497221 Sat Mar 08 21:29:27 -0800 2008 33 46 China 0 3474223 I've got a full list of places to hit for dim sum, siu yuk, char siu, etc. etc. (20 pages full, but it includes pictures!), but my eating partner and I are interested in experiencing the colonial side of HK, as well. I had afternoon tea at the Peninsula once, almost 10 years ago, and I thought the atmosphere was pleasant, but the food and the tea sucked. This time, I'm looking for an afternoon tea place with good food (good tea would be nice, too, but good food is more important). In my search here I found a recommendation for the Clipper Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental. Is that the best? Or are there other options? Sat Mar 08 21:29:27 -0800 2008 55178 prasantrin 1 3474335 The two names on your list are the "legendary" names for afternoon tea in Hong Kong. That is where the local celebrities and tycoons hang out. Other options may include the lounge at Grand Hyatt, great view and atmosphere. Regret not able to comment on the food as I was paying more attention to the business discussion rather than the food itself. Sat Mar 08 22:58:31 -0800 2008 3474223 130720 FourSeasons 1 3474409 Why not head out to the Repulse Bay Hotel. Totally different scenery and tranquil setting. Food's not bad too. As for tea at the Peninsula, unless you are staying there with a room key clear in sight, prepare for a looooooong wait!. However, the freshly baked scones with clotted cream is still awesome and 'expensive'! Sun Mar 09 00:50:43 -0800 2008 3474223 10810 Charles Yu 2 3474440 Is there a Repulse Bay Hotel still? I did a search and only found reference to a Repulse Bay Hotel that no longer exists. Interesting about the Peninsula scones--the scones were what I hated most about their afternoon tea! I thought they were so heavy and flavourless. I have a bias against cake-like scones, though, so that may be why I didn't like them. So far, it's the Clipper Lounge or Repulse Bay Hotel if it still exists. Maybe we'll just have to have cake at Jean-Paul Hevin. I wonder if they have a cafe. Sun Mar 09 03:30:25 -0700 2008 3474409 55178 prasantrin 3 3474670 Though the 'old' Repulse Bay Hotel has been replaced by 'The Repulse Bay', a brand new non-service as well as full service apartment, The historical 'Verandah' has been retained by the new owner. It serves traditional English afternoon tea everyday except Monday. Operated by the Peninsula Hotel group, the standard of food and service is very high..If you don't like their scones, you can opt for their excellent finger sandwiches and cakes instead.You can call them at 2292-2822 for more detail. BTW, the ocean view is definitely better than the Clipper Lounge!! . Sun Mar 09 07:33:26 -0700 2008 3474440 10810 Charles Yu 1 3476872 Peninsula Hotel & Mandarin Oriental Hotel shall always remain my top 2 favorite spots for a lazy chat over afternoon tea & scones. But last month, I discovered a nice one at the Fourth Floor, Harvey Nichols, Landmark Bldg, Central. A standard afternoon tea set consists of: - Scones, with clotted cream & strawberry preserves; - Chicken & wild mushroom pie; - Truffles, egg & cress; and smoked salmon & cucumber jelly sandwiches; - Strawberry shortcake; mini-opera roulade; mini rum Baba with lemon cream & fresh berries; Mont Blanc cake. All items are served in really petite portions. They also serve one of the best cups of coffee this side of Victoria Harbor. Mon Mar 10 00:19:06 -0700 2008 3474223 143097 klyeoh 2 3477012 Baba?!?!?!? I looooooove baba au rhum! OK, it's on my list! So now I have three--Clipper Lounge (Mandarin Oriental), Repulse Bay Verandah, and the 4th floor of Harvey Nichols. Where we end up might depend on where we are at any given time, but I'm leaning toward Repulse Bay because of the view, or Harvey Nichols because of the baba... Mon Mar 10 05:07:24 -0700 2008 3476872 55178 prasantrin 1 3477690 Haven't been to the Intercontinental for high tea, but it looks good - http://chaxiubao.typepad.com/chaxiubao/2007/03/dim_sum_high_te.html Mon Mar 10 09:06:09 -0700 2008 3474223 17111 fpatrick 2 4263978 This is the Intercontinental Hong Kong - and not the Intercontinental Grand Sanford in Tsimshatsui