Conrad - Lobby Lounge

Well this one is quite an old one and was a buffet.... the only thing we remembered of this buffet was that it wasn't that good... we were hard pressed to even remember where we had it!

Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong

Stay tuned, we're hitting Langham Place this week! Our first Kowloon afternoon tea (since Intercon)

Mandarin Oriental

Gosh, it feels like it's been a while since i last went to high-tea. have to get back into the mode but the last few months seems to have been flying.

On Sunday Erica and I hit the Mandarin Oriental (the one on Connaught Rd), we accidentally got there a little early so spent some time at Oliver's doing some shopping, i made a mental shopping list to come back AFTER eating - considering how hot and humid it was, definitely not a good idea to be wandering around with raw meat without any cooler bags.

Back to the reason for this post, at 3pm we headed up to the lounge (reservations are recommended as it can get quite busy, it a 'quiet' way - not like the Peninsula which is a bit of a circus).

The menu. In terms of black tea, not much to choose from they have a wide selection of "asian" tea but given this is good old English afternoon tea, definitely should stick to 'english' tea - so i went for English Breakfast tea while Erica went for Earl Grey. Actually thinking about it, none of the places i've been to so far actually serve "afternoon tea" leaves - quite interesting..

Anyway the tea arrived in nice silver tea pots, the strainer wasn't fineenough to get all the tea leaves though but the tea was nice enough.

Well considering we were there for afternoon tea we hardly had to decide what we were going to order. the benefit of going with two or more people is that you don't have to choose what savouries/scones that you'd like - we had to wait quite a while for the set to arrive:

Tier number 1: the sandwiches: they were pretty nice, bread was a tiny little bit dry though
Tier number 2: The savouries. All were delicious (i was in a savour mood though)
Tier number 3: the dessert - i have to say, we didn't actually finish it off, it was too sweet...
The scones! Verry nice and i just realised i didn't get any photos of the jam and cream. The jam was very tasty it was strawberry but also had a hint of something else... neither Erica nor I could place it but it was like strawberry jam made with rosewater or something. the effect was quite pleasant and the scones were pretty good as well - I can't remember all the scones i've eaten so far but these rank on the top of the list.

Atmosphere: it was quite, conversations were kept soft but that could be because the tables are fairly well spaced. Seats were comfortable as well... unfortunately i'd have to say there is something about the Intercontinental - it's still on the top of my list. I will probably have to do Intercon another go, just in case i'm biased because it was the first one we hit on this High Tea of Hong Kong journey...

On a separate note, the problem with the Peninsula is that ... for such a 'high class' hotel, the lounge is too much of a zoo. It lacks the style associated with the name of the hotel - probably because it's now a tourist trap... I'd have to say that so far, the Mandarin Oriental has been the classiest hotel we've been to - probably because it's a little out of the way, it is really an enjoyable place to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Aside from the afternoon tea buffets, i think we've pretty much done all the afternoon teas on the Hong Kong side - we will start hitting the Kowloon ones next albeit a bit reluctantly since we both hate the crowds associated with the Kowloon side...

Revised High Tea list

Sheraton - Sky Lounge
Conrad - Lobby Lounge
The Excelsior - Lounge on the 1st
Grand Hyatt - Tiffin
JW Mariott - The Lounge
Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental - MO Bar

So many places! Not enough weekends!!

High Tea #4 - W Hotel

[I didn't go to this one but my High Tea buddy (Erica) did!]
Verdict: "Don't bother with this one"

From what i gather, there are multiple sets to choose from. Erica chose the Oriental one

I have to say presentation looks good (different to the tea trays that we've had so far)

The experience is best described by Erica herself:

so besides the oriental pastry, you get "scones". It was sooooo not a real scone.. it's the front two in the picture.. yep can be eaten with one bite.. then the cream for the scones were ordinary cream, not the clotted cream style..

We had iced coffee rather than tea, but I saw on other tables that it wasn't the silver teapot style...

Then let's move onto the ambience... well W hotel is a funky retro style hotel so it didn't have the english high tea feeel so I guess for me the food didn't do it and the ambience was way off...

It was the most disapointing high tea ever!!!

High Tea #3 - Shangri La: Lobby Lounge

Good progress on the journey to tasting all of Hong Kong's High/Afternoon tea locations. This time it's at the Shangri La Lobby Lounge (on top of Pacific Place in Admiralty).

This is the first place to offer the choice of three tea sets: Wimbledon, Shangri-La and Traditional.We had a bigger party this afternoon and so managed to order all three sets. The scones came in their own separate basket and i must say these are the best scones out of the ones i've been to so far. Soft and not too big/small. The condiments were also tasty as well.



This is a single serving of the Wimbledon and Shangri-La set:
My friends tried the strawberries and found them a little sour... i guess it's just hit and miss with fruits...
and this is the traditional set - i opted for this one as it was closer to all the other sets that we have eaten so far (best to compare similar things, to be fair)
What an oversight! I just realised i hadn't taken any pictures of the teapots! But they were tea leaves and steel/pewter things. The tea was nice the only gripe is they explicitly say only ONE pot of tea (unlike the other contenders which have replaced the tea leaves/bags upon request)

The sandwiches were a tad small, just a little bit bigger would have been great. The madelines didn't compare to the one at Intercontinental either.

