‘Stones’ Afternoon Tea at The Palace Hotel Tokyo – Review

Stones is the seasonal Afternoon Tea at The Palace Hotel Tokyo, a ceremonial affair of artistic and culinary creativity served in the elegant Palace Lounge. The hotel stands as an icon of the city’s Marunouchi district, directly across from the Imperial Palace gardens. Kimono-clad staff present savoury and sweet treats on handcrafted lacquerware ‘stones’, each menu a celebration of nature and the passing season.

Settle into the Palace Lounge on a quiet afternoon and you quickly understand why this has become one of Tokyo’s most coveted reservations. The room has the feel of a grand residence, anchored by an oversized fireplace at one end and a white Steinway piano at the other. Come evening, the space transforms into a jazz lounge with champagne and cocktails, but by day it belongs to the ritual of afternoon tea.

Stones Afternoon Tea

The ceremony begins with matcha, the iconic green tea brought to Japan by the Chinese. A server presents a bowl of Nekohama Al organic ceremonial grade matcha from Kagoshima, the tea bright and grassy, whisked to a gentle froth. The bowl itself is worth pausing over, a Kiyomizu-yaki piece from Zensho Kiln, the ceramic tradition of Kyoto dating back over four centuries. Alongside comes a delicate rakugan, the traditional dried sugar confectionery that Palace Hotel Tokyo produces in-house. It dissolves slowly on the tongue, to be enjoyed just before the tea as a counterpoint to the slight bitterness of the tea.

This opening ritual sets the tone for what follows. In Japan, the appreciation of nature runs deep, and the calendar is measured not in four seasons but in seventy-two micro-seasons, each lasting roughly five days. Cherry blossoms, the first cicadas, the ripening of persimmons: these shifts are marked and celebrated through art, poetry and food. Stones Afternoon Tea draws from this philosophy with a menu that changes throughout the year.

After the matcha, you choose your tea. The selection is generous: classical options such as Assam, Darjeeling and English Breakfast sit alongside aromatic blends like Morgentau and Sweet Marron. There are herbals too, from peppermint to rosehip and hibiscus, plus Chinese teas including a fragrant jasmine. I chose the jasmine, its floral notes a gentle companion for the dishes to come.

Then the stones arrive.

The presentation is striking. Smooth, river-stone shapes in dark lacquer, each one handcrafted from wood at the studio of Akito Akagi in Ishikawa prefecture. Akagi is a world-renowned artisan, and these pieces were designed specifically for Palace Hotel Tokyo. They are individual works, no two identical, and they hold the savoury and sweet items with a sculptural elegance that feels distinctly Japanese.

The autumn menu reads like a love letter to the season. Among the savouries: venison hachis Parmentier, rich and warming; bonito tartare lifted by the sweetness of fig salsa; a monaka wafer filled with chicken liver mousse and chestnut, the crisp shell giving way to something silky and earthy. There is marinated salmon with beet roulade and caviar, persimmon paired with ricotta and jamon serrano, truffle pão de queijo with a truffle salt. A sweet potato velouté comes in a tiny vessel, topped with foraged yuzu foam.

The sweets continue the autumnal theme. A cinnamon canelé, caramelised and fragrant. Cassis mousse, sharp and clean. Apple financier with white chocolate ganache. Hojicha riz au lait, the roasted tea flavour threading through the creamy rice. Pumpkin pudding. A mont blanc with pear sauce. White wine mousse tart scattered with shine muscat grapes. Japanese confectionery from Yoshibashi, the storied wagashi house in Kanazawa, adds another layer of craftsmanship. Each piece is exquisite.

The scones arrive warm, made with sweet potato. They come with clotted cream and apple jam.

The Place Hotel Tokyo

Throughout the afternoon, the view through the lounge windows takes you as far as the Imperial Palace gardens. The hotel sits at 1-1-1 Marunouchi, about as prime an address as Tokyo offers, and those gardens stretch across 3.5 square kilometres in the heart of the city. Before or after the tea, a walk along the moats and through the East Gardens makes for a fine way to relish the afternoon.

The Palace Hotel Tokyo has stood on this site in various forms since 1961 but recently rebuilt in 2012 at an investment of a billion dollars. It holds Forbes Travel Guide’s Five-Star rating and Michelin’s Three Keys, the only wholly Japanese-owned hotel to achieve both. But credentials aside, what makes Stones Afternoon Tea memorable is the care evident in every element, from the ceramics to the confectionery, from the lacquerware to the sophisticated setting of the Palace Lounge.

This is not a quick affair. This is a two hour experience to be savoured. The Japanese have a phrase, ichigo ichie, which speaks to treasuring unrepeatable moments. An autumn afternoon at The Palace Lounge, with persimmon and chestnut and the last of the shine muscat, is precisely that.