East? I've been Googling but can't quite figure out which high tea everyone's talking about, as it looks like both locations offer it. Thanks in advance! Sun Dec 21 11:03:31 -0800 2008 3477690 45619 alau2 1 3479193 There's supposedly one more: Mo Bar Queens Rd Central #15 2132 0188 High tea from 3 pm to 5:30 pm Mon Mar 10 15:00:00 -0700 2008 3474223 12872 K K 1 3481049 Clipper Lounge - totally! The food is of a very good standard - not everything's perfect, but a great all rounder. Good (brewed) coffee. Verandah (Repulse Bay) - yes, as above, if you don't mind going a bit further MO Bar - imo, sucks, went a short while ago. My scones weren't even scones - wrote briefly about it here: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=e_tingfood&nextdate=2%2f23%2f2008+23%3a59%3a59.999 Peninsula - lines compulsory, a bit of a tourist trap, imo. Ever time I go the sanwiches are dry and the service worn thin by the hoards. Quaint location, unfortunate results. Four Seasons - surprising that no one's mentioned it. The sweets aren't so great, but the savouries were very good - I remember having an amazing crab profiterole and some very nice mini quiches. Tue Mar 11 07:30:20 -0700 2008 3474223 119622 e_ting 2 3481933 Great to know and thanks for the review. Mo Bar only came up on research. Thanks I'll definitely avoid it the next time I go to HK :-) Tue Mar 11 10:31:28 -0700 2008 3481049 12872 K K 2 3488468 Although I have been there only once, I really liked the tea at Four Seasons and meant to mention it earlier. I think it is a good alternative to the usual suspects. Thu Mar 13 08:08:02 -0700 2008 3481049 132103 Peech 1 3482094 I think I have been to all the places that have been mentioned so far. I will just give my thoughts on each as reference: I agree with you that the afternoon tea at Peninsula wasn't at all impressive! I was totally disappointed by the quality of the food. Mandarin Oriental was supposed to be the best, and I still think it is one of the best, but it wasn't as good as before the renovation (I guess what you can't get is always better...) They also "downsized" the serving so the tea set was quite small (and probably need to order additional items). I don't usually complaint about quantity as I am a small eater myself, but if I wasn't full I have a hard time imaging other people to be full from the tea set alone. I actually like the afternoon tea at Four Seasons better. I always thought that Mandarin Oriental has the best desserts, but Four Seasons has exceeded my expectations. Plus you can eat more sweets if you want more. It is also more relaxing because there are less paparazzi around (as celebrities like to frequent Mandarin Oriental). As for Repulse Bay Hotel, I thought it was good for the value, and you can't beat the relaxing atmosphere there. The service was also as good as any 5 or 6 star hotels. But their sweets are noticably not as good as Mandarin Oriental or Four Season, so I am sure if overall it is good enough to get me to stroll all the way to Repulse Bay (it's not a place that you can reach by MTR) Someone mentioned the fourth floor of Harvey Nichols. I thought it was in general good, but not great. The decor is a bit "cheesy" to me. Didn't find anything that stoodout. Unless you are shopping I won't bother. Lastly, someone mentioned the dim sum tea at InterContinental. I have had that before, and though the concept was good and looked great, it was better to look at than to taste. Some dim sum were excellent, while others were very average. Most importantly with everything served all at once, some dim sum cooled down and didn't taste great. If you have regular dim sum places that you are planning to visit, this one can be deprioritized. Hope this helps! Tue Mar 11 11:03:34 -0700 2008 3474223 54254 kobetobiko 2 3483767 good breakdown! though i must say i've never seen any paparazzi at clipper - as far as i know, no big stars hang out there, it's prob too obvious! it's just the tai-tais and their daughters ;) i've always found clipper to be very relaxed, though views aren't that great - FS has larger windows (not too much of a view either, coz it's on g/f, even though it faces the harbour). at clipper, the