Afternoon tea at Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon - Hong Kong

The Joël Robuchon afternoon tea is one I had been looking forward to for some time. Joël Robuchon, a Michelin-starred chef, is worldwide famous for his culinary delights. You may remember how much I enjoyed my birthday lunch at his Macau restaurant, Robuchon au Dôme, last year. This tea set was no exception. It was not as mind blowing as the lunch at Robuchon au Dôme, but it was really good and, dare I say, cheap.

The fact that the set is priced on the lower side for an afternoon tea means that you actually don't get that much food. I've mentioned several times how I don't particularly enjoy having to cut the pastries in half to share because there's only one of each, instead of one per person as with most sets. Well, the high tea at Joël Robuchon is like this, and is one of the only things I wasn't fond of. Another one being the fact that the set wasn't served in a three tier stand. I know, it looks nice like this as well, but I'm a three tier stand devotee.

The quality of both the savouries and the sweets was great, and the scones were satisfactory as well. I would highly recommend this tea if you're not particularly hungry. Otherwise forget it and go for some other option with more food for a similar price, like this one or this one.

As for the venue, you can choose either of the 3 branches: The Landmark, the one in IFC {next to the Four Seasons}, or the recently open branch in Elements, which I haven't seen yet. I had this one in The Landmark and didn't really like it. It's small, dark, and the tables are really clustered together, so overhearing neighboring conversations is easy peasy Japanesey! But then, who am I trying to fool, this is Hong Kong, so that's the norm rather than the exceptions in most restaurants. Le salon de thé de Joël Robuchon at the Landmark has an advantage though, there's 3 or 4 {I forgot exactly} tables outside of the restaurant, on the middle of the mall overlooking the ground floor, big enough for 6 people each, perfect for when you have a party of 4 to 6! The only prerequisite for this tables is to pay for the tea set in advance before sitting, seeing how they are relatively far away from the restaurant. If you have a party of 2-3, or even if you go alone, I'd rather recommend the branch in IFC, which is much brighter and elegant. Here are some pictures I took of the IFC branch. 

Tea starts at 3PM, and since they don't do bookings, I recommend getting there at 2:30PM to line up.

Visited on: September 22nd, 2013

Overall Quality: 4/5*

Price: HK$380 for a tea set for two

Value for Money: 4.5*/5

Would I recommend it? Yes, only if you're not that hungry though! This set could easily be a set for one!