Indian Afternoon Tea At Colonel Saab. Discover Delicious High Tea But Not As We Know It.

Andy Mossack reviews an Indian Afternoon Tea at Colonel Saab and gets transported back to the British Raj.

There is perhaps nothing more British than taking a dignified afternoon tea. It’s not just the act of drinking a brew, it’s more about the ritual. The three-tiered tray, the finger sandwiches, the established order of eating the various items, and of course, the act of scone filling; Is it the clotted cream before the strawberry jam or vice versa?

It seems even the most die-hard un-conventionalist meekly toes the line when faced with following British high tea tradition. It is an institution, and one that simply had to be transported to India during the almost 100 years of the British Raj. I mean, how could any British officer’s family even contemplate the thought of not having a high tea every afternoon. It just wouldn’t be, well, British, would it, which along with cricket, were perhaps two of our best exports to the colonies.

Colonel Saab, London’s multi award-winning duo of Indian fine dining restaurants, has become synonymous with some gloriously bonkers theatre/dining collaborations which I have had the pleasure of covering. Mrs Doubtfire and Kinky Boots themed menus in particular.

Never afraid to challenge the status quo or simply stand on their laurels, they are at it again with the launch of Indian Afternoon Tea at their Colonel Saab High Holborn flagship restaurant. It promises an Indian take on a hitherto thoroughly British high tea convention by giving it a blend of Indian flavours and, honestly, I couldn’t wait to try it out.

Colonel Saab’s High Holborn branch is a worthy flagship. This former turn of the century Town Hall is a fine stage to showcase some excellent Indian fare, decked out with with huge chandeliers and Corinthian pilasters, it’s bedecked with mementos of owner Roop Partap Choudhary’s Indian family heritage. It’s like stepping into the parlour of a grand Indian mansion.

A perfect setting then for a splendid afternoon tea Indian style don’t you think?

A corner table was the perfect place for a spot of people watching with a chilled glass of Prosecco Rosé (£9.50) to kick things off. (Champagne Brut or Rose by the glass or bottle is also available from £19.50). After all Colonel Saab has something of a reputation for a celebrity patron or three, but on this occasion no famous faces but plenty of afternoon tea takers.

Speaking of which, the requisite three-tiered tray appeared replete with its bounty of Indian tea snacks for two.

Top tier was the savoury collection: Aloo Bonda Sliders – two mini veggie burger buns (one pink, the other black) filled with mashed masala potato and a tamarind & coriander sauce, topped with a coconut and garlic crumb and a skewered green chilli. Next, Bombay grilled sandwiches filled with gooey spicy cottage cheese and mozzarella. While our third morsel was khaman dhokla, fluffy, sweet & savoury gram flour cakes with a mint & coriander sauce and grated fresh coconut.

On the second tier the pastries awaited. Two giant raisin scones (accompanied by strawberry jam and clotted cream of course) and tikona samosas filled with mashed potato and a coriander sauce. And finally crispy chakli, spiral biscuits made from gram flour, rice flour & lentils.

The bottom tier contained four kinds of indulgent desserts. Mud cake cups filled with a Gulab jamun tiramisu, baked crumbs and fried boondi (lentils) caviar. Lentil & Jaggery Payasam, a south Indian milk pudding served in little clay pots. Coconut and rose laddu – rose balls coated with dry coconut and mini fruit tarts, classic French fruit tart with vanilla custard and fresh fruit.

My pick from the top tier were the sliders. Really tasty, although they came with a health warning from our waiter regarding the skewered chilli. “At your peril” I think the words were when asked about the chilli strength!

The middle tier challenge was a close-run thing between the samosas, which were beautifully crunchy and the giant scones, which at first take looked to be on the heavy side but once opened turned out to be delightfully soft inside and filled with sultanas and raisins and satisfyingly crunchy outside. The jam and cream went down a treat, and we had a lot of fun breaking off bits of scone and dousing them in both. So the scones won that round.

The bottom tray was a tie. The the mud cake cups turned out to be edible, an extra chocolate treat, while the custard-based fruit tarts were very moreish.

For the beverages we stuck to marsala chai tea bringing back happy memories of roadside chai in India, served piping hot in proper tea pots. But for high tea traditionalists there is a huge range of teas as long as your arm including breakfast and Darjeeling. Coffee is also represented across all its forms.

Indian Afternoon Tea at Colonel Saab proved to be a glorious fusion of English and Indian cultures, and at £35 per head excellent value.

Although I wonder what those Raj officers and their families would make of it. An abomination? Uncivilized? Not British enough? I think not. Personally, I reckon they would have loved it too.

All food images except featured image (C) Andy Mossack.