[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

Afternoon Tea at The Mark, a Jean-Georges restaurant, is a quiet and precious affair. It's $40 per person for the full tea service, though you may opt for only savory or sweets, at $22 each. Tea is served daily from 3:00-5:00pm and reservations are recommended, to seats on the plush hotel couches. Whether you're alone or with friends, each person is presented with individual three-tier trays.

The first thing you notice is that things are tiny here. Compared to the overflowing tea trays of Crosby Street or The Tea Set, trays at The Mark are positively sparse. Still, it's hard to appraise value at an afternoon tea; it's about the experience as much as it is about the food alone.

On the savory side, there are long elegant bites of classic finger sandwiches, including smoked salmon and dill on pumpernickel, a sharp and fresh English cucumber and cress, and Flying Pigs Farm ham and butter—the latter two paired with white bread. Alternate the sandwiches with sweets in the middle tier—a trio of housemade eclairs, each piped with a matching glaze and filling. That's vanilla tucked in the center, flanked by a potent coffee, and a lush and creamy chocolate pudding.

A Pear William cake is tucked into the middle tier, but much better is the Matcha Opera, with a superb matcha-almond cake and alternating layers of matcha and bittersweet chocolate ganache. There's only a single scone per diner, with a smooth and even appearance that recalls a bread roll. But break in and sure enough, appearances are deceiving: a sugar-dusted surface gives crunch, and the inside is all buttery and warm, begging for liberal application of clotted cream and a killer raspberry jam that tastes of summer berries pureed and intensified.

With such a fancy affair, you'd expect loose leaf tea, at the very least. But they use tea bags by T, a respectable Vancouver-based company. Nothing to write home about with the flavor selections—just six afternoon staples including Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and Peppermint. Individual teapots are presented with the tea bag, and refreshed with a new bag when the pot is refilled. The Mark is by far the most refined and, well, precious spot we've visited thus far in our afternoon tea journeys, but that's the beauty of afternoon tea in New York—something to suit every price and every style.

The Mark Restaurant by Jean Georges

25 East 77th Street, New York, NY 10075 (map)
212-744-4300
themarkhotel.com/restaurant-bar/the-mark-restaurant

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan writes A Passion For Food, where she chronicles her eats and travels adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.