I’ve been to Cloud23 a few times now. It is located on the 23rd floor of Manchester’s tallest building Beetham Tower and part of the Hilton hotel. The first thing to note is the incredible views of our city. On a clear day you can see the surrounding counties as far as the ocean.

Unfortunately on the day we visited for afternoon tea it was grey and miserable, we were lucky to see as far as Salford Quays! A good thing though is that Cloud23 was decorated to the nines for Christmas with a beautiful reindeer at the entrance and a pretty Christmas tree in the main area.

We were greeted warmly with the offer of tea or coffee which is unlimited during your Christmas afternoon tea. The service was exceptional with regular top ups and a full explanation of what the Christmas afternoon tea would entail.

Our afternoon tea was served on three tiers with sandwiches in the middle, scones on the bottom and a layer of miniature Christmas themed cakes on the top. The sandwich selection was exceptional and stuck to the Christmas theme perfectly. The roast ham and English pickle sandwich was a nice touch with the pickle lightly sweetened with a crunchy bite. The prawn and cucumber was tasty with large juicy prawns bound in a tangy marie rose sauce whilst the Lancashire red onion rarebit wasn’t warm as described. This was a shame but the sharp Lancashire cheese with the tart onion pickle was a lovely combination. My favourite of the sandwiches was the turkey and chestnut wrap which was seasoned perfectly with plenty of soft turkey in a lightly herbed wrap.

The rum and raisin macaroons were topped with a festive rock sweet. The cake itself was moist with the rum soaked plump raisins dotted throughout. This was my definite favourite I could have eaten both! The dark chocolate sacher torte was topped with a rich granache to balance the sweetness of the torte. The German stollen was also good with a good hit of marzipan whilst the eccles cake was warm with a crisp pastry case.

The scones had a light cinnamon flavour but appeared to have slightly too much bicarbonate of soda as they weren’t as fluffy as they should be.

At £23 per person the afternoon tea is pricey but the views really are worth it and the dining area is very relaxed. You could easily spend a good few hours with girlfriends having a natter over unlimited tea and coffee.