Grand Hotel Via Veneto in Rome, Italy: A Festive Afternoon Tea

Posted by Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 12/23/2017

Grand Hotel Via Veneto in Rome, Italy: A Festive Afternoon Tea

Green Christmas, Orange Christmas, White Christmas or perhaps the Racconto di Natale (Story of Christmas). Choose your color, smell around you but most importantly, indulge your eyes with the magnificent Christmas decors of Grand Hotel Via Veneto. The hotel's lobby is dressed up splendidly with such festive atmosphere. Water runs continuously on the glass ceiling while the hanging Christmas trees and shiny gold balls twinkle in the air. It's an extremely charming retreat after a walk along Via Veneto.

With the holiday festivities, Grand Hotel doesn't forget to celebrate it with style and a pinch of magic. When it's cold outside or a long walk along the shops of Via Veneto comes to a conclusion, a Festive Afternoon Tea (or cocktails if you want that little buzz in your drink) is the best way to continue celebrating the holidays.

To go with the occasion, Executive Chef Franco Madama of Magnolia Restaurant, the hotel's Michelin starred restaurant, creates cakes, scones, pies, pastries and tea sandwiches that go well with the Christmas teas and cocktails. The big central table of the lobby is adorned with his beautiful creations every afternoon, from 16:00 to 18:00, until the end of the holiday season on the 7th of January.

The Festive Afternoon Teas that you can choose from are: Green Christmas, green tea bancha (Japanese green tea that is harvested from the second flush of sencha tea between summer and autumn) with a low caffeine content, apple and cardamom which are truly excellent with the Christmas cakes and sweets. There is also the Orange Christmas which is a mixture of Rooibos of South Africa (free of caffeine) with karkadè, bits of apple and sunflower petals or the aromatic White Christmas or Racconto di Natale, an Indian black tea with apple, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander. A selection of the sandwiches, scones, pastries, pies and cakes per person with a tea blend of choice (€25)

The Festive Special Cocktails (€18 each) might equally be challenging to choose from for their very interesting blend of aromas and flavors. For a whisper of prosecco and scent of panettone, Il Rossini delle Feste is a drink with fresh strawberries mixed with peaches, red calendula and rose flavored Pai Mu Tan white tea. Warm, smooth and sweetly scented, Un Americano a Natale is a mixture of bitter and Italian vermouth with infusion of Chinese black tea, almonds, raisins, heather, and yellow rosebuds. And for a tropical emotion in a glass, the New Year's Emotion is a spectacular choice with its blend of cream, mango purèe, crème patissière, rum, and caramel then garnished with black olive and honey snow.