Atmosphere was good though - instead of havint the tea at the lobby lounge, you can opt to have it at the cake shop down one floor (i can't remember the name) but glancing at it on the way it. it's not as relaxing as having it in the lounge.
Verdict: Intercontinental Tsim Sha Tsui is still the winner for me.

Four Seasons - Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea #2 - Four Seasons
Official Site: http://www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/the_lounge.html

Today i hit the Four Seasons Afternoon Tea in Central, Hong Kong. The occasion was an 'beat the rush' mother's day tea with my mum (and aunt).

The servings are as follows:
The tea set (this is for 3 people so don't get excited by the number of servings)

Here's some close-ups of the savouries (the sandwiches weren't worth photograhing - they were dry and bland)


The first is a prosciuto on toast, 2nd is an egg salad concoction with caviar - both were quite nice.
The third was a little profiterole with something that i found kind of bland inside.

The tea set - not much variety of tea to choose from (they had breakfast/afternoon/earl grey and two others for the 'black' teas), unlike the Intercontinental and inside the teapot was ... a tea bag!!! That was a little disappointing. It's nice that the waiters pour the tea for you when your cup is empty but it would have been nice if they actually asked if you would like another tea bag when the tea coming out of the pot is almost the colour of the water they poured in!


Close-ups of the dessert part of the afternoon tea. I found the chocolate mud slice a little on the heavy side (that said, i've had 'heavier' cakes before) It's just a matter of taste/mood. The things in the little glass was pineapple and coconut jelly. I'm not sure what kind of cream base they used but it was my favourite out of section of the tea. I'm not a fan of maccaroons either so they were wasted on me. the little strawberries biscuits with a bit of gold flakes was nice though.

Atmosphere - seating was comfortable and it was surprisingly not crowded. It'll probably be different tomorrow. Tip: If you arrive well before the 3pm starting time and they take your name down before directing you to wait in the lobby, remember to ask for a window seat (if you would like a view of the Kowloon side) - we didn't know and missed out.
There is live music (grand piano + cello) - the grand piano was nice but at times it was a bit loud. We were the closest table to the piano though so if you're sitting at the back of the lounge it may be better. It was still nice and relaxing though the view isn't as great as the Intercon - because the lounge is in the lobby of the hotel you don't get that great of a view, it'll probably be better if the Lounge was on the next level up or something.

Restrooms - very nice - this was one thing that is better than the Intercon. Neat, spacious, dressing tables, multiple cubicles! (most important considering the amount of tea you can drink)

Verdict - Intercon is still my first choice, if you're doing the afternoon/high tea circuit in Hong Kong. Four Seasons is a must-try but i don't think i'll go back (yet).

The outside of the hotel is nice but you have to walk through all the cars parked around in front to get to the lobby and there's no clear pedestrian path leading from ifc One to the front door. The Peninsula is definitely the winner for grand entrances (though that said, you have to walk up the driveway....) :P

High/Afternoon Tea Spots

Here's the initial list of locations:

Sheraton - Sky Lounge
Conrad - Lobby Lounge
The Excelsior - Lounge on the 1st
Grand Hyatt - Tiffin
Shangri-La - Lobby Lounge
JW Mariott - The Lounge
Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong

The Landmark Mandarin Oriental - MO Bar
Four Seasons - The Lounge

High Tea at the Intercontinental, Hong Kong

A picture is worth a thousand words, if you're reading this you're obviously curious as to what the 'High/Afternoon Tea' at the Intercontinental Hong Kong offers.

You definitely won't be disappointed with the amount of food they provide (as dainty as it looks)

The presentation was lovely, atmosphere was great (especially with a rare, clear view of the Hong Kong side from the lounge area)

Scones and cakes were light, moist and very tasty (i rate these better than the ones at Peninsula which tend to be big but a bit more on the hard side. The madelines were nice as well, not dry or flaky.

The bonus was the little mango pudding that came towards the end - the mango puree was delicious though the mango ball was kinda sour - don't know if that was deliberate but i guess you could say it was a nice kick with all the sweetness but still kinda gave me a shiver.

The service was good, they came around checked your tea pots to see if it needed refilling or even changed the tea leaves when you asked (I found at the Pen you were constantly trying to get someone's attention and they were always busy)

At the same price as the Pen, ($398 for two) it is so far at the top of my list.

They have live music as well and because of the massive windows it's very bright, relaxed and not as noisy at the Peninsula.

The only 'bad' thing is the female toilets... there is only 1 cubicle?! so expect to wait in line...


