St James restaurant at Fortnum & Mason

Name: St James restaurant at Fortnum & Mason
Address: 181 Piccadilly,London, W1A 1ER
Price: £30 per head, or £38 with champagne per head

Review: Set amongst the backdrop of Fortnum & Mason's famous fourth floor restaurant, the afternoon tea is costly, but something you've got to try once.

Service is impeccable, and the list of tea is long. Breakfast brew was the tea of choice for Jim and I, and was served out of dainty F&M green teapots, enough for three cups' worth. A tower of food was served just minutes later, with four quarters of various sandwiches on the first layer, scones on the middle, and pastries on the top.

There were three of us sharing a tower, which made it slightly confusing as there was an odd amount of pastries, and not enough clotted cream and jam to go around. We had a quarter of a cucumber sandwich, a quarter of a salmon, quarter of an egg and cress, and a quarter of a ham and mustard sandwich each. A mini salmon terrine and cheese tartlet finished off the layer.

Two mini scones, and then various options of pastries finished it off. However nice they were, it was somewhat blemished by the uneven numbers of pastries, and the fact that the one tub of cream and jam was not enough for one person, let alone three.

After we'd finished the scones and pastries, a waitress materialised and offered another plate of sandwiches, we had to ask whether they were included in the cost as it was unclear. When it was confirmed they were included, we asked for more scones, jam and cream. Bit irritating we had to ask, so in this respect, the service could've been better.

Scones out of ten: five. Expensive for what it was, and the scones, jam and cream could've been much improved.

Dulwich Park Pavilion Cafe

Name: Dulwich Park Pavilion Cafe
Address: Dulwich Park, just off College Road, Dulwich, London, SE21 7BQ
Price: £3 for one scone, jam, cream and butter, cups of tea were £1.40 each

Review: Set within the leafiness of Dulwich Park, throbbing with yummy mummies and faddy daddies, Dulwich Park Pavilion Cafe is a welcome sight for the weary. However, be sure to take a wad of cash, as each scone costs a whopping £3. Must be the Dulwich tax.

The scones were rather large, so Jim and I split one, and slathered it with butter (a dollop served on the plate), strawberry jam (again, just a dollop on the plate) and the clotted cream (yet another dollop on the plate). The cream was good, had the crusty bits, however we weren't so fond of the presentation, nor the tea mugs which probably came from IKEA. The tea was just your average PG Tips fare, and you had to pour the milk yourself from a bench encrusted with sugar.
Scones out of ten: six, as whilst the surroundings were lovely, and the cream teas were tasty, the price was over the top, and the cups of tea were of building-site quality.