Via Tokyo - Green Tea Desserts in Hong Kong

Don't you even think for a second that I'm done blogging about all the afternoon teas and sweet treats I had in Hong Kong! In fact, I still have a traditional afternoon tea {the only one I had this time around} review pending.

Today's post is all about green tea again, this time at Via Tokyo, another hype in Hong Kong that doesn't seem likely to fade anytime soon. We visited their newest branch, in Tsim Sha Tsui, since less people knew about it and the chance of avoiding the queue was higher than in their original location in Causeway Bay. And... we didn't have to queue indeed and got a table for 5 people + a stroller, how cool is that? :)

I was meeting my friend Daisy who was at the very end of her pregnancy {the baby is born already!}, her husband, my husband :D and our friend KC. The five of us devoured five different desserts that we shared, and I absolutely loved it because it gave me the chance to try so many things! Indeed, when you know you only have that ONE chance to go a place you've been dying to try for a while, you're faced with the horrible responsibility of choosing one single item from the mouth-watering menu. Sharing 5 desserts was AWESOME!

I had really high expectations for this place and I think the reality was not up to it. I've only ever tried a green tea cheesecake once before, at Teakha, {which I blogged about} and totally fell in love with it. This one though, was not nearly as cheesy, more mousse-y, so not that great. The parfait was good, no arguing about that, as was the mille-feuilles. The two soft serves though were in my point of view disappointing. Way too sweet and the matcha one not matcha-y enough. The one from Shatin's Sweet House Cha Cha is way better on my opinion.

Have you been to Via Tokyo and felt just like I did or is it just me?!

Visited on: December 25th, 2015

Overall Quality: 4*
Price: pricey at around HK$60 for a dessert.
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? I do, but it's definitely not my fave.

Via Tokyo

G/F, 29A Cameron Road
Tsim Sha Tsui

+852 2385 6388

Dessert Art at ATUM Desserant Hong Kong

Abstract art, innovation, molecular cuisine, imagine all of this in a dessert plate designed just for you, right in front of you? This is ATUM Desserant, the new hype in Hong Kong which has brought dessert to a whole new level. Never again will you think of dessert as something simple if you happen to visit ATUM Desserant, an unconventional dessert bar in Hong Kong you don't want to miss out on! 

Basically, how this dessert bar works is you sit in the bar and have an appointed dessert artist, who draws the most amazing contemporary dessert plate in front of you. I really enjoyed the experience, not only because I was there with my good friend Chloris, but also because our artist turned out to be really nice and good at her job, and we had an amazing time watching her perform her magic! We also enjoyed seeing other artists performing dessert plates next to us, each of them was different!

ATUM Desserant Menu

The final touch, dry ice {liquid nitrogen} sorbet with a huge fog effect, makes for a killer ending! I made a video of the whoooole process that will be up on my Hong Kong trip vlog, (which I still didn't start editing!), so make sure to stay tunned on my YouTube channel!

The dessert itself wasn't my fave, basically because there was a lot of jelly, which I'm not really fond of, but I wouldn't mind going again if someone (hubby?) really wanted to try and asked me to go again!

Visited on: December 24th, 2015

Overall Quality: 4,5* I was impressed by this molecular cuisine dessert, I must say!
Price: Improvisation set for two at HK$348 with drinks included.
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? I would! I had never seen something like this, so innovative!

ATUM Desserant

16/F, The L.Square,459-461 Lockhart Road

Causeway Bay,Hong Kong

+852 2956 1411

Nakamura Tokichi Hong Kong - 中村藤吉香港店

Nakamura Tokichi, originally from Kyoto, Japan, is one of those new spots in town Hong Kongers are crazy about. The queue can be of one hour if you're lucky. We were extremely lucky (as I think we always are, thank God!) because we run into one of J's friend who had taken 45 minutes ago 2 tickets: numbers 92 & 99, in case her wife didn't make it for the first one, since he arrived early. The wife made it for the 92 and he gave us the 99, instead of the 122 we had taken ourselves! Awesome!!!

I was surprised by the beautiful Japanese decor and the amazing views of the harbour and Hong Kong's skyline.

Nakamura Tokichi is famous for its Matcha Zaru Soba (cold noodles), and for its green tea desserts. Since we went there for tea, we had two desserts. One (Kyo no Fukiyose) had cakes and matcha ice cream (best matcha ice cream ever!), and the other was a hot matcha sweet soup with rice balls and azuki (red bean). They were really yummy and I was glad we went, although I won't be going again if the queue continues to be as crazy as now.  

 

During our visit, a tea ceremony expert from Japan dressed in a kimono was there to teach a tea ceremony class in the tatami. From what I saw from Nakamura Tokichi's instagram, she flew in from Japan for three days exclusively to teach this class (three times each day I think). It looked really interesting, and was priced at $HK150 per person.

Visited on: December 24th, 2015

Overall Quality: 4,5* (venue is great; food really yummy; long queue is horrible (not their fault, though!)) I particularly didn't like the fact that one of their most coveted desserts, a matcha mochi kind of slices, was sold out when we went, and apparently is sold out early everyday. Why not simply make more?!
Price: pricey at around HK$65 for a matcha latte and between $HK80-100 for a dessert.
Value for Money: 4*
Would I recommend it? I do and I don't at the same time. I think the craze needs to ease down a bit, otherwise queuing for an hour and a half is simply nuts. There's other places in town with yummy matcha desserts like this one!

