is surrounded by a series of 17th-century buildings dotted with gargoyles and fitted together in a symmetrical octagon, serving as a backdrop to one of the most dazzling areas of Paris. Under the ever watchful eye of Napoleon who is perched high atop on a 144-foot bronze column, the world's most coveted gems are transformed into extravagant trinkets for the world's rich and famous personalities. Spellbinding names like Boucheron, Cartier, Chaumet, Van Cleef & Arpels all boast of a rich and opulent history that has withstood the test of time and continues to flourish, much like the centuries-old square itself.

The Ritz has always been a popular Parisian teatime destination; however the hotel had previously mixed those in search of a leafy pour with the bawdier crowd having a late-afternoon club sandwich (one of the best in town) with a highball in the Bar Vendôme. The new take on teatime at this très Grande Dame on the Place Vendôme is for real tea-totalers (well, almost: you can still begin or end your tea party with a coupe de Champagne, the only alcohol served here), since the ceremony takes place in the cosseting Salon d’Été, an intimate room that overlooks a pretty courtyard garden and comes with a pianist, a flattering pastel color scheme and well-spaced tables with low arrangements of old-fashioned roses.

Though the loose-leaf contingent won’t approve of the sachets de thé used here, these aren’t just any old tea bags but a selection of mostly organically grown luxury leaves from the exclusive and still under- the-radar French merchant Pascal Hamour. Choose from classics like Lapsang, Souchoung or Assam, or try something offbeat like the rare Gorreana des Acores, a green tea from the Azores, or the Chinese white tea Ying Zhen. Tea arrives in individual china pots kept warm with tasseled bronze damask cozy. The waiter upends a miniature silver-plated hourglass when he brings your tea pot, returning with silver tongs to remove the tea bag once it has steeped the allotted time.

The fun begins when a three-tiered, silver-plated stand arrives with an assortment of delicate sandwiches — crabmeat, smoked salmon, cheddar, cucumber and chicken (a fabulous Caesar salad-inspired nibble on brioche bread with grilled breast meat and tiny marinated artichoke leaves); Madeleine’s and warm freshly baked scones, which are heaven with a dollop of the Ritz’s homemade “Pêche Divine” Peach and Champagne jam and some real English clotted cream from Jersey.

The grand finale: A buffet of pastries by the hotel’s maître pâtissiere, Claire Heitzler, to which the waiters will egg you on (“Mais il faut tout gouter” — “You have to try everything”). You’ll want to go hog wild, so do, and just hope that Heitzler’s clafoutis with candied and kirsch-soaked black cherries are waiting on the Saturday you swan by.

It has been an incredible “High Tea” the waiter presented us with the menu of the day which he kindly gave me as a souvenir. I savoured Earl Grey tea and Bernie enjoyed Royal Assam. I must say the Maitre D and staff were extremely polite and friendly, the whole service brilliant. Music was pleasantly playing in the back ground as Salon d’ete was filling up with guests. We totally enjoyed the whole three tier experience, tasting everything. Then it was time to look and try all the fine foods from the sweet table. Off course, I just had to try a French macaroon. The Red Macaroon was soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I tried a mango mousse, a choc tart, strawberry tart, more chocolate cake and another piece with chocolate.

The opulence of the hotel was proven by the fact the entrance to the amenities was almost impossible to find unless one knows where it is. Hidden behind a huge mirror door that just looked like another panel off the wall. I stepped into this beautiful bathroom with gilding and marble everywhere the eye could see. Returning to Salon d’Ete I ordered another tea, this time I wanted to taste a Darjeeling and share it with Bernie. The waiter came in with the teapot placing it on the table and dressed it with its tassled bronze cozy, he then upturned the miniature silver-plated hourglass and advised us our tea would be ready in three minutes, he returned to serve the tea. Beautiful, it really makes a difference to a cup of tea, when it is made the right way. All too soon it is time to pay for a fantastic High Tea, a great little journey in our lives.  On this Saturday afternoon there was a wedding at the Ritz and the party was outside in the process of taking pictures in the middle of Place Vendome.

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