Here’s a question a lot of people have asked me about recently: where’s the best festive afternoon tea offerings in Manchester? I’ll be honest, I haven’t really explored festive afternoon tea before. I have had it as an add on experience at spa hotels and the occasional event over the years, but it hasn’t been something I thought about to book before.
When I heard about Cloud23 at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel on Deansgate (you all know it, the iconic, original ‘wow’ building before the skyline started to boom) offering a festive afternoon tea, I knew it would make a brilliant, festive day out. I love afternoon at any time of the year, but there’s something about festive fillings, cocktails given that christmassy twist, and of course, an even more richer and indulgent selection of cakes that just makes an ideal lunch outing more special.
When I looked into it, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of Manchester venues offering it this year, so I took my Mum and baby Olivia with me to try out the offering at Cloud23. Of course, I was armed with Olivia’s HIPP Organic jars for the outing, even though I’m sure she would have loved to try out the christmas cake selection! Surprisingly, she was good as gold throughout, which I think was down to the atttentive staff coo-ing over her and also how mesmerised with looking outside the huge windows she was.
If you haven’t been to Cloud23 before, then it’s one of those places that should be on your Manchester ‘must visit’ list. I’ve been here many times for various occasionas and it never disappoints. Manchester is growing by the month with new venues popping up, each one trying to out-do each other ith views of the city, modern interiors and something ‘wow’, but really, the iconic Hilton Deansgate/Beetham Tower building remains a number one attraction.
Cloud23 sits high up and gives 360 panoramic views of Manchester, which of course on our particular visit, was a grey and dismal view. Not too sure what else I would expect from Manchester on a frosty December day, and it made us feel even cosier sat by the Christmas tree looking out onto the cold city.
The festive afternoon tea menu has been carefully planned out to capture all those Christmas favourites, neatly displayed on Cloud23’s traditional afternoon tea stands. I love everything about Christmas foods – so I was more than happy to tuck into the array of themed foods. Here’s the savoury line up:
Festive Savoury
Cheese and Brandy Pickle Sandwich
Cucumber & Cream Cheese Sandwich
Smoked Salmon and Dill Crème Fraiche Sandwich
Turkey and Cranberry Sandwich
Tomato and Feta Tart
As for the sweet line up, the desserts featured a slice of Christmas Cake, Black Forest Tart, White Chocolate,
Raspberry and Pistachio Tart and Baileys, After Eight and Toblerone flavoured Macaroons. I have to say I’m not usually a fan of macaroons but these particular flavours worked really well and were a little more unique than what you would normally expect to see.
Of course, keeping it traditional, there was an offering of scones with clotted cream and jam also on the menu, as well as a mince pie. We opted for the cocktail afternoon tea option too, in which we could pick from the list of Christmas themed cocktails to go alongside the afternoon tea. If you’re thinking about booking onto this festive afternoon tea, I would recommend having this upgrade! The cocktails are delicious, in particularly the Gin-gle Bells one that we had. Muddled into a martini glass, we enjoyed a creamy yet sharp combination of Tanqueray Gin, Campari, Belsazar Vermouth, Egg White, Lemon and Spices.
They also offer a ‘A Berry Merry Christmas’ which mixes Tanqueray Blackcurrant Royale Gin with Lemon and Mulled Wine, and for the non-alcohol drinkers, a non-alcoholic Santa’s Boot mocktail which marries Tanqueray Gin 0.0%, Apple, Heineken 0.0%, Ginger and Spices. A twist on the classic festive drink has also been included on the menu with the Mancunian Mulled combining Dried Fruit Infused Tanqueray London Dry Gin, Orange, Cranberry and
Spices.
Here’s a little pic of my mum enjoying her ‘gin-gle bells’ cocktail!
As always with Cloud23, couldn’t fault the service from start to finish. The afternoon got quite busy up in the dining area, but the staff were attentive and our waitor was very helpful when we requested top ups on our teapots, a high chair, and other things we asked for throughout our visit.
In terms of pricing, the Cloud 23 Afternoon Tea is priced at £28pp. The Champagne Afternoon Tea is priced at £40pp and can be upgraded to Free-Flowing for £55pp (noted!).
If you’re looking for an ideal venue in Manchester for a festive afternoon tea, an afternoon tea in general or just a cocktail and lunch spot, I still rate Cloud23 highly despite all the competition that is trying to come out year after year. It still wins for panoramic views and that classy, upmarket vibe without being pretentious and over-the-top. You can browse the food and drink menus and find more details over at the Cloud23 website here.
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