The Connaught afternoon tea at Jean-Georges: prices, sittings, the harpist and what is on the stand

Afternoon tea at The Connaught belongs to Jean-Georges, the restaurant Jean-Georges Vongerichten runs inside the hotel, and the hotel calls it a playful, contemporary twist on the tradition. The room says so before the food does: art by Louise Bourgeois, stained glass by Jean-Michel Othoniel and illustrations by Jean Jullien. From Friday to Sunday the resident harpist plays.

The food is the same on both menus, signed by executive chef Ramiro Lafuente Martínez and executive pastry chef Loic Carbonnet, with the calories printed beside every piece. It opens with an amuse-bouche, a tartare of heirloom tomato with basil, ricotta and a jelly of tomato consommé. 4 finger sandwiches follow: cucumber and feta with lemon zest and mint, Cacklebean free-range egg with tarragon mayonnaise and mustard cress, Scottish smoked salmon with caramelised corn, spring onion and a soy glaze, and roasted bronze turkey with basil mayonnaise and Parmesan. Then come plain and wholemeal raisin scones with strawberry jam, an apricot and vanilla jam and Cornish clotted cream.

4 pastries finish the stand on the August 2026 menu: a cocoa and coffee choux with coffee praline, strawberry and elderflower on an almond crunch, a verbena mousse with peach compote and shortbread, and a pavlova with raspberry jam and white chocolate chantilly. Last comes the Connaughty Treat, a raspberry Bakewell sablé; the tea page speaks of a Connaughty sablé biscuit with a layer of jam, inspired by the jammy dodger. The tea page names other seasonal pastries, a hazelnut praliné rocher and a matcha choux with cherry jam among them, so the selection moves with the months.

The tea list has 15 names. The house pour is the Connaught Signature Blend, an Assam-style tea grown on the Tregothnan estate above the River Fal in Cornwall, which the menu calls the world’s first true British tea and sells to take home. Beside it are an Earl Grey, a second-flush Darjeeling, a chai, a Lapsang Souchong smoked with pine needles, a black tea with chocolate and chilli, Jasmine Silver Needle, Jade Sword green tea, an Ali Shan oolong from the mountains of Taiwan and 3 infusions without tea: lemongrass and ginger, wild berries, raspberry and rose.

The price depends on the day and on the glass. The Monday-to-Thursday menu puts the tea at £65 a person, £75 with a glass of Saicho sparkling tea or of Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve, £100 with the rosé, £125 with Bollinger La Grande Année 2014 and £140 with Krug Grande Cuvée. The Friday-to-Sunday menu puts it at £85, then £95 with the Brut Réserve, £105 with the rosé, £130 with the Bollinger and £145 with the Krug; its Saicho line is printed without a price. An additional glass costs £15 for Saicho, £28 for Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve, £35 for the rosé, £60 for Bollinger La Grande Année 2014 and £75 for the Krug. The hotel also sells the tea as a gift voucher: £92 for one with sparkling grape juice, £104 with a glass of Brut Réserve, £110 with the rosé.

Guests’ accounts on Google are warm and brief. One in August 2026 loved the number of teas, «you can try them all», the sandwiches, the desserts and the harpist playing in the background. A guest in April 2026 called it «a superb mix of the traditional with the innovative». In July 2025 twin sisters were surprised with customised coffees by a member of the team. A visitor who was not staying, writing in June 2024, paid £65 each: the weekday price the menu still printed in August 2026.

The Ritz serves 5 sittings a day, at 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3.30pm, 5.30pm and 7.30pm, from £95 for adults and £73 for children, with live music; men wear a jacket and tie, a rule that spares under-16s. The Dorchester serves in The Promenade every day from noon to 5.30pm, from £95 a person or £110 with champagne, and a pianist plays from 2pm on a piano the hotel says was Liberace’s.

Claridge’s, the Connaught’s sister hotel, serves its tea in The Foyer & Reading Room from 2.45pm to 5.30pm.