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...