Not that you would normally do this but Erica and I also felt like some chips (blame the person a few tables over who ordered it) so we ordered it as well:
They were great, nice and crispy - maybe a touch too much salt (but it was still ok). They cost about $75HKD though (though there were tonnes of it - so small price to pay) and if you're worried about too much oil we got to the bottom of it and the paper it was wrapped in didn't have any oil stains so definitely worth points there!

Total Cost: $398 (tea set for 2) + $75 (for the chips) + 10% service charge
= a very nice relaxing afternoon!

New purpose!!

my blog has now got a new purpose! i'm going to blog all the High Tea places in Hong Kong and review them with Erica!!!

So far i've done the Peninsula and Intercontinental. Erica has done the Mandarin Oriental (MO) and will be doing the Four Seasons today.

I've been to the Peninsula twice (obligatory tourist thing...) and only did the Intercontinental once. So far Intercon is the better of the two, Erica says it she prefers to to the MO as well.

I'll put the details into a separate post though...

Dilemma, dilemma

So much to think about all the time, no wonder we get white hair - i was gonna say gray but that's not accurate since gray is just the combination of white and black hair (as Polgara says). My most common dilemmas: what to eat, what to wear, where to go, what to do. It's enough to drive you mad (or to drink :P)!
Dilemma for today: to rent or buy but i have since come to the conclusion. I like my freedom too much to be tied down to anything (especially to banks - interest rates and mortgages, shudder!)

Opportunity cost of owning a place, less holidays, watching your budget, worrying about management fees, refurbishments - ugh no thanks.

The only problem is I make a decision and then have second thoughts - it's such a vicious cycle. My problems would be solved if i just won a jackpot :P arghhhhhhh

alrighty then, onto my next dilemma - what to wear to work tomorrow...

better go to sleep otherwise my first dilemma tomorrow morning is whether to get out of bed or not

A Post!

Oh my gawd, what is this? Bink is actually putting up a post after near 3 months of bludging.
What has happened in this time? I've been to Sydney and back (spent a wonderful 3 weeks back home) but it was gone so fast. What i learnt is NEVER to go back and work from in the local office while you're back home, it is terribly unproductive I was in such a holiday mood and the day seemed to go so fast as well. I didn't fit in half the things i wanted to do (mostly involving, visiting my favourite restaurants). Nothing beats Sydney food, sure Hong Kong has the variety but it just doesn't have the taste. I even prefer Sydney Chinese food to HK though there are definitely things you can't get back in Sydney so it's always worth coming over to HK for a food-orientated holiday.

Ok so that was pretty much February gone. I should make a mention of the little accident that Ben had in Korea the day before i left for Sydney. Ben-Klutzy went skiing with Bev and concussed a girl and did some serious damage to his butt - resulting in spending 3 weeks in the hospital in Korea instead of skiing and getting drunk. (Sympathy for poor Bev who ended up visiting him in the hospital every day, all the while having to do Winter Intensive classes at his school). Anyway, 3 weeks passed and Ben came back and met mum and me at HK airport where he was going to rest a few days before returning home.

Not much happened that week, considering Ben wasn't very mobile on his crutches, and the fact that he didn't have much of an appetite (shock! gasp! Ben saying he was full after a half bowl of rice and a little bit of food) not to mention he looked anorexic from 3 weeks of hospital food (good way to go on a diet people!). Anywayz, Ben returns home for a few weeks before returning to London with the parentals, during this time Bev has finished up his contract and i decide to head to Korea to go for one last round of eating/shopping while i have a free interpreter/guide as well as lend him my baggage allowance for the return trip. That was a fun but extremely tiring weekend, which started with my catching a midnight plane to Korea (after a day of working on Friday) - trying to sleep on the plane, then the bus on the way out to where Bev was gonig to meet me. We made it back to his apartment before we crashed (plans to visit the local fish market, out the window as sleep beckoned) then it was eating , eating, eating (interlude where Bev floods his apartment with laundry water - at least his floor was VERY clean afterwards)

Crap, it's 1am better go to sleep and write some more tomorrow. Unfortunately i have been extremely bad and haven't made it to work before 9:15am for the last week.... will have to try harder. I just don't know how it happens 8:30 rolls around and i still haven't left the apartment... *sigh*

Homecoming!

I've been home for 3 days now! It's been great and kind of weird.
My return started off with the quickest exit from Sydney Airport, i was out of the airport in less than 40 minutes (that's including customs!) world record i think.
I even beat mum and dad out!

The doggies hadn't forgotten me (which is a good sign) - i was a bit worried Wei would tear my arm off because he didn't recognise me. But luckily he was very happy to see me. Lulu kinda ignored me a little (sily b*tch) hehe

But gosh it's so different coming back to a roomy house, went into the bathroom and was surprised at how roomy it felt (for perspective, our bathroom at home is the size of almost two of my bathrooms in HK). Hell, i think my whole apartment can fit into our living room/kitchen!

It's been incredibly hard to get up every morning the weather is making me feel so lethargic. I don't know how i'm going to be able to get up on Friday to get to work... but geez i wouldn't mind not working at all!

I was in a writing mood before but no such much now... i'll have to think of something else to write