The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind –
the whole world seemed to sparkle
A second cleansed my spirit like purifying showers of rain
A third and I was one with the immortals.
Chao Jen, The Way of Tea, Tang Dynasty
It is my daughter’s eighteenth birthday and I wanted to take her somewhere special – a mother and daughter outing – to celebrate..
Now I have long had a penchant for a good old British afternoon tea, so when I discovered that the Manila Peninsula serves afternoon tea in the Lobby every afternoon, the decision was made.
Traditionally, afternoon tea was taken by the upper classes, a symbol of their wealth and position, when tea was highly taxed and highly fashionable. There are rumours that afternoon tea originated in France in the seventeenth century, tea having arrived in Paris almost twenty five years before it reached English shores. The Brits, however, claim it was their invention.
In 1717 Thomas Twining opened his first teashop for ladies in London. By the middle of the nineteenth century the Duchess of Bedford, who found the growing gap between luncheon and dinner quite enervating, had begun to make a social event out of a late afternoon snack. Consisting of bread and butter, small cakes and of course a pot of tea, it was served in the late afternoon (between four and five o’clock) and became very popular with the aristocracy. Eventually the habit drifted down to lesser mortals.
To me, afternoon tea whispers of a Georgian sitting room opening out onto an expansive English lawn; the scent of roses drifting through the windows; the gentle hum of bees; silver teapots, scones and cream and cucumber sandwiches. Or perhaps something ritzier at the Ritz or the Savoy with triple-decker cake plates, bone china and an optional glass of champagne.
I was hardly expecting to find the former in downtown Makati, but I hoped the latter might be a distinct possibility. We had not been to the Peninsula before. We were delighted with its understated elegance. Waiters drifted about in tailored Thai silk uniforms of chocolate brown. The tables were set with Minton Haddon Hall china and plain silver cutlery. The chairs were deep and decadent. Up on the balcony a flute and guitar duetted amiably.
Explanations – and drinks – were a little slow in arriving, but it eventually transpired that afternoon tea could be selected from the buffet whenever we were ready, and tea and coffee would arrive “in a while ma’am”. We also selected a lovely bottle of bubbles in honour of the occasion.
Wandering over to the buffet we discovered two tables laden with a profusion of dishes. The savoury table, while there was no sign of cucumber sandwiches, or even egg-and-cress, displayed baby quiches, crab cakes and bite-sized cannelloni, crab salad on slices of baguette, roast chicken sandwich fingers and tiny poppy seed rolls filled with roast duck. A cheese platter and a fruit platter completed the display. None of these dishes were exactly traditional tea-time fare, but all fitted the bill of dainty finger food – except perhaps the huge dish of fettucine carbonara.
The sweet buffet was highly Filipino-flavoured. Apart from the ubiquitous scones which were served with lemon curd, whipped cream and a delicious strawberry jam, there was a rich chocolate pudding covered in flaked almonds, surrounded by a myriad Filipino-style cakes and slices: bikon pandan (think green gelatinous rice, like cold rice pudding squares, but surprisingly morish); cassava cake reminiscent of small slices of pumpkin pie; brazzo de Mercedes, which my friend Monique tells me is also called merengue and resembles the French dish ile flottant – an uncooked meringue roll filled with thick custard and definitely my new favourite.
Offerings can vary from day to day, but the tea stays much the same. At the Peninsula, they serve a variety of teas from chamomile and peppermint to Earl Grey & a range of special Peninsula blends. My favourite is the cinnamon tea. And if you are making a real occasion of it, let me recommend the Bridgewater Mill Sparkling Chardonnay – very tasty and decidedly cheaper than its French cousins!
All in all we had a lazy, luxurious afternoon. In the course of two hours, the tea pot was filled and re-filled , as were our plates. And it was a very peaceful and reasonably priced treat as a little time out for yourself or as somewhere special to take guests.