One of the must do things when I went to Hong Kong this year was to have another high tea experience at one of the top hotels in Hong Kong, after really enjoying the one at the Ritz Carlton hotel last year (you can read about it here) I was hoping to try two places but things didn't go towards planned and I only manage to fit one in during my two weeks stay. This time I picked the Intercontinetal Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Afternoon tea at the InterContinetal hotel is serve between 2pm-5pm at the lobby lounge and one thing I didn't like was that the hotel will not take advance reservations for afternoon tea. We had to make sure to get there early because we didn't know how busy it was going to be and I really wanted a window seat, I would have found it frustrating if I got there and all the window seats were taken and I had to queue, as afternoon tea should be a relaxing experience but luckily it wasn't many people there when we arrived at 1.45pm.
Before I went to Hong Kong I did have a quick look online for reviews to see where was the best place for afternoon tea. There was two hotels I had in mind, the Peninsula Hotel which had quite good reviews or the InterContinental hotel. At the end I chose this hotel because there was one thing the Peninsula couldn't offer me and that's the breathtaking view outside! Just look at the impressive walls of windows, so beautiful!
So glad that we got there early, by 2.30pm the lounge was filled with people.
The hotel has three sets of afternoon teas to choose from, the Champagne Set, the InterContinental Afternoon set and the Chinese set. We went for InterContinental tea set which is the classic afternoon tea set (for two) which includes selection of savoury sandwiches, parisian style pastries and cake, warm scones and a choice of mariage freres teas or coffee.
I really needed caffeine that day, so I ordered a lovely latte. The coffee art was so beautiful, I didn't want to drink it.
We ate the scones first as they were still lovely and warm. We had two each, definitely the best scones i've ever had! They were very light and even more delicious with the jam, devonshire clotted cream and the earl grey jelly.
When the food came, it didn't seem a lot but by the time I finished my scones and savouries I was actually quite full and we didn't even have lunch that day! I enjoyed all the savouries especially the salmon sandwich, the salmon tasted fresh and the bread was so soft, just lovely!
By the time we got onto the cakes, I was happy that there was only one piece of each and that we could share, otherwise I would have been so full and I wouldn't have enjoyed them as much. The sweet items includes a mousse filled chocolate egg, vanilla tart, chocolate cake, raspberry cheesecake and a matcha cake. My favourite is definitely this vanilla tart. The pastry was very light and the creme patissiere filling was smooth and silky, it just melts in your mouth.
By the time we nearly finished, it was a lovely surprise when the waitress brought over these complimentary panecotta desserts over to our table. They were very light and smooth and had a lovely citrous taste, a perfect finish to our afternoon tea.
We spent about two and a half hours at the hotel. Definitely another lovely high tea experience! However service could have been better for a five-star hotel but still I couldn't ask for anything more. Food was great, comfortable seating, beautiful and relaxing views while enjoying my food and half way into our afternoon tea there was even a live band playing!
Photo taken outside. A spectacular view of Hong Kong Island. Hopefully it won't be too long before I go back :)
