High Tea at The Rubens
by (Princess) Waverly, 8 years old, Manhattan (writing from London!)
Did you ever do something you thought was so amazing that you thought it must have been a dream….but it was real? Well, that was my day today at The Rubens Hotel at The Palace when I went for “High Tea.” Before I went, I kept telling my mom I was hungry. “Just wait, Waverly,” she kept saying. “You won’t be hungry soon. You’ll see.”
Ok. She was not kidding. When I walked into The Rubens Hotel, I forgot I was hungry for a second because it was soooooo beautiful! We went into The Palace Lounge and I felt like I was in heaven! Every single thing about it was totally beautiful – the flowers, the chairs, the lights, the plates…also, a piano man was playing “Piano Man” when we arrived. I felt like a real Princess. It was already awesome and that was BEFORE they served us any food or tea!
Simon and Fabiana introduced themselves to us as they sat us at a really nice table where we could see the whole room and also The Royal Mews right outside in front of us. Simon asked us if we ever had high tea before and we said we didn’t so he explained it to us. Basically all we had to do was pick our favorite tea from their menu and they would take care of the rest! I had a little trouble deciding between “Jasmine Petals and Pearls” and “Moroccan Mint and Rosewater” but I finally settled on the mint one, sat back and relaxed listening to the fabulous piano player (he even played Justin Bieber!) while my mom decided between Earl Grey and Lady Grey. She decided on Lady Grey after Fabiana told her a little more about those teas. After we ordered, we checked out their Easter display – have you ever seen anything like this? I sure haven’t…
When they brought our tea, they also brought me a little tiara to wear and I suddenly felt even more like a Princess than I did when we walked in. We used these little strainers and it was fun pouring the tea into our beautiful cups! I mean, when is pouring tea any fun?
After a little while of sipping my delicious mint tea (they had sugar lumps! I love sugar lumps!) I saw Simon and Fabiana walking over with these trays of sweets and sandwiches, and I crossed my fingers that they were for us – and they were! We each got three levels of trays of lots of different kinds of treats. Now I REALLY felt like a Princess. Simon pointed out what everything was and my mom and I just stared.
There were sandwiches on the bottom, with fancy names like “Coronation Chicken” and “Filet of Castle of Mey Beef with Horseradish Cream” and for me they also gave a simple ham and cheese, just in case they had a picky kid eater. I liked them all, especially the Coronation Chicken – it was round! But I do love ham and cheese – how did they know that??) It was so fun taking little bites of all the different sandwiches and looking at the top of the tray – I could not wait to get to the sweets part!
The middle tray was scones, clotted cream, jam and lemon curd, and also a little round jam sandwich called a “jam penny.” I loaded up half my scone with cream and jam and the other half with lemon curd and all I can say is, YUM. I can see why people love their afternoon tea here! 
Finally, I ate my way up to the third tray, the sweets! Everything was so pretty, it was hard to take that first bite but not so hard that I couldn’t do it! I wasn’t even hungry anymore, but I wasn’t going to leave that stuff on the plate! I started with the cherry eclair which was DELICIOUS and beautiful (actually, everything on that plate was!) and then took a bite out of this fancy little cone that had some cream in it and took a spoonful of “Plum Posset” with chocolate caviar on top, and then, even though I didn’t think I could eat another bite, I just had to try the red velvet cupcake that had a little crown around it! It wasn’t just beautiful, it was delicious, of course. My mom and her friend Paul couldn’t eat all of theirs – my mom offered me some and for the first time ever, I turned down sweets! I was like, “no thanks, mom, I’m good!”
High Tea at The Rubens is not just for grown ups – my mom said that this place was “fancy but friendly” but I said, “No mom, it’s fancy AND friendly!” There were lots of other little Princes and Princesses enjoying it with their families and I could tell they were all enjoying the royal treatment just like I was. This was an awesome way to relax and take a break from shopping and sightseeing around London. The Rubens Hotel at The Palace sure knows how to make you feel like “Royal Tea!” It felt like a dream, but it was real. I know, because I’m still full! I did not want to leave. Hey mom, next time, we’re staying here!
The Mom here! You’ll get no arguments from me on that….we will definitely be back next time we are in London. Fancy, friendly, and FABULOUS. Thank you, Rubens at The Palace, for treating Waverly like a Princess – and me like a Queen! 
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