When you’re planning a trip to London, and you are tasked with choosing where to go for just ONE afternoon tea during your trip, the options are completely overwhelming. There are traditional teas like at Fortnum and Mason (one of my favorite shopping stops in the city!) or Claridge’s, and there are ultra-modern teas like at the Rosewood London, as well as hundreds of other tiny spots to grab a cuppa all over the city. My choice was primarily ruled by location, and so I chose Afternoon Tea at Roast, above Borough Market.

Our tour guide for the Borough Market Food tour, which you can read about here, waved off Roast as a pretty bougie spot for food, and it totally was, but with all it’s flowery decor and solid tea cakes, sandwiches, and other goodies, which were more meat-based than traditionally offered, we thought that the Afternoon Tea at Roast was a great value, and we also had a really good time.

Roast occupies an upper level above The Borough Market, so you actually get a really cool view of the hustle and bustle below. The restaurant is decked out in gobs of faux florals, but is still pretty refined and elegant at the same time. Afternoon tea here costs 45 pounds per person, or 69 pounds if you want a bottomless glass of prosecco. Hilariously, Brian got the bottomless glass, and when our server realized that she kind of ignored his empty glass for much of the first half of our service, she really started topping him off quite aggressively during the second half!

Tea is served pretty traditionally, even though this is a pretty modern place, and like I said, it is meat-heavy. All tea is loose-leaf, and there are quite a few to choose from, and there are good descriptions of each in the menu. It looks like they don’t change their menu too much, so what you see here (Summer of 2024), is still actually the menu in Winter of 2025. There was no egg salad or cucumber sandwich here – instead was a salmon seeded sandwich, a pulled pork roll and a roast beef and horseradish sandwich.

There was also a hefty savory course including a scotch egg, braised beef croquettes and a sausage roll. The sausage roll here wasn’t nearly good as the one we had that morning at the Ginger Pig just downstairs, but still delicious. This course was really a lot of meat, and considering the price of this tea is much lower than more traditional teas in London at the more fancy joints, I would say the tea at Roast is actually quite a bargain!

The scones here were fluffy perfection, and the desserts were all very cute and nice, although maybe not the highlight of the meal, as none of the bites were super memorable. They included a cheesecake, a fruit tart, and a choux bun with white chocolate and strawberry mouse.

If you’re looking for a traditional-ish tea, but don’t want to break the bank, and you want to try some extra meaty items because egg salad is just not for you, definitely check out the Afternoon Tea at Roast – you’ll have a great time here, and you’ll be very full when you leave!