Let’s tea at The Continental

So one fine Sunday when Mr. C has his day off I decided to drag him off to have a spot of afternoon tea with me. He doesn’t really enjoy high tea since his job revolves around pastries and baked goods all day, but for me he will drink tea and eat scones (once in a while). He does have one condition for afternoon teaing with me though is that we go to a new place neither of us have been before so no Island Shangri-la or Four Seasons 😦

In the end we picked The Continental. Occupying the space where Domani used to operate, it is a gorgeous place to relax in day time, comfortable booths, full length windows with the light pouring in, it’s like a little piece of oasis in the heart of Admiralty.

After being seated it was a no-brainer for me to order The Continental tea set for two ($365) with an accompanying latte and earl grey tea for Mr. C. If a tea set is not your said cup of tea (yes I typed that), they do offer a small selection of more filling options during their afternoon service.

So our three tiered set arrives~

Starting with the warm raisin scones. They were decently sized and smelt buttery, but biting into them they tasted like a dense wholemeal roll. The accompanying clotted cream and Wilkon & Son strawberry jam helped a little, but I prefer a more fluffy, fragrant scone. The caramelised almond tuiles however, were wonderful, crisp with a burnt toffee flavour.

I am a cream first then jam kinda girl 😉

Savouries next.

Salmon roulade on pumpernickel, prawn brioche, