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Salon de Ville, Waldorf Astoria

Address: Waldorf Astoria, Heritage Building, 2 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu
.              上海外滩华尔道夫酒店 中山东一路2号, 近广东路
Tel: 6322 9988
Hours: 10:00am~8:00pm
Website: www.waldorfastoria.com
Price: 288rmb+15%/person, free flow of coffee, tea, and finger food

Note: The afternoon tea at Waldorf Astoria is now 338RMB+15%/person. 

The entire Waldorf Astoria oozes opulence, and its elegant tearoom, Salon de Ville, is no exception. What I liked most about the venue, in addition to its plush furnishings and live classical music performance, is that there is a comfortable distance between each clusters of sofas. The ambience is perfect for a quiet afternoon of private tête-à-têtes, but how is the tea set?

Salon de Ville, Waldorf Astoria Shanghai

Our window table

Decor

The Red Velvet Afternoon Tea Set, priced at 288 338 RMB/person, includes a free flow of savory bites, finger sandwiches, scones, cakes, signature red velvet cupcakes, and coffee or tea (try the Irish Whisky Cream, which actually doesn’t contain any whisky but is rich and aromatic enough to intoxicate.)

Red Velvet Afternoon Tea Set, 288 338 RMB/person

Savory bites: smoked salmon pastry, quiche, chicken curry puff pastry.

Savory bites

Bottom tier: assorted finger sandwiches and potato salad.

Finger sandwiches

Middle tier: plain scones, raisin scones (come with jam, clotted cream, mascarpone cream), coffee cream puff, pistachio cake, chocolate lemon rolled cake.

Scones and cakes

Top tier: red velvet cupcakes, raspberry macarons, blueberry tart, white chocolate mousse cake, New York cheese cake, chestnut cake.

Red velvet cakes & co.

The classic red velvet cake, made popular during the 1920s at the Waldorf Astoria New York, supposedly also made an appearance with Julia Roberts in her 1989 movie “Steel Magnolias”. While most red velvet cakes are artificially colored, the Waldorf Astoria rendition is naturally red with beetroot juice and cocoa powder.

Signature red velvet cupcake

The afternoon tea set itself was not particularly impressive, but I quite enjoyed the regal yet relaxed ambiance brought alive by classical music performance (cello and violin on the day of my visit, harp on most weekends). As seats are limited, make sure to reserve ahead of time (and remember to ask for one of the two window tables, if that’s your thing).

Click here to see my post on the Waldorf Astoria Brunch Tour.

Live string performance

Cute chair

For more afternoon high tea options, see here:

Living Room at The Park Hyatt
Flair Rooftop Lounge at The Ritz-Carlton Pudong
Salon de Ville at The Waldorf Astoria