Afternoon tea at Seasons by Olivier E. - Hong Kong

Seasons by Olivier E. is another of the new teas in town I knew I wanted to try as soon as I saw it. Little did I know Olivier Elzer was a 3-Michelin star starred chef, and that Seasons, which is not even a year old, had already been awarded with 1 Michelin star. 

We went to this tea with lovely Rach from Through the Looking Glass, another blogger and high tea enthusiast I was just beyond happy to finally get to meet, a friend of hers and one of J's friends :)

Just like with Shelter's golden bird cage, I was attracted to Season's boxes as a way to presenting the tea treats. Also, just like Shelter was an Italian fusion tea, this was a very French fusion one, with delicious treats like foie gras creme brulee, eclairs and a Mont Blanc tart. But this one did come with scones, just like it's supposed to be :) 

Somehow my absolute fave sweet was the strawberry jelly with white chocolate creme, which surprised myself since I'm not usually into jelly! Regarding the tea selection, brace yourselves for a list of around 10 teas with exotic names like Sweet memories, or Lychee paradise. I forgot how they went exactly, all I know is there is no way to know what you're ordering. At least I got lucky and liked mine :D

Both the indoor and the outdoor area were gorgeous, a really nice venue indeed!

Visited on: February 2015
Overall Quality: 4* Service is to be improved for a Michelin-starred restaurant
Price: 430$ + 10% service charge for a tea set for two (or 230$ for one)
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? If you're into high tea and into French food, this might just be your kind of paradise!

Seasons by Olivier E.

Lee Gardens Tower 2

2-38 Yun Ping Road

3/F, Shop 308

+852 2505 6228

Brunchelona Barcelona - Cup&Cake L'illa Diagonal

Brunchelona, Cup&Cake's new branch, opened yesterday afternoon in Barcelona's mall L'illa Diagonal. It's the first of their shops to be located in a shopping mall, and I think L'illa will benefit tremendously from this new addition. As with all Cup&Cake branches, decoration is looked after till the last detail, resulting in a young, cozy cafe. Stunning as this may sound, some tables here are even smaller than a seat, allowing for plenty of sitting spots in the outer area.

Cupcakes are served at an incredible speed, yet luckily there's always replenishments coming from the kitchen :) Yesterday we had a red velvet, a croccanti and a lemon one. There's no doubt Cup&Cake's cupcakes are the best in all Barcelona.

I like the name of this place: Brunchelona, Brunch + Barcelona. Who knows, it may be an omen and this will become the best branch of them all for a perfect Sunday brunch in Barcelona! 

Visited on: March 16, 2015

Overall Quality: 4.5* Trendy and pretty as they may be, seats without a backrest aren't comfy for too long!

Price: Unbeatable: 1.5€ for a cafe latte and 2.5€ for a cupcake

Value for Money? 5*

Would I recommend it? Certainly. This and Escribà (also recently opened) are the best places for afternoon tea at L'illa Diagonal.

Liam was exactly 200 days old in this pic :)

Brunchelona

L'illa Diagonal

Av. Diagonal, 557
(1/F next to Zara)

Afternoon tea at Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant - Hong Kong

Here I am again being able to do a review on afternoon tea, as you know my favorite thing about Hong Kong! I couldn't resist myself and I booked 3 different high teas during my stay in Hong Kong {that means 3 high teas in 5 days}, I mean, why not?! :)

Shelter was the last one I went to, with another AMWF couple we met at City University during our bachelor. I liked the name of the restaurant because it makes so much sense. The restaurant really makes you feel as if being on a shelter, it's hard to explain but basically the place is outdoors yet it has a roof, so it does resemble a shelter.

The afternoon tea itself was pretty fusion, Italian fusion, that is. I mean, a tomato filled with cheese spread bathed in pesto sauce sounds pretty caprese to me! 

The hubby didn't particularly like the food, although I thought it was good, specially the savories, yet a bit too fusion. I don't mind that an afternoon tea has Italian hints if it's being served in an Italian restaurant, but Shelter did sin. They didn't serve scones! That's right, dear afternoon tea lovers, Shelter's high tea comes without scones.  

The main reason I wanted to go to Shelter for afternoon tea was the golden bird cage their afternoon tea is served in, the most beautiful afternoon tea stand I've ever seen. I was rather disappointed when, only because there was a lot of people and we ordered two cages, one of the sets was served in a regular stand instead of the golden bird cage. Oh well :(

Unfortunately, the group picture came out pretty bad, so here's a picture of our friend Ray and Liam getting to know each other instead!

The tea selection was nothing special, as I probably guess was to be expected from an Italian restaurant. They had the regular English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Peppermint, etc. boring selection, which is why I ended up with a cafe latte. 

Visited on: February, 2015
Overall Quality: 4*
Price: HK$398 for an afternoon tea set for two, plus 10% service charge
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? If you're a passionate of afternoon tea just like I am, sure, go and enjoy. If you only go for afternoon tea on counted occasions, you can find something better. Take a look at all my high tea reviews here. 

Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant
718-719, 7/F Hysan Place
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2778 8398