Afternoon Tea At The Grand Hyatt - Hong Kong

I still hadn't shared the afternoon tea Chloris and I {with little Liam} enjoyed at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong back in February. I had been looking forward to this afternoon tea for a while, I had wanted to try it lots of times while I lived in Hong Kong, but for one reason or another I never ended up going in the end. I'm glad I finally managed to during my last trip to Hong Kong, although truth be told, it was rather disappointing. We went there on the third day of the Chinese New Year, and there was an extra service charge because of it, which means we ended up forking in more than I found was reasonable! The price on weekdays is $596, and $656 on weekends and public holidays, except that this was a special public holiday and the bill turned out to be... $800 Oh-My.

The thing I had been looking forward to the most was the Croquembouche, a majestic French dessert consisting of a pyramid of cream puffs, cemented together with toffee. It looks absolutely stunning. I heard this was available on weekends and public holidays only, hence the reason why I never even thought about going there on a weekday. Well, what was my disappointment when there was no Croquembouche whatsoever on my visit to Tiffin {where afternoon tea is served at the Grand Hyatt}! I know for a fact they did have it before because my friend Marie went a couple years ago and she told me. Maybe I should have asked the waiters whatever happened to it :( This is a picture of a croquembouche, a.k.a. pièce montée I found on Pinterest:

Breathtaking or not!?

The high tea at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong is not only about the tiered stand, though. There's a huge dessert buffet that includes yummy waffles, 4 different kinds of delicious ice-cream, 2 sorbets, popcakes, candy and cakes. Seeing this you may think the price is totally worth it. Maybe it is. The point is you can only eat that much food right? So I never really enjoyed buffets, specially for afternoon tea. If you've ever had the traditional English afternoon tea, you'll know you get full only with what's on the three-tiered stand, so for me there's no need for more.

There's life music (piano, violin and cello) during the high tea, which makes it really nice. We couldn't see them from our table though :(

As you can see from the tea stand, it was a good idea for this tea set to have a buffet, because there wasn't much stuff on the stand. I didn't particularly like the food on the tea stand, to be frank. The waffle with ice-cream from the buffet was remarkable though. But then, that's not what I go looking for in an afternoon tea, hence my disappointment. I remember the tea selection being rather poor, too. I can't recall it exactly, so if I'm wrong please correct me, but I remember me not being the least excited about the tea.

Visited on: February, 2015
Overall Quality: 3.5*
Price: A bit over HK$800 on the day we visited! Check above for a better price detail explanation 
Value for Money: 2*
Would I recommend it? Quite frankly, I wouldn't. There's so many better choices out there!

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

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

Afternoon Tea at El Palace Hotel Barcelona

MY DREAM CAME TRUE! It is finally possible to have an English afternoon tea in Barcelona! El Palace Hotel GL is the first one in the city to offer this culinary treat, and I obviously couldn't be more delighted. I've been dying to go ever since I found out about it some months ago, and finally my birthday was the perfect occasion to go and celebrate.

As incredible as it may seem, there really is no other place in Barcelona to indulge in the traditional English afternoon tea. To me it comes a bit as a shock, seeing how every single good hotel in Hong Kong serves it, and not only in Hong Kong where is after all no surprise seeing how it was a British colony, but in pretty much all Asia. 

El Palace Hotel Barcelona is an incredible Grand Luxury hotel from 1919. Its luxurious neo-classical style is of an indescribable beauty. Everything is decorated to the detail in this grand old style that makes you go back in time to the beginning of the 20th century. I absolutely adored every single bit of their magnificent common areas, I can just imagine how gorgeous the rooms must be!

This tea set didn't disappoint. The food was good, the place was dreamy and the service unbeatable. In fact, it was hands down the best service I've ever come across. The china was a very delicate one from Limoges, France, absolutely perfect. 

The top layer had 6 scones, 3 plain and 3 raisin. They were so big we only managed to eat two each. They were served with yummy clotted cream, and strawberry and orange jam. I've never liked orange jam, so if I go again I'll make sure they put another one instead, but no big deal. The middle layer had the sweets, basically four caramel macarons and some petits fours that were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the macarons, and even though they were so good, I would have preferred having two different flavors, since there were 4 macarons. The bottom layer held the savories, three different kind of sandwiches which we finished and were amazed to see they refilled for us! OMG it's the first time I've had a food refill in an afternoon tea. Not that it's needed, really, we couldn't even have a bite of this refill. Drinks, too, can apparently be refilled, and this is definitely always welcome.

19/NINETEEN bar where afternoon tea is served

The drink choice was either tea or coffee, so as usual I went for tea while the hubby went for a cappuccino. It was interesting to see their tea selection. Most were traditional teas from China, while some were teas from India. In Asia, the best high end hotels offer tea blends from French brands (think Mariage Frères, Dammann), which I'm oh-so-addicted to. The Palace Hotel Barcelona on the other hand serves pure teas instead, which is fine, too, but I still like blends way better. 

Visited on: October 25, 2014
Overall Quality: 5*
Price: 28 euros per person
Value for Money: 4.5*
Would I recommend it? How could I not? Such a delightful afternoon tea in Barcelona, it's one of a kind!

You need a reservation for afternoon tea, and you must pay in advance. They charge your credit card 48h prior the reservation, so there is no canceling after that. They say this is because they need to prepare everything for the occasion, but I personally think it would be ok for them to prepare the whole set just after ordering. I mean, it can't take that long, right? You can find all the details to make a reservation on El Palace Hotel website. Anyway, I would LOVE to go back soon, I missed afternoon tea so bad! If you, too, missed my afternoon tea posts, you can always go over my previous afternoon tea posts again :)

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!

Afternoon tea at the Four Seasons Hong Kong

The Lounge at the Four Seasons Hong Kong is one of my favorite venues, atmosphere-wise, for afternoon tea. I love how bright it is, with its huge windows all over its right hand side facing the harbor. I've been here for lunch, tea and dinner, and I like it best during the day, when the whole place is bursting with sunlight. 

By the looks of it one would think this is the conference center with so many guys in suits! Yet I assure you this was afternoon tea time! Business over afternoon tea, oh how perfect!

I love how they always decorate this table so perfectly! Look at these floral arrangements, it's the first time I've seen roses in a vase set up like this! I'm still not 100% sure how they are holding up! Gorgeous!

You may remember I blogged about the Four Seasons Festive afternoon tea buffet, but I still hadn't had the regular afternoon tea set, so last Thursday my friend Aurora and I went to check it out!I had the chocolate tea and unfortunately it was not as good as I had expected. It had another flavor besides chocolate which I'm unable to describe but which I'm not really fond of. 

The tea set itself was gorgeous, specially the top, with those two lovely daisies! The bottom layer had savories that were good yet not outstanding.The scones on the middle layer were PERFECT. I think they are the best in town together with the ones at the Mandarin Oriental. They came with delicious clotted cream, too. This tea set is worth the visit even if it's only to eat scones! The top tier had very good sweets, I was actually surprised by their good quality.

Visited on: November 14, 2013

Overall rating: 4.5 / 5

Price: HK$470 + 10% service charge for a tea set for two. HK$250 + 10% for one. 

Value for Money: 4.5 / 5

Would I recommend it? Definitely! This is a great high tea experience!