A sumptuous afternoon tea at the Palace Downtown Dubai

Afternoon teas have become quite a thing in recent years and I have to admit I too have started to get a hang on it.

Returning to Dubai recently, I took advantage staying at Palace Downtown Dubai to treat myself to their award-winning afternoon tea.

I love this hotel and I’ve stayed here various times in the past few years but never went for its afternoon tea before, which has become a favourite in the city. So when returning recently to Dubai, I decided it was about time to remedy this.

Palace Downtown Dubai is located right at the heart of the downtown district, just a few steps away from Burj Khalifa, Souk al Bahar and Dubai Mall. It is one of the few hotels in Dubai built according to the traditional Middle Eastern palatial style.

Hosted at Al Bayt bar, the afternoon tea is served in the beautiful lobby lounge of the hotel. With its splendid Arabian decor and exquisite design features, tall ceilings and large floor-to-ceiling windows, it is the perfect location to enjoy a high-end afternoon tea. If the weather is not too hot, you can also choose to sit outside on the huge terrace overlooking the pool area and Burj Lake.

Afternoon tea at the Palace starts with a complimentary glass of fizzy grape juice (no alcohol is served here as the lobby is considered being a public place).

There is a large selection of different teas you can chose from and you will get unlimited refills. Go for the signature red Arabia, which is just delicious.

On Fridays and Saturdays, the Palace Downtown afternoon tea is taking the form of a buffet. Which means you can help yourself to as many sandwiches, scones and sweets as you like. On the other days, it’s the classic tea stand. The buffet is places on a large round table in the middle of the lobby lounge that when it does not hold the tea buffet is covered in a huge flower decoration.

Everything on the buffet was created with the highest precision and imagination and the selection was truly remarkable.

Just look at these beautifully decorated sandwiches: cheddar cheese with chutney on onion bread.

The traditional finger sandwiches also included white bread sandwiches filled with chicken mustard mayonnaise, prawn cocktail with olives, smoked salmon and dill cream served on brown bread, a beef tartar pesto, pesto marinated grilled vegetable and roasted ribeye beef with horseradish sauce.

On a separate buffet freshly made scones (plain and a delicious lemon blackberry version) accompanied with clotted cream and jam, a rich sticky date pudding and a selection of warm finger foods: slightly spicy chicken and leeks puff pastries, duck strudel and vegetable vol au vent.

The sweet section was perhaps my favourite. As we visited just ahead of the long Easter weekend, several of the servings were adorned with Easter eggs like a rich dulche de leche tart, the lovely little cheese cake baskets and a delicious Gianduca almond mousse. Also on the sweet section were carrot bake, a tasty lemon cake, lemon meringue cake tarts and blueberry Milton tarts.

And look at these macarons shaped like an Easter bunny.

The red velvet cupcakes not only looked amazing, they also tasted absolutely heavenly.

A very smooth and creamy vanilla panna cotta, a black forest mousse and fresh strawberries with cream rounded out the absolute fabulous sweet section.

I can only highly recommand the afternoon tea at Al Byat at the beautiful Palace Downtown Dubai. It’s a true delight and there is no surprise it was awarded best afternoon tea in Dubai last year.

Palace Downtown Dubai
The Old Town Island
Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard
http://www.addresshotels.com/en/hotels/palace-downtown/

Please note, this is not a sponsored post. I paid the full price for the afternoon tea.