When I looked at the delightful pictures of attractive spreads of afternoon tea, I felt that I really, really wanted to have experience a nice one before leaving Japan. Besides, I was with a friend who I knew could appreciate it.
In Japan, many things need reservations. The online website would only allow me to book for the next day and asked that I call in for the day of. We decided to just walk over and check for afternoon tea at the Atrium Lounge of the “InterContinental – ANA Tokyo, an IHG Hotel” (located at 1 Chome-12-33 Akasaka, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan). It was a short 5-minute walk from the Tameike-sannō Station on the Ginza Line.
I was sad to learn that seating for The Atrium was full. However, the woman handling guests let us know that they did still have portions of afternoon tea— and that the Brewer’s Coffee and Bar on the second level also served afternoon tea and might have seating!
We were served at the less popular Brewer’s Coffee and Bar. (To help your imagination: Many people in The Atrium were dressed at least nice-casual and I spotted many business suits. In contrast, one lady went to the Brewer’s Coffee and Bar in a bathrobe with her hair in curlers. We did not mind, though. We were there for the tea!)
The cost on a Monday at around 1 PM for 2 sets of afternoon tea was JP¥15,000, or JP¥7500 per person after service charge (automatically added 15%) and tax (10%) on the base rate of JP¥6,034 per person. At the current US$/JP¥ exchange rate, it was only US$100.37 for two sets to my credit card.
I was pleased overall with my experience for the price. The only poor service I feel we had was that the server was not very accurate when telling us what suited our dietary restrictions:
To my vegetarian companion, the server only pointed out the Scary Chicken Burger (basically a dry chicken nugget plus sauce in a black bun) and Halloween Salmon Roll (smoked salmon and cheese in a roll with roe nestled in cheese on top) as being inappropriate. The menu itself told us that the Rotten Bacon Quiche probably had bacon— and it tasted that way— and the Creepy Egg and Cheese Sandwich had a layer of something that looked and tasted like meat. The Orange and Apricot Jelly had a texture that seemed to mean gelatin.
When I asked what I should avoid given my raspberry allergy, the server said he would ask the kitchen. When he returned, he claimed the kitchen said everything was fine. However, my friend told me that the top portion of the Bloddy Bat and Pumpkin Shot tasted like raspberry to her.
Anyway, we were seated and each promptly given a glass of the seasonal Iced Rooibos Cream Orange tea. The dessert spoon looked like a small shovel to dig someone’s miniature grave with.
When the food came, the savory was separated from the sweet. This detail was helpful for grouping things potential food-tea combinations. The food was all interestingly-designed, flavorful, and worthy of a few photos for our memories. The taste was all at least “good”, even if I was skeptical of one in particular, which I can accurately describe as a slightly dry chicken nugget with sauce in a tiny black bun.
We were allowed to choose a different tea every time they came around to give us more drinks. I tried the Earl Grey, Iced Darjeeling, and Fruity Chamomile, all of which were brewed decently. I would have to add that the food was so varied that a single tea does not complement every single dessert well; we all know it is important to pair the right tea with the right dessert to have a more enjoyable time, so take advantage of being able to change tea!
I am going to try to get afternoon tea at the InterContinental in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Maybe they will have a Thanksgiving or Christmas theme!
Note: I did, in fact, visit the InterContinental Kaohsiung for afternoon tea.
