Chelsea Flower Show season, but make it edible 🌸✨
Hidden behind the grand former American Embassy on Grosvenor Square, Jacqueline at The Chancery Rosewood feels like stepping into a dreamscape designed for spring romantics and devoted food lovers alike. For this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, the hotel has unveiled Out of This World, a botanical-inspired afternoon tea that transforms the traditional ritual into a multi-sensory journey through scent, taste and artistry.
Available daily from 12pm–6pm between 18–25 May, the experience has been created by acclaimed pâtissier Chef Marius Dufay, whose vision celebrates floral flavours through elegant savouries, haute pâtisserie and exquisite tea pairings from Jacqueline’s tea library of more than 120 references. Guests are also guided through three floral tea infusions by Jacqueline’s Tea Sommelier and leave with beautifully illustrated wildflower seed cards to plant at home, a charming touch that extends the Chelsea Flower Show magic long after the final sip.
The moment you enter Jacqueline, you are wrapped in warm golden light and soft blush interiors. It feels theatrical, but never overdone, refined in the distinctly Rosewood way.
At the centre of the afternoon tea is Dufay’s fascination with floral infusion. Rather than simply adorning pastries with edible flowers, he approaches botanicals with the precision of a perfumer, weaving delicate floral notes throughout the menu with restraint and sophistication. Rose, orange blossom, geranium and meadowsweet appear in nuanced layers that whisper rather than overwhelm.
The savoury selection sets the tone beautifully. Jasmine crème fraîche blini topped with caviar, geranium and smoked Scottish salmon, while garlic flower paired with corn-fed chicken offers a more savoury, herbaceous depth. Every bite feels thoughtfully calibrated, allowing the botanical elements to enhance rather than dominate.
Warm plain and raisin scones arrive perfectly baked, accompanied by Devonshire clotted cream, rhubarb jam and an especially memorable strawberry and tiaré gardenia jam that tastes like summer bottled into preserve form.
Then come the pastries, the true showpieces of the experience. Marius Dufay’s haute pâtisserie creations are visually exquisite yet grounded in elegant flavour combinations. A Meadowsweet and dark chocolate tart brings earthy floral notes against rich cocoa bitterness, while the Rose and aloe vera macaron feels ethereal and almost perfume-like in texture and aroma. Perhaps the standout is the Orange blossom Tropézienne with marzipan and cream: light, fragrant and decadently soft.
What elevates the experience even further is Jacqueline’s tea programme. Rather than treating tea as a simple accompaniment, the Tea Sommelier curates pairings with the same attention one might expect from fine wine service. Guests are guided through three floral tea infusions selected to complement the pastries and savouries, exploring how tannins, fragrance and temperature interact with the menu’s botanical notes.
The botanical infusions are particularly memorable, amplifying the floral dimensions of the pâtisserie without overpowering them.
In a city overflowing with themed afternoon teas, Jacqueline has created one that feels genuinely transportive. It is not merely inspired by flowers; it captures the emotion of the annual Chelsea Flower Show itself, beauty, escapism and fleeting seasonal magic served in the most exquisite environment.
