London’s Best Places To Eat And Drink Like A King

Coronation afternoon teas, dinners and cocktails are available throughout the capital this month and beyond, to celebrate the coronation of Charles III on 6 May 2023. Here’s a selection of some of the best options.

Coronation Afternoon Tea

The Goring, Coronation Afternoon Tea, £75pp with a glass of Bollinger Champagne.

The closest luxury hotel to Buckingham Palace, The Goring is the only hotel with a Royal Warrant for hospitality services. The Goring’s associations with King Charles reach as far back as 1948 when the hotel’s pastry chefs supplied a cake for Prince Charles’ Christening. The Coronation Afternoon Tea is served in the pretty veranda room overlooking the lovely garden. The tea menu features King Charles’ favorites, from his much-loved cream of lemon to delicious sandwiches filled with produce from other Royal Warrant suppliers, such as Dukeshill Ham. Sweet treats are decorated with the CRIII insignia, carriages and crowns. A limited-edition Coronation strawberry and elderflower jam is also served with freshly-baked scones.

The Dorchester, Coronation Afternoon Tea, £125 pp with a glass of champagne and a gift.

To celebrate the coronation of HM The King, The Dorchester has recreated the decorations used for his mother’s coronation in 1953. Looking like balconies in grand London theaters, the exterior is alone worth a visit. And on the roof terrace on Coronation Day, you can go to a special party to watch the flypast. Inside, at the heart of the hotel, The Promenade presents a royal take on its world-famous afternoon tea. Available over the coronation weekend, from Friday 5th to Monday 8th May, executive pastry chef Michael Kwan has created a delicate selection of themed cakes, accompanied by exquisite sandwiches and a glass of Champagne.

Fortnum & Mason, Coronation Afternoon Tea, £78 pp

Served every day in the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, the Coronation Afternoon Tea menu takes inspiration from the King’s favorite ingredients and passion for the environment. Finger sandwiches include Cotswold legbar egg mayonnaise; Cucumber with minted pea and horseradish; Salt beef with kohlrabi and tarragon sour cream dressing; trout with preserved lemon and dill cream cheese; and a woodland wild mushroom éclair. Freshly baked scones follow, served with Fortnum’s strawberry preserve, lemon curd and Somerset clotted cream.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Time For Tea with Highgrove, £95 pp until 14 May

Inspired by the best of British heritage and quintessential afternoon tea dishes served at the Royal table, The Rosebery is offering guests a Coronation Afternoon Tea in partnership with Highgrove, the private residence of Their Majesties King Charles III and The Queen Consort. Time For Tea with Highgrove includes: The King’s Coronation Chicken, Clarence Court egg truffle sandwich, The King’s Cypher, freshly baked scones and plenty more. Preserves include Highgrove’s organic damson jelly and Highgrove’s organic strawberry preserve, together with the estate’s organic English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Covent Garden Hotel, Royal Afternoon Tea –from £40pp until 31^st August.

Covent Garden Hotel is continuing beyond the coronation weekend with a special Royal Afternoon Tea created in honor of Charles III. The menu features much loved Coronation chicken sandwiches and fluffy scones, lemon crémeux and strawberry tarts.

The Beaumont, Coronation afternoon tea, £62 pp

This afternoon tea takes inspiration from the Crown Jewels, offering a selection of hand-made pastries replicating the royal ceremonial jewel colors of Emerald, Ruby, Diamond and Golden Topaz. A selection of traditional sandwiches including: Curried Egg; Caesar Salad; Pastrami-cured “Lox” Salmon and Cucumber, served on soft bread baked in-house by The Beaumont’s baker, followed by warm buttermilk scones with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve.

Great Northern Hotel, Afternoon tea, £46 pp with a glass of champagne

Rails Restaurant & Little Bar features the Duchess of Bedford’s guilty pleasure: Afternoon Tea. This national tradition dates back to the 1840s, in the heart of King’s Cross and St Pancras. Savories include: delicate finger sandwiches with thinly sliced cucumber; smoked salmon; ham, English Mustard and cress; wild mushroom tartlet and sausage roll. The moreish Sweets feature Mango and Passionfruit Cheesecake, Banana Deluxe Chocolate Mousse, Victoria Sponge plus Plain and Fruit Scones with home-made preserves and Cornish clotted cream.