most comfy seats are closer to the main entrance/stairs, not the seats closer to the shops. Tue Mar 11 19:06:54 -0700 2008 3482094 119622 e_ting 2 3487529 Thanks for all the details! It makes the choice a bit easier. Now I'm thinking Four Season or Mandarin Oriental, and Repulse Bay only if I'm already in the area. I was avoiding InterContinental because I wasn't looking for dim sum afternoon tea (we'll already be having a lot of dim sum elsewhere), but a more traditional afternoon tea. gnomatic's post, though, puts the IC on the list, too. So now it's down to three--InterContinental, Four Seasons, and Mandarin Oriental, in that order. Question--it looks like those places all price the afternoon tea for two. Should I end up having to go alone, can I still order the full afternoon tea for just one? I had tea at the Peninsula alone, so I thought it would be OK, but have things changed? Wed Mar 12 20:57:34 -0700 2008 3482094 55178 prasantrin 1 3483483 I had afternoon tea last week at the Lobby Lounge of the Intercontinental 2 weeks ago. I don't think the dim sum tea is offered anymore. The menu is available here: http://hongkong-ic.dining.intercontinental.com/honic/di05.html They offer the same tea service downstairs at the Harbourside restaurant. Good service, great view, there was someone playing the piano, and occassional singing. The view is amazing, but the furnishing could use some updates. It was $368 for two people, and quite a lot of food. I enjoyed all the food, except the chestnut cake (I don't like chestnut cakes). I also didn't like my white tea wasn't served in a tea pot, but it was the leaves in a tall glass mug. My friends had the black teas, and those were served in tea pots. Overall, we had a nice time, it was certainly cheaper than similar afternoon tea service in London, NYC, or Toronto. I have a few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8433752@N02/2317354281/in/set-72157604066356684/ Tue Mar 11 17:27:57 -0700 2008 3474223 148984 gnomatic 2 3487536 Great pictures! It's made the decision all the more difficult now that I know IC doesn't have the dim sum tea (which I wasn't crazy about, so I wasn't even considering it). What to do, what to do... Wed Mar 12 20:58:48 -0700 2008 3483483 55178 prasantrin 3 3489341 The IC always had the traditional tea, they just had the dim sum tea as an additional option. I am pretty sure it was still on the menu back in Feb, when I was choosing which one to go to for afternoon tea. Anyways, I was choosing between the Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula & the IC. Mandarin Oriental was deemed bit too modern Peninsula was possibly too crowded IC had the traditional tea service & the view, anyways, we were in the area Thu Mar 13 11:26:12 -0700 2008 3487536 148984 gnomatic 1 3498211 hey prasantrin, I would love to see your list of places. My husband and I are going to HK at the end of the month and I too have a whole list of places extracted from the China Chowhound board, but I'm pretty bewildered as to how to pare it down. Thanks! Sun Mar 16 11:43:40 -0700 2008 3474223 141572 meuri 2 3498390 If you can post an email address, I'd be happy to send it to you. It's a 2MB spreadsheet (excel). It's all Chinese stuff (mostly cheap eats, with a couple of high-ish-end places), gleaned from Chow and another board. Sun Mar 16 12:59:17 -0700 2008 3498211 55178 prasantrin 2 3498637 agreed! it would definitely be a interesting list to check out! Sun Mar 16 14:46:33 -0700 2008 3498211 49556 s0memale 3 3499073 I'd be happy to post it here if there's a way to attach spreadsheets (the original list was a Word doc and included pictures, which is why it was so long). It's rather large, and I should note that I'm a bit anal about list making--it's not just restaurant names, but the spreadsheet also has columns for location/address, type of food, and the specialities or recommended foods of a particular place. It doesn't have all the places I'm planning to go to (just the Chinese ones--we'll be going to afternoon tea and also for French chocolates and pastries, but those aren't on the list), and I most likely won't go to all the places on the list (quite a few dim sum, noodle, or barbecue places on the list, for example, so I'll probably only get to a couple of each). In addition to Chow and eG, I also went through chaxiubao's blog, and I think Peech's blog, too. Sun Mar 16 17:45:10 -0700 2008 3498637 55178 prasantrin 4 3518634 prasantrin, I'd love to see your chart. I have about 70 pages of notes for a three day visit to Hong Kong starting April 1 so I suspect many of your places will be in my notes also. I should be paring down, but here i am looking for the one great place I hadn't found yet! If you send it to me - wise linda g at optonline dot net, I'd be grateful. I also note that meuri is leaving for HK at the end of the month. Will you be there April 1-4? If so, my husband and I would be interested in meeting up with you and/or with prasantrin if your travels will bring you to HK at the same time??? It's so difficult to try all these wonderful dishes with only two people! So many places, so little time, and so few mouths! If either of you or anyone else would like my 70 page compendium, I'd be glad to attach it to an email. Linda Sat Mar 22 20:46:21 -0700 2008 3499073 67453 wiselindag 5 3519151 Will do asap. I have to edit a bit--somehow some very important places got deleted, and we found out today (after much trekking around), that the Sichuanese place I wanted to try had moved to a very inconvenient location! Will update it and send it off, probably tomorrow. Sun Mar 23 07:07:17 -0700 2008 3518634 55178 prasantrin 1 3530721 The day I arrived in HK, it was pouring rain, so we went straight from the airport to the Four Seasons for tea. They had a special afternoon tea for the Easter weekend which included a buffet table of sweets. We didn't really know what was going on when we ordered, so we loaded up our plates (daintily, of course) with sweets. They were all delicious--bread pudding, peach cobbler, almond cherry tart, macarons, tiramisu, chocolates, other things I can't remember... We had almost had our fill when they brought out the tiers. Finally, some savoury items, but we were already on our way to being full. The salmon millefeuille was especially good, and the rest of the savouries were fine (nothing to write home about, but not horrible). The scones were slightly better than what I remember Peninsula's to be, but they were still heavier than I like. The final layer of sweets was barely touched. We just tasted one of each. They were a match to the buffet table--not too sweet, but flavourful and well-executed. I would recommend the Four Seasons afternoon tea. It's usually ~HK$400 for two, and our set was HK$250/person because of the additional buffet items. The food was most definitely better than the Peninsula, and I also thought the atmosphere was more conducive to a relaxing afternoon with friends. The space is much more open, and the staff relaxed yet attentive (oddly, they constantly refilled my cup, yet not my friends, however). Wed Mar 26 14:42:45 -0700 2008 3474223 55178 prasantrin 2 3551578 Sorry to have missed the post! we were in HK from Mar 23-28 and ended up having tea at the Clipper Lounge in the Mandarin Oriental in Central on 3/25/08. Luckily there was no particular dress code, since we were in jeans and fleece. We arrived at 4 pm, exhausted and hungry from Ocean Park, not having eaten anything since our 830am dim sum at Luk Yu Tea House (overrated. It was expensive and yet we did not eat our fill since the range was limited). However, the seats were low and soft, the view over the lobby was great for people watching, and the service was wonderful. The tea set was $426 HKD including the 10% service fee for two (~$55 USD total). They called it high tea but it was really a very delicious afternoon tea. What was served: Teas: We each had our traditional individual pot of tea. My White Lotus tea was light, fruity and refreshing. My husband had the Japanese Sencha - he liked it, although it was a bit too grassy for me. Tiered Tray (see pic#1): On the top tier: four pairs of dainty sandwich cubes on finely-textured white bread, packaged with a thin layer of the featured filling wrapped around it (cucumber, truffled egg salad with a thin ribbon of fried egg wrapped around it, proscuitto, salmon/cream chese) On the middle tier: Chinese-inspired pastries (some savory sesame and grape tomato topped confection; an onion tart; curry pie; a spicy tomatoey shrimp puff) On the bottom tier: carrot cake; raspberry tart; cheesecake (the light creamy kind, not the dense slab type); chocolate-enrobed chocolate cake Scones (see pic#2): 2 plain and 2 raisin, both a bit dense, accompanied by the requisite clotted cream and this really lovely rose petal jam (strawberry-based, but the rose petal added such a beautiful aroma and flavor - very addictive). Cake slices: This was the only bad note to the set. These are slices off cake loaves, with a choice of a Windsor cake (really a kind of fruitcake with red and green candied cherries) or ginger-cinnamon. Both were dry and tasteless. Extras: we each received a skinny shot glass half filled with banana ice cream (although it tasted like vanilla) and topped with hot chocolate. Delicious! Having only had afternoon tea at the Drake Hotel in Chicago (a tradition with my best friends from college), this was on a much smaller scale with less elaborate desserts. However, the second tier items were really unique in my experience, and the price was cheaper than I expected. We also were surprisingly stuffed at the end (I couldn't finish my scones, despite the lure of the rose petal jam). I really enjoyed the afternoon tea at the Clipper Lounge in the Mandarin Oriental and would recommend this to other HK visitors. Tue Apr 01 19:40:01 -0700 2008 3530721 141572 meuri 2 5187387 I don't know if you'll check this, but I am going to HK from December 24-30. I would love to see your list of places to eat at. My email address is kamorgans at gmail dot com. thanks! Mon Nov 16 19:39:47 -0800 2009 3530721 1125115 kamorgans 1 5190634 Check out Cafe Gray on on Level 49, Upper House (Admiralty) which opened last month. I liked everything about their high-tea - exquisite sandwiches & tea cakes, unobstrusive service, some of the best views of HK Harbour and the richest cup of hot chocolate I've had in a long time! Check out their website for more details: www.upperhouse.com Tue Nov 17 23:59:08 -0800 2009 3474223 143097 klyeoh 2 5190644 Nice pics klyeoh. I didn't know they did tea. I had lunch there and thought they did main meals only. How much did that set you back? Wed Nov 18 00:07:16 -0800 2009 5190634 273498 mikey8811 3 5190651 HK$204, inclusive of taxes & service. Wed Nov 18 00:27:19 -0800 2009 5190644 143097 klyeoh 4 5190653 That's quite competitive actually. How do the pastries & cakes compare to l'Atelier? Wed Nov 18 00:35:01 -0800 2009 5190651 273498 mikey8811 5 5190666 I must admit that L'Atelier's food tasted much better - no comparison here. But there's no beating Cafe Gray's 49th floor view and Andre Fu's incredible architectural achievement that is Upper House - and I'm a sucker for great ambience ;-) Wed Nov 18 01:02:37 -0800 2009 5190653 143097 klyeoh 1 5201030 Peninsula Hotel: If you have to choose one, this is it. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90008431965 Clipper Lounge or Cafe Causette (Mandarin Oriental): Both places serve the same afternoon tea set. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90011730626 Repulse Bay Verandah: Afternoon tea set is pretty good! (Its brunch is even better) http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90021658680 / http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90021658766 4th floor of Harvey Nichols: Avan-garde tea set. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90007597569 MO Bar (Landmark Mandarin): Chic ambience. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90006133527 China Tee Club: I heard it was operated by Shanghai Tang long long time ago, and I don't know whether it is still so. They say it is members only place, but it is surely open to public. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90025196403 Four Seasons Hotel - The Lounge: Typical afternoon tea service. http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90007840727 Works & Play (Langham Place Hotel): Try their Chinese afternoon tea! http://blog.naver.com/kosmose7/90035143761 Sun Nov 22 18:23:25 -0800 2009 3474223 195466 kosmose7