Budapest Afternoon Tea at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus

On a recent weekend break Chelsie and I visited the beautiful capital city of Hungary, Budapest. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting this city, it is typically credited with its rich thermal and spa waters, deep history, glorious architecture, fabulous nightlife and certainly from our perspective impressive culinary scene.

Chelsie and I were fortunate enough to be spending the weekend at the luxurious five star Kempinski Hotel Corvinus. The hotel’s location is sensational, with quick, carefree access to all of the cities must see highlights from the beautiful St Stephen’s Basilica and chain bridge, to shopper’s paradise understandably named ‘Fashion Street’ and the financial district. This hotel has a lovely ambiance, reminiscent of a ‘home from home’ feel with an air of sophistication. The decor is elegant and stylish which results in an ideal location to relax and unwind. Keeping into the consideration the above, we were not surprised to hear that Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and the late Michael Jackson, to name but a few also chose this hotel to stay when visiting Budapest.

It was at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus that Chelsie and I indulged in our first ever Hungarian afternoon tea. We were led to the ‘Living Room’ where afternoon tea is served by our lovely waitress Anna. The tables were already laid out, in anticipation of those arriving, with simple but faultless white mats and cutlery. This set up blends perfectly with the rooms surroundings. The ‘living room’ is exactly as the name implies, and thus is themed just like a luxurious living room. There are deep, comfortable chairs, an impressive wooden cabinet filled with familiar necessities such as books and ornaments with an enticing central real fire and Duval Leray Rose champagne resting on a bed of ice at the foot of every table. This is all accompanied by relaxed, upbeat music playing in the background which results in a lovely location to enjoy a spot of afternoon tea.

As our afternoon tea commenced, Anna began by ensuring that our surroundings were to our highest satisfaction, inquiring if we had any dietary requirements (all dietary requirements can be catered for) before providing us with an overview of what the afternoon tea would entail and a vast menu for us to select our tea from. The tea selection was very impressive with teas from the following categories available Black, White, Herbal, Green, Fruit and Oolong. Our teas arrived on a mint tea with a silver kettle and a flowery cup exclusively designed for the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus by Zsolnay. I selected Superior Fancy Oolong which had a somewhat nutty-fruity body whilst Chelsie selected a black tea Golden Assam (with milk) which had a delightfully sweet note. Anna told us that throughout the afternoon tea we would be allowed an unlimited complimentary tea refill which, in accordance with the taste was fabulous news.

Our afternoon tea arrived on an elegant white three tiered square stand. The bottom tier consisted of two of the following sandwiches on crust-less white bread: cucumber with Gouda cheese, smoked salmon trout with cream cheese and cured Mangalicia ham with chive butter. Anna explained to us that the ingredients used at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus were of the finest quality and that the Mangalicia ham has an extensive history within the Hungarian food culture. We really appreciated Anna’s passion and insight, helping to ensure that we were fully incorporated into the Hungarian influence within this afternoon tea. We really enjoyed the sandwich selection; whilst we could not name our ultimate preference, we were silenced from our conversation by the freshness and intense flavor from each.

The middle tier deviated from the traditional English afternoon tea replacing scones and clotted cream with two apple and curd strudels accompanied with vanilla sauce and strudels with cottage cheese. We really enjoyed this difference, with our favorite item from this tier being the apple strudel. The taste of this apple strudel was divinely light but flavorsome with the vanilla sauce only enhancing the flavors further, whilst the cottage cheese strudel was a nice savory compliment. I must mention that as we moved on to each tier, Anna our waitress was extremely attentive asking if we had enjoyed our food, before providing us with a clean plate each, ready for our next tier. As we sat sipping on our teas, enjoying our lovely food and taking in the ambiance we were feeling both very content and relaxed.

In accordance with our own personal preference we asked Anna if we could be served our champagne with our desserts on the top tier. Sipping on our champagne served in Champagne coupes, we decided to indulge further and asked Anna if we could order an additional small stand of macarons from the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus new concept store fittingly called ‘Macarooons’. Anna returned within a suitable time frame smiling widely, explaining that she had hand selected a delightful combination of macaroon’s that would complement our upcoming dessert tier. The flavors included milk chocolate, and as to be expected following from the previous two tiers the food standard was incredibly high and the ganache intensely flavorsome. The enticing top tier was comprised of two of the following Hungarian influenced desserts: fruit tartlets, Dobos Cake (chocolate cake with crispy caramel on the top), Esterhazy torte (covered with sugar glaze, and filled with cooked egg cream with nut) and finally Sacher cake (chocolate cake). Chelsie and I really enjoyed trying the Hungarian desserts, and once again found it impossible to name a favorite. The differences in textures and bursts of flavors made them all exceptional in their own right.

Chelsie and I really enjoyed our first Hungarian afternoon tea, and can heartily recommend if you are planning to visit Budapest an indulgent stop the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus for afternoon tea. This is a beautiful location to celebrate a romantic break away with your partner, birthday celebration or as we did some girly indulgence.

www.kempinski.com/budapest