Dinner for a King

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Coronation Menu at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal £155 pp available until June

The British chef known for his pairing of unusual ingredients (remember his egg and bacon ice cream?) has reinvented dishes served at British Coronation banquets throughout the years. The exclusive five-course Royal Coronation Menu includes: Coronation Chicken Tart (Queen Elizabeth II, 1953); Veal Sweetbread (King James II, 1685), Beef Royale (King George IV, 1821); Fflampayne (King Henry V, 1413) and is completed with The Trifle (King Charles III, 2023).

The Goring, Michelin-Starred Coronation Tasting Menu £140pp

Head Chef Graham Squire’s menu, available as both an A La Carte and a Six Course Tasting Menu, focuses on Welsh specialities and foraged ingredients, highlighting the environmental philosophy that King Charles III celebrates. If guests only try one dish, it’s the Coddled Clarence Court Egg with Fine Herb Garden Salad and Truffle Vinaigrette — The Goring’s take on one of His Majesty’s favorite dishes. Other highlights include Buttered Morel and Wild Mushroom “Vol Au Vent” with Wild Garlic Hollandaise and Smoked Pancetta; and White Chocolate and Lemon Cream, Bee Pollen Wild Honey and Chamomile. The Coronation Tasting Menu includes canapés, petit fours and Champagne.

Wiltons, Seven-course Coronation menu £150.00 pp.

Known as one of the best seafood restaurants in the capital, the restaurant has been Wiltons’ seafood roots were established by George William Wilton who opened his shellfish-mongers close to Haymarket in 1742. Highlights from the delicious Coronation menu include Asparagus Velouté Morel and truffle cappuccino, Citrus Cured Cornish Monkfish and Rhug Estate Rack of Lamb. The seven-course menu is £150.00.

Drink Like a King

The Stage at The Londoner is a pop-up bar featuring three new cocktails for the occasion: two cocktails are named after The King with a third as an ode to the late Queen, available util 18^th May. One drink is a take on his favorite pre-dinner cocktail, the classic Martini. Also available is Le Français, inspired by the iconic French Martini. The Homage, a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, is a creative concoction of her favorite drink, Gin and Dubonnet and a Martinez – widely believed to be the precursor of the Martini. All three cocktails are priced at £18.

It is a tradition at Claridge’s to toast to the incoming monarch with four bespoke cocktails: Coronation Cocktail with Fino Sherry, Dry Vermouth, Kina, Agave, Orange Bitters; The Clarence with Tanqueray Gin, Dry Vermouth, Maraschino, Absinth; Highgrove Gardens with Tanqueray No10, Vanilla, Herbs, Bitters, Soda and Castle of Mey with Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Dry Vermouth. The Painter’s Room is a fitting spot to mark the coronation of King Charles III, himself an artist, with botanical spirits and floral infusions inspired by the King’s beloved garden at Highgrove. As King Charles III takes his place in the history books, he is also immortalised at Claridge’s as they unveil a new color portrait of His Majesty by Artist in Residence, David Downton. The King joins portraits of other famous hotel guests, past and present, in the hotel’s Talking Heads Gallery.

Available in Le Magritte at The Beaumont is a Coronation cocktail ‘The Sceptre’, made of Tanqueray 10 gin, St Germaine, Italicus, botanically-infused Vetiver and Cochi Americano, topped with Pommery Champagne and served in a champagne coupe (£21).

At the Mandarin Oriental, The Aubrey and Mandarin Bar has created a special menu in partnership with Laphroaig. Three different whiskey cocktails are available in both bars from 1 to 9 May.

Try the special “Sovereign Martini” inspired by The King’s favorite tipple at the Vesper Bar at The Dorchester. The stir uses Wessex gin, Royal Garden mead, dry vermouth, lavender bitter and orange scent, presented in a delicate martini glass made bespoke for Vesper Bar.

Covent Garden Hotel Bar Manager Flavio Carvalho has also created a Royal Cocktail, inspired by the King’s love of whisky and Darjeeling. Darjeeling infused whisky is mixed with Cointreau, lemon and English sparkling wine for this.