More tea, vicar?

Sue Lawrence provides some more mouthwatering recipes. This time, afternoon tea

There is good news for those whose favourite part of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest is the garden scene where Gwendolene and Cicely have a refined slanging match over the tea table. For afternoon tea, with its three-tiered cake stand, cucumber sandwiches and silver tea strainers, is back – and with a vengeance.

At The Ritz in London there are waiting lists of months and now instead of one sitting, an astonishing five sittings, from 11.30am until 7.30pm. At Gleneagles Hotel, waiting lists for the weekend afternoon teas are more than six weeks. Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh only began serving afternoon tea last year and already there is a huge take-up for the inexpensive treats, which include scallop and ginger samosas, smoked salmon brioche, fabulous scones and an array of scrumptious cakes, all baked in-house.

Its popularity decreased towards the end of last century. Having thought we had seen the end of this most civilised of meals, it is now back in all the best places, where of course there is never any confusion about whether it is afternoon or high tea.

There have been rumours formed over the decades about the derivations of the name high tea, some believing it was high because people sat at higher tables to eat this meal, whereas afternoon tea was taken at low tables, often in gardens or drawing rooms.

This is of course nonsense. Afternoon tea was always considered a social occasion for ladies and eligbile bachelors, a la Oscar Wilde, a trifling distra...

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• By : Sue Lawrence
• In : Food
• Issue : 32
• Page : 49
• Words : 1,023