Nakamura Tokichi - 中村藤吉香港店

18/F, The One, Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui

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

Chinese New Year - An Introduction

There's probably nothing about Chinese culture I get more questions about than Chinese New Year. Since it's such a big thing, TV news worldwide report about it every year, and then I always get all sorts of questions from my friends about it. The Lunar New Year is the most important event in Chinese culture and in several Asian countries. It's something like our Christmas, with family get-togethers. Given the amount of Chinese from the countryside who moved to the cities in these last two decades, China experiences at this time the biggest yearly human migration in the world, with hundreds of millions of people traveling home for the occasion and with public transport collapsing almost every year. Once, a friend who owns several factories in China told me an interesting story that can make you understand just how important these festivities are for Chinese people. Some factory workers opt to leave some days before the official holidays (which last for 10 days in mainland China), even if this means having to quit their job, since they can't get any holidays other than the public ones. After the Chinese New Year, around a month later, they come back to the city and ask for a job at the same factory again. It doesn't matter to them that when they submit a new application they start with the lowest salary, even if before quitting their salary was higher. To them it's all worth it.

Something my friends love to ask about is the Chinese zodiac, and all this thing about the year of the dragon, the monkey, the snake... The legend says the Emperor announced from then forward 12 animals would represent each of the following 12 years, and like this for the rest of the days. The 12 animals who arrived at the meeting point first, would be the chosen ones. The cat and the rat were travelling on top of the ox and were ahead of all the rest. But by the time they almost arrived to their destination, the rat pushed the cat to the river, jumped from the ox and run to meeting point. That's why cats hate rats and why the rat is the first animal of the Chinese zodiac. I think there's a story for every of the animals, like why the Dragon being so big and fast didn't make it the first. Anyway, the final order was this: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. It is believed that babies adopt the qualities of the animal of the year in which they are born, and that's why there's always a baby-boom in Chinese societies in year of the Dragon, because it's the best of them all. I think after the Dragon, the Tiger and the Horse are the most desirable ones. May I poon out that the hubby and I are tigers and Liam is a horse :D The Goat is one of the least desirable zodiacs, which is why a massive amount of C-sections where scheduled for before the end of the Horse year. Crazy!

A common misunderstanding is regarding New Year's Eve. My western friends ask me what I'll be doing for Chinese New Year's Eve, as if it were just like the night of December 31st in Europe, dancing all night long in a club with some friends. The last day of the Chinese year is nothing like that! That evening it's a tradition to go to the flower market, a pop-up market that lasts for the last three days of the year, with flower stands as well as toys and all kind of accessories. All things related to the animal of the new year are always a big hit, understandably. As for the flowers, I think more flowers are sold these days than during the rest of the year altogether, as it is a tradition to decorate the house with flowers for the festive season.

Also, it's common to write fai chun, or greeting messages, in red paper to hang on the door or windows for good luck. This is me in 2011 writing some!

The last dinner of the year and the first meal of the new year are important ones, and as such should be eaten at home. The rest of the first and second day of the year is dedicated to family gatherings, but not the third day, which is believed to be a day in prone to arguments. In these family gatherings, people play mah-jong, and get and receive red packets or laisee. Red packets are small red envelopes with money inside that are given by the older generations to the younger ones. Couples who married also need to give laisee to their single friends and relatives. Kids, and specially babies celebrating their Chinese New Year for the first time, get LOTS of red packets. It's customary to wish people good luck when giving and receiving laisee, by saying 4 character greetings, which are actually the same ones we write in the fai chun. They can cover lots of topics: health, wealth, beauty, family, business... I love to learn new ones :)

The truth is I could write a whole blog on the Chinese New Year festivities, there's just so much to it! Hopefully you found these ramblings interesting :)

Our Hong Kong wedding reception (II/II)

Here is the second part of our Hong Kong wedding reception, which is technically the first, since these are the pictures of what we did on the morning before the actual reception. We went back to the our university, City University of Hong Kong, a very special place for us since it's where we met and became classmates back in 2008, and where we started our relationship in 2010. Our bridesmaids and best men came along to take pictures with us, and it was a really nice morning, being back to that place where we spent three years, now in our wedding gown and suit and with our best friends sharing our joy.

I was wearing the dress I had originally bought for our wedding in Catalonia, but which I finally decided was not pretty enough! I'm so glad I got my other dress, the one I actually ended up using for the wedding, because I think it suited me way better, even though this one is nice, too!

l finally got to have a pink peonies bouquet!!! Peonies are my all-time favorite flowers, and I had wanted them for my wedding bouquet so badly, only to be told by my florist that peonies in October were like impossible to get, and even though we could try getting some from the middle-East, the quality couldn't be assured. That's why I finally gave up and sported a mini-roses bouquet, which was actually lovely and matched the whole dress very well, so I was very happy in the end. But anyway, having the peonies in Hong Kong at last was a dream come true!

One thing I got really upset about was the fact that my make-up artist (who was doing my hair as well), totally made up my hairstyle!!! OMG, I couldn't believe it when I saw the result. We had done trials a couple times, took pictures, and got everything settled, and then she did a completely different thing!! I didn't scold at her or anything, she's a very nice girl and I'm sure she just got messed up, but it was so unprofessional... This is not the hairstyle I had chosen for this day, but oh well...

I'd like to thank Tune, Leo, Raymond, Herman, Chloris, Marie, Connie and Sherry, it was lovely having you sharing this day with us! The boys and Connie had already traveled all the way to Catalonia for our wedding in October, they really are way too amazing!!!

As usual, I have soooo many pictures, and had to chose only a few... Hope you like them and get the feel of what the morning of our Hong Kong wedding reception was like. It was a wonderful day, taking into account it was December 29th!