Afternoon Tea @ The Lounge, JW Marriott Hong Kong

My friend Marie Ann or Tisay as we fondly call her is based in Hong Kong and she invited me and my parents to have afternoon tea at JW Marriott in Pacific Place, Admiralty. We didn’t have lunch in preparation for this buffet feast.

We don’t normally have afternoon tea when in Hong Kong but Tisay promised us that it was fantastic.

I was amazed and frankly intimidated by all the tea choices. I wondered how will I choose which tea to drink.

As soon as I saw the tower of scones I was blinded to all the other food. It’s strange but I just love, love, love scones and it’s really hard to find good scones. So far I haven’t found any decent scones in Manila.

English scones with raisin, cinnamon and orange with real Devonshire clotted cream and home‐made jams

flambé station

fruit flambé combined with cognac, rum or brandy

There were 4 kinds of dim sum available. They were slow to refill the baskets that’s why I didn’t take a picture of the steamed beef ball.

spicy squid

shrimp dumpling with cilantro

noodle station

cold cuts

congee station

congee condiments

cheese and appetizers

These were just 2 of more hot entrees available.

Fook Kin fried rice

roasted lemongrass & lime pork neck

salad bar

shakes

The choices looked very good but we tried the healthy smoothie and berry berry and it was SO not good.

dried fruit & nuts

dessert station

cookies

 I ate this cookie while taking pictures even before I sat down. OMG!! The cookie was to die for. It was the best American style chewy cookie I’ve ever eaten in Hong Kong. Boy am I glad I had a ziploc in my bag. Wink, wink…

double chocolate cookie

marshmallows

We sat in the cozy lounge area.

My only comment was the tables were too small. With a pot of tea per person there was barely any space for our plates.

After a lengthy perusal of the extensive tea menu I finally settled on the rose white peony which was described as “relieve stress and help with internal digestion.” I needed all the help for my stress on what to eat and definitely on digesting more food than I’m used to.

So here’s what I ate. Warning: My plates were really boring.

I just loved their scone. It has to be the best scone I’ve ever eaten. It was buttery and had a crisp exterior and light interior. I really liked the apricot jam which had a slight bitter edge to it. This scone was far superior to the ones at InterContinental Hong Kong and Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington DC.

The rest of the food was just ok.

plate 1 – orange scone with apricot jam & clotted cream, spicy squid, shrimp dumpling and sushi.

scone with apricot jam and clotted cream

This time I tried the cinnamon scone with peach jam. I liked the orange scone better. The crêpe with fruits on top? I liked the scone better. Don’t get me wrong. The crêpe was good but I’d rather spend my calories on a scone.

plate 2 – cinnamon scone and fruit flambé

plate 3 – baked mussels

Did I mention I love scones?

plate 4 – another orange scone, wasabi nuts & chorizo

The dessert station looked awesome but the other choices didn’t really appeal to me so I just had another giant chocolate chip cookie and super creamy, yummy panna cotta with candied ginger on top. The brownie bite was dry but it had bittersweet chocolate chunks in it so it wasn’t that bad.

Plate 5 – panna cotta so creamy w candied ginger on top

I forgot who ate this but it’s a nice picture.

Tisay with me and my parents

So was the afternoon tea buffet worth it? Since it was a Good Friday when we ate there the price was HK$295 +10%sc. Based on my 3 ultra delicious scones, lots of yummy cookies (wink), some odds and ends and a pot of tea it was not worth it even though I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. But if you have a good appetite and can tackle a good buffet then please do try your hand at JW Marriott’s afternoon tea.

Canton Tea Company menu

The Lounge
Lobby Level
JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong
The Lounge, Lobby Level
Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong
For reservations: (852) 2810‐8366

Prices:
Monday to Friday, 3.30pm to 6pm – HK$230 per adult and HK$160 per child
Saturday, 1pm to 6pm – HK$295 per adult and HK $210 per child
Sunday and Public Holidays, 3:30 – 6pm – HK$295 per adult and HK $210 per child
All prices are subject to 10% service charge


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