The Westbury Hotel, Dublin, Ireland.

Cost – 45 Euro, 60 Euro with a glass of Champagne (Sept 2019)

Parking and Access – There are steps up to reach both reception and The Gallery, where Afternoon Tea is served. However, there are two lifts available nearby as well. There are toilets that are accessible on the same level as The Gallery. Unfortunately, I have no idea on parking within Dublin. However, the traffic was very busy.

Background – The final port on our Iceland and the British Isles cruise was to Dublin, a city neither of us had visited before. We thought it would be a lovely idea to finish our cruise off with a final Afternoon Tea in a new city.

There are many places offering Afternoon Tea in Dublin. I looked at lots of them before deciding on The Westbury Hotel. I had no idea about the hotel or where it was, although it looked close to the centre of the city. Luckily, it turned out to be one of the top Dublin hotels and was incredibly conveniently placed just a very short distance from the main street (Grafton Street). I definitely made a good choice!

It was a bright and sunny day when we visited The Westbury. This made some photos quite difficult to take due to the sun and shadows.

Contents – One rectangular sandwich (ham with tomato relish), one triangular sandwich (egg with chive mayonnaise), one square of soda bread topped with smoked salmon and crab with lemon aioli and one brioche bun filled with truffled chicken. One small medium plain scone and one small medium fruit scone, a small square of chocolate sponge, a small amount of butter, a pot of berry jam and a pot of clotted cream. A cherry and chocolate tartlette mousse, a blueberry and lavender choux, a citrus and strawberry gateux, a pistachio bavaroise, and a white chocolate and passion fruit verrine. A pot of your choice of tea or coffee.

Options available – This Afternoon Tea was also available with either champagne or pink champagne.

Comments – The Westbury hotel is just a few steps from the famous Grafton Street.

We climbed the steps inside the entrance up to reception, who then showed us to the desk in The Gallery. We were then taken to our table by the front window and given a smart Afternoon Tea menu each.

The room was quite modern looking with comfy sofas and chairs

and interesting lights.

Our table looked out to a view towards Grafton Street.

We had a small round table covered with a linen tablecloth. There was another lower, square table next to the round one with two plates on for the teapots to sit on.

The main, round table was laid with pretty blue and white plates, cups and saucers,

 

heavy silver coloured cutlery, linen napkins and a champagne flute each.

We were asked if we would like any champagne to drink. My companion asked for pink champagne.

We were also asked to choose a hot drink from the menu. We decided to go for a fruit infusion again as it was a warm sunny day and it sounded refreshing. We chose strawberry cheesecake fruit infusion.

The tea arrived quickly in two metal teapots. A smaller one containing hot water plus a large pot of tea. The waiter poured us each a cup of tea. The tea was good and there was plenty of it.

Near the end of our Afternoon Tea we were asked if we wanted more tea. I didn’t need any more to drink so my companion chose to have a cappuccino instead.

The Afternoon Tea itself was served on a metal three tier cake stand with round blue and white plates on the lower two layers and a white plate with butterflies on for the top layer. The scones were wrapped in a linen napkin to keep them warm.

The sandwiches were freshly made, well filled and delicious. The fish was an open sandwich on a small piece of soda bread, which was nice as it was a particularly Irish touch. However, my favourite was the truffled chicken brioche bun, which was full of chicken chunks and was very tasty.

As we neared the end of the sandwiches, we were asked if we would like any more. We both chose two extra. I chose another chicken bun and a ham and tomato relish sandwich. These all arrived quickly on a separate plate.

The scones were warmed up and wrapped in a linen napkin along with a small piece of chocolate cake each.

They were tasty and freshly made.

The berry jam was very nice. There was more than enough of both jam and clotted cream.

The cakes all look stunning. They had been created in partnership with The National College of Art and Design to pay homage to some of Ireland’s top young designers.

As we reached the cake section, we were given an extra plate with a finger of chocolate and coffee opera cake on it and ‘Welcome to Dublin’ written in chocolate across the plate. I remembered back to when we had first arrived at the table, the waiter had asked me if we were celebrating a special occasion. I had answered ‘no’ but added that it was our first visit to Dublin. What a thoughtful idea! We were delighted.

The cakes were all really special. The filling of the blueberry and lavender choux bun was delicious.

The cherry and chocolate tartlette mousse was topped by a chocolate ball.

The citrus and strawberry gateaux was light and tasty.

The pistachio bavaroise was interesting but very good.

But the best of all for me was the white chocolate and passionfruit verrine. Wow! This was so good, I could have eaten a whole bowlful! It was like a passionfruit curd with a delicious tang to it. I loved it!

As we finished, a waiter appeared and asked us if we would like any more sandwiches or scones! This time we declined!

Service was extremely good. It was attentive without being overbearing. We were checked on several times and were offered extra food and drink if we wanted it. The Welcome to Dublin plate was a lovely touch and really made our visit special. This was a delightful Tea.

I have struggled to score our Afternoon Tea at The Westbury. We had a long discussion about the scores and decided this would be our first full scoring Tea. We really could not find anywhere that could score less than two. The scones were on the smaller size but they were good and we were offered more. The price may seem a little on the high side but this is a capital city and when compared to the equivalent in London it is really good value. All of the food was delicious, we felt comfortable and were not hurried in any way. We had a good time. So in the end we settled on a full mark of twenty out of twenty. Well done to The Westbury!

 

 

Savoury	2.0
Scone	2.0
Jam	2.0
Cream	2.0
Cake (variety)	2.0
Cake (quality)	2.0
Tea	2.0
Presentation	2.0
Service	2.0
Value	2.0
Total	20.0