Grand Imperial

What used to be Chez Gerard at Victoria Station has been transformed into a rather elegant Cantonese restaurant, part of the Thistle Grosvenor Hotel. It's a stunningly renovated room, with high ceilings and tasteful decor - a blend of burnished gold, black and white. Despite the central location, it can feel uncomfortably quiet during tea service - we got the feeling staff didn't really have their hearts in it. Which is a shame as the 'Oriental Afternoon Tea' (£20 per person) is rather good, despite some odd portion sizes.
We enjoyed the barbecued pork buns and black cod wrapped in fried kataifi pastry- the former hot and fluffy, the latter light and grease-free; but who could manage two of each for tea? There are also four 'wraps' - 'concubine' chicken and jellyfish on lettuce, and shredded roast duck on a prawn cracker, both better than they sound. They made for messy - and repetitive - eating. It might therefore seem like a good idea to share one tea between two - but doing so can result in negotiations over the four different chocolate dim sum, or halving the excellent green tea brûlée. A noble tea selection, as befitting for a Chinese restaurant - includes a mellow jin xuan oolong (known as milk oolong for its sweet aroma) from Taiwan.