Hotels in Hong Kong - Peninsula

The Peninsula in Hong Kong attracts me most because it features in James Bond. I explained last time why I found the Intercontinental - Grand Stanford a better place to stay at, but I still wanted to visit the Peninsula, and the ideal moment for that was for afternoon tea. According to at least two sources it is the best place to have afternoon tea in Hong Kong, so I was very disappointed when I failed to get there in time the day we had to leave Hong Kong. Obviously afternoon tea is at 16:00, but the book I had stated they would serve until 19:00. They don't. In fact, if you arrive after 17:00 you'll be out of luck, as there is a queue that takes at least an hour. I discovered that the next time I was in Hong Kong.

Because one of the things you can do in the Peninsula is watch other people, the wait in the queue is reasonably enjoyable. You can prepare yourself for the event by watching the people that are drinking tea, and there is a chamber orchestra playing from the balcony. The songs are rather popular (Vivaldi, Queen) and not every note is clean, but this, together with free Internet, makes for a quick hour. Once seated I discovered the tea isn't actually that expensive (obviously it is expensive for tea, but there are places in London where you'd pay more for less) and comprehensive. You can just order the afternoon tea (I'm not sure why they even bother with a menu) which consists of your choice of tea (or coffee) and a three course set of finger foods.

The initial tea is served to perfection. They steep it just for the right amount of time, and their tea leaves have a magnificent quality (certainly better than what Lupicia, Teavana or Twinings offer). Later cups are, of course, slightly more bitter, but still very tasty. The first course are the scones, with cream and strawberry jam. This is the only place where strawberries taste good, and I enjoyed them. The second course are a variation of sandwiches (cucumber, mushrooms, cheese quiche) which were tasty enough. Finally there were the deserts, which included cheese cake, chocolate and various other tasty bites.

The experience was worth the hour long wait, and the two visits. The atmosphere is good, the food is great and the tea is excellent. It might all feel overly English, but I loved it.