Okura Afternoon Tea Bangkok Review: Japanese Flavors Above the City

Okura afternoon tea in Bangkok brought Japanese flavors and the familiar rituals of a hotel tea service together in one unusually photogenic presentation. Ian and I tried two versions at Up & Above Restaurant and Bar: the seasonal Sakura set, filled with cherry blossom references, and the more permanent Okura set built around Japanese ingredients. The exact menus from our 2019 visit are no longer served, but the experience remains a useful look at the hotel’s approach to afternoon tea, from Mariage Frères teas and attentive service to savory bites that were every bit as considered as the sweets.

Up & Above Restaurant and Bar Atmosphere

Up & Above provided a calm setting for afternoon tea, with dark finishes, large windows and art used to soften the scale of the room. When the elevator doors opened, the first thing we noticed was a large sakura tree in full bloom, set within a small Zen-inspired garden. The decorative tree immediately introduced the seasonal theme without turning the entire restaurant pink.

Large works of art continued through the lounge, while the windows brought in enough daylight to keep the darker palette from becoming heavy. It was a spacious all-day dining room, though the arrangement still gave our table a welcome sense of quiet.

Tea Selection at Okura Afternoon Tea

Mariage Frères supplied the teas for the Sakura afternoon tea, and the selection suited the Japanese direction of the food. We chose Sakura, Sakura! and Thé Vert Fuji Yama, two green teas with very different characters.

Sakura, Sakura!

The first choice was almost inevitable once I saw Sakura, Sakura! on the menu. This scented green tea carried gentle cherry blossom sweetness, followed by a more serious edge after a longer infusion. It worked naturally with the floral pastries, especially the pieces using pickled sakura blossom.

Thé Vert Fuji Yama

Our second tea, Thé Vert Fuji Yama, was grown near Mount Fuji. Its vegetal profile reminded us of hay, spinach and asparagus, with a light astringency appearing after a few minutes. That cleaner finish made it particularly useful beside the richer savory bites.

The Two Okura Afternoon Tea Sets We Tried

Our tasting combined the seasonal Sakura afternoon tea with the hotel’s original Okura set. The first interpreted cherry blossom season through pink tones, floral notes and pickled sakura, while the second leaned further into Japanese ingredients such as dashi, tuna, king crab, matcha and daifuku.

Both arrived in attractive serving boxes that also proved practical. Even after our rather long photo session, the sandwiches remained soft and the pastries looked freshly placed. Presentation earned the highest score on our review card, though the food had enough substance to keep the experience from becoming a photo opportunity with tea attached.

What is served now: The exact sets in our photographs belong to the 2019 visit. In September 2026, the hotel’s current Hana Afternoon Tea is served daily and continues the Japanese seasonal approach, with Hokkaido lavender references, Japanese ingredients and Mariage Frères teas.

Scones at Okura Afternoon Tea

The Sakura scones were not strictly traditional. A pickled cherry blossom and pink coloring connected them to the theme, adding a lightly floral, salty note beside their sweetness. I enjoyed the texture, and they paired well with clotted cream and jam. A homemade preserve would have matched the care shown elsewhere, and I could not stop thinking how well a proper sakura jam might have completed the idea.

Afternoon Tea Starters at Up & Above

Two plated starters made the service more substantial than simply opening a box of pastries. I began with peach sorbet, its cool fruit balanced by fine vanilla crumble. A poached egg with potato espuma followed, with truffle oil and pesto giving the soft combination enough depth. A quick stir brought those flavors together and turned it into one of the most comforting parts of the meal.

Sakura Afternoon Tea Savories

The Sakura savories stayed closer to English afternoon tea tradition, using ham, egg and cucumber fillings in soft sandwiches. Generous fillings brought more texture than their neat appearance suggested. My favorite was the shrimp and apple choux, where crisp fruit and seafood sat inside a light pastry shell with small dots of cream.

Japanese Savories in the Okura Set

The original Okura set was more explicitly Japanese, and its four savory bites were the strongest reason to order both versions. After our Nobu afternoon tea in Kuala Lumpur, I was already curious about the way Japanese ingredients could reshape this British ritual. Here, every savory arrived fresh, precisely assembled and full of clear flavors.

My favorite combined marinated tiger prawn with chilled dashi, shimeji mushrooms and pea shoots. The broth carried the seafood flavor without covering the prawn. King crab and Japanese melon followed a similar philosophy, with spicy tobiko mayonnaise adding warmth at the end. That melon also reminded us of the remarkable fruit served during our lunch at Le Normandie.

Sakura Afternoon Tea Sweets

The Sakura sweets carried the visual theme most confidently, using white chocolate, strawberry, peach, lychee, yuzu and cherry blossom across several small pastries. Even Ian, who has never considered pink his favorite color, understood the Japanese idea of kawaii as soon as the box arrived.

A sakura chocolate praline paired white chocolate with yuzu and a pickled blossom. The flower added more than decoration, bringing a small salty contrast and a reminder of how quickly cherry blossom season passes. Among all the garnishes, I preferred that edible blossom to the more predictable gold leaf.

The sakura Mont Blanc placed strawberry cream and a pronounced floral aroma inside layered chiffon cake. A glossy lychee and peach cheesecake was fruitier, with peach jelly at its center. The white peach and lychee verrine was lighter still, combining silky panna cotta with fruit purée, while the cherry blossom macaron and choux cream supplied the familiar pastry-shop pleasures.

Japanese Sweets in the Okura Set

The Okura sweets included green tea daifuku, a matcha chocolate praline and a sakura macaron. Daifuku is a filled mochi, and ours enclosed a mildly sweet bean paste whose depth almost suggested dark chocolate. Matcha powder sharpened the soft sweetness and added a pleasant bitterness to the chewy rice cake. The polished praline then provided a smaller, richer finish to the tea.

Okura Afternoon Tea Bangkok: Final Verdict

If you are wondering whether this is the best afternoon tea in Bangkok, the answer depends on what you value most. The Okura Prestige Bangkok stands out for its elegant presentation, Japanese influence and calm atmosphere, but it faces strong competition. See how it compares with the city’s other leading venues in our guide to the best afternoon tea in Bangkok.

The most memorable part of Okura afternoon tea was not its photogenic pink box alone. It was the way the kitchen gave each set a separate identity: one interpreted cherry blossom season through pastry, while the other used dashi, matcha, daifuku and carefully handled seafood to move further from the standard hotel formula.

Service was polished, the tea choice was strong and the presentation deserved its perfect score. A homemade preserve would have improved the scone course, and anyone seeking a strictly British afternoon tea may find the Japanese direction unfamiliar. For travelers drawn to seasonal ideas and precise small bites, that difference is exactly the point.

Okura Afternoon Tea Review Card

• 9.0
  ATMOSPHERE – 9.0
• 9.5
  SERVICE – 9.5
• 9.0
  TEA SELECTION – 9.0
• 10.0
  PRESENTATION – 10.0
• 9.3
  FOOD – 9.3
• 9.2
  VALUE – 9.2

Okura Afternoon Tea Practical Details

Okura Afternoon Tea FAQ

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