As I mentioned previously in my vegan guide to Paris, I treated myself to a visit to Le Bar at Shangri-La while in Paris. I had this vision for my birthday that I wanted to go to this extraordinary hotel, to enjoy a vegan afternoon tea in a luxurious setting while reading a good book.
Said and done. Prior to going to Paris I made a booking through contacting Shangri-La on Facebook. First of I have to be honest with you. I contacted Shangri-La by email, to try and get help with a booking. And they stopped responding to my emails. It was very weird, especially for a luxury brand and hotel at that. But then I contacted them through their Facebook page and after a week or so, they responded and assisted me with a booking.
The reason I needed help was that there is no way to make vegan afternoon booking on their website. Not anywhere I could find anyway. And being a paranoid vegan (with good cause that any vegan can) I wanted to ensure I could get a confirmation on a table and a vegan menu.
So after getting past those few weeks of initial kerfuffle with ensuring a reservation, I was all set.
So there I was, on my birthday, entering the gates of the beautiful Shangri-La in Paris, after an adventurous Uber Pool ride (that is another story, and a good one at that!) walking up the marble steps and entering this exquisite hotel.
I was greeted by a well dressed French waiter that took the uttermost best care of me and made up for all the confusing communication that preceded my visit.
I was showed to a corner table, where I was placed amongst colourful cushions. I got to choose my tea and after a very short moment a beautiful and abundant afternoon tea spread was presented to me. I got all the classics such as scones with cream and jams, finger sandwiches and various sweets. Not only that, I also got an additional plate with the most beautiful pastries imaginable. To cute to eat but I did and they where amazing.
My view.
The most beautiful pastries.
The classic finger sandwiches.
More treats! I didn’t take a photo of the scones and cream. But you can see it in the photo above.
My tea of choice was the classic jasmine tea. It’s really my favourite and the tea complimented the afternoon tea selection really well.
The service was of course top notch. I was given both attentive care and privacy to enjoy my book. Re-fills of my teapot and help with poring my tea, I was also treated to chocolate pralines by my waiter and not a few, two plates of them! I had so much food and I really tried to eat everything but it was challenging and I’m not a big person. So I tried to sample a bite from everything. To really get to experience the magnificent food that they had prepared.
This day was exactly how I envisioned my birthday. Dressed up, with my book, being taken care of while enjoying luxurious food in an opulent setting. I felt like a princess. And it was one memory that I will treasure. I felt that they really made my special day, extra special.
If you want to know about other extraordinary places to have vegan afternoon tea, check out my latest article for Happy Cow.
Image borrowed from: The Shangri-La website