Ladurée afternoon tea at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental

Laduree is partnering up with The Landmark Mandarin Oriental for afternoon tea on this month of December, and the whole city is raving about it. After having been, I don't really get what the fuss is all about. The only thing from Laduree in the whole set are the macarons (2 per person), the individual paper tablecloth (similar to the one you get at Laduree in Paris), and the big macaron pyramid (for decoration only) at the entrance of the restaurant. 

This afternoon tea set is good yet really overpriced. The Landmark Mandarin Oriental cannot be compared to the much more splendorous Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental located at 5 minutes walking distance, which happens to offer one of the best afternoon teas in town for way way cheaper!!! I really felt I was ripped off by this Laduree nonsense. The set is not worth the price.

The first bad impression was when I went to look at the tea selection. There were just 4 really common teas (Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Jasmine and Peppermint) and then oolong, white tea or green tea, for which you had to add $25! Excuse me?! First of all, in a so called Laduree afternoon tea, it is not acceptable that the only thing from Laduree are two macarons. The least would be some other petit four, or Laduree tea. 

The clotted cream and the jams were very good, but the scones were not really scones. Others may not realize, but for a connoisseur like myself, these were not the real deal. And it's a shame seeing how its brother, the Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental, has the best scones in Hong Kong. These scones had yellow cake consistency. And by the fact that the edges were not toasted, you could realize they had actually just been cut with a round mold after being baked. What kind of a scone is that?!

Don't think the set was just laid on our table like this. You know how I dislike not having a tiered stand for afternoon tea! We actually had a 2-tier stand right next to us, I just forgot to snap a picture of it.

The food was overall good. My review may seem a bit negative but the truth is the food was tasty. It was just overpriced and with not enough Laduree goodies, that's it. 

The best part were obviously the macarons. The silver one was really beautiful. It was mandarine and orange, and the pink one was my all-time fave: rose macaron! Woohoo!!! The other best thing, that I accidentally left for the very end (lucky again!) was this peanut and chocolate tart in the picture below. It was SO good, I inspected every part carefully to try to replicate it at home!

Think twice before heading for this high tea. All everyone is excited about is Laduree, and then there's just too miserable macarons! 

If you call to make a reservation, they'll tell you it has been completely booked. I don't know booked by whom, since I went there and was perfectly able to walk in even though there was a huge line in front of me, which I'm assuming didn't have a reservation either! Is this some sort of marketing technique? 

Visited on: December 12th, 2013

Overall Rating: 3.5* Even though this set was overpriced, most of the food was of high quality, and the service was excellent.

Price: HK$634 for two (CRAZY)

Value for Money: Negative! 0*

Would I recommend it? Let's face it. We all go here attracted by Laduree. Now when you know that all you get from Laduree are two macarons, and that this tea set is one of the most expensive in town, would you still want to go? Probably not.

  

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!

Sift Patisserie @ Prince's Building, Central

Yesterday my colleague and friend Marie joined J and I on our sweet treats quest. You may remember I blogged about Sift Patisserie in Wan Chai not so long ago. Since that time we only got to try two cupcakes and one petit four, I had to go back to explore some more! So we headed to the branch in Prince's Building, Central, which has pros and cons compared to the Wan Chai one. The Wan Chai branch has way more food variety, but there is no sitting area. The one in Central has less to choose from but 4 convenient tables are available.

It was great that Marie joined us, we had a great time and we got to order more food too!

This time we had four cupcakes and two petit fours, what a feast! We had the Strawberry, Red Velvet, Lemon, and Salty Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes; and the Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch, and Strawberry Muffin with Cream.

As I said on my previous review about Sift, their cupcakes are highly overrated. Specially the Red Velvet one, I still can't understand some people agree on it being THE Red Velvet Cupcake in town. NO WAY. I liked the Strawberry Cupcake (4.5*) and the Salty Caramel Chocolate Cupcake (4.5*) the most. Those were truly delicious. The Red Velvet (3.5*) and the Strawberry Muffin (3*) were average, while the lemon cupcake (1*) was well below average. The Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch was good (4*).

Sift Patisserie
Shop 240 - 241, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Road, Central