Julien Bar & Lounge at the Langham Hotel

250 Franklin St
Boston, MA 02110
(617) 956-8751

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Afternoon Teas will always be associated with London hotels and the Langham chain is no exception. London's Langham Hotel was Europe's first Grand Hotel and England's first building with an elevator. It's bang opposite the BBC in the West End, not far behind Top Shop and is now considered one of the world's best hotels to celebrity spot. Suffice to say the London hotel does a mean Afternoon Tea and has done for 140 years, but is the standard kept up throughout this little HK-based hotel chain? What about Boston's very own Langham? We'll have to see.

The front half of the Boston's Langham Hotel occupies the former Federal Reserve Bank, an austere thick-walled building that provides this executive hotel with a touch of history. The hotel was previously Le Meridien and perhaps they are to blame for the horrible high-rise section at the rear that is so incongruous with the front. Fortunately, The Julien Bar is in the front. In fact the bar is in a gorgeous old room with a fantastic ceiling - a very special location. Incredibly, however, this is not where afternoon tea is served! No, and it's not even served in the equally beautiful Julien Room. Instead, afternoon tea at The Langham Hotel is served on a mezzanine level just outside the Julien Bar between the old half of the hotel and the poor modern extension. As long as it's not too busy, you'll be seated by the ancient windows and the view out onto the Post Office Square Gardens should hopefully distract from the walkway behind you that links the bar to the conference areas.

Afternoon tea is proudly served every day between 3.00 and 4.30 pm. You can get your tea with just scones and pastries, you can add sandwiches to this, or you can even up the ante further and include a glass of champagne and a full desert. As of June 2007, it runs to $18 for the basic tea and $36 for the works. Additionally, the typical list of tea choices can be upgraded to one of a few rare teas (eg. Dragon Pearl Jasmine) for $2 more and for $5 extra you can get one of two 'high art' teas, which are handpicked flowers pressed with tea that open up in hot water. Obviously, The Boston Teacup went for that!

Hana...
Afternoon tea at the Langham was a disappointment for three main reasons: food, tea, and ambiance. While the food’s not as extreme as inedible, it was not really superb or decadent either, but rather average tasting across the board. Portions were generous, but quality was lacking. The traditional cucumber sandwiches did not have that crisp and fresh taste to it, more of heavy and dry one (probably from being out in the air). I did like the mascarpone cheese that went with the scones, as well as the rum dessert that they offered.

Teas were served in ceramic wares. But having chosen the high art tea that they offer, it would make more sense that the teapot was transparent, so that we can see the flower inside. As for the décor, it was lackluster with the poorly lit room and white curtains on top of white walls framing the small windows. It was neither warm and inviting, nor sleek and modern. Overall, my real disappointment with the Langham is that it doesn’t carry through with all that it wants to do. It doesn't pay attention to the details. They gave a lot of food, but it was average; they offered high art teas, but these were poorly presented; they were being fancy with white linen tablecloths, but then paired it with brown wicker-backed chairs.

Tom...
I had high hopes for the Langham - it's the only hotel in Boston that claims English roots, and so you'd expect them to put in the extra effort into their afternoon tea. Sadly, it didn't quite work out. It felt like the management had been told from above that afternoon tea was a big deal, but that in reality they didn't really care. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, and I can see why. This hotel is firmly in Boston's financial district and largely caters for high-end business people rather than tea-loving aristocrats. In fact, I doubt there's much call for the afternoon tea, it was quite empty whilst we were there and the (much more opulent) Julien Bar next door was doing a far better trade. Basically, I get the feeling that serving tea, especially every day, is simply a token gesture to mark the hotel as a 'Langham'.

The high art tea, although costly, had a great taste. It's a shame I didn't get to try any of the other teas, but I was impressed that the Langham served this rare treat. It's not that common in Boston and it's worth seeing if you get the chance. For me the food was quite good. The smoked salmon sandwiches were on a sweetened bread which made for a lovely change, and it felt quite Scottish. Hana wouldn't know - she's a vegetarian weirdo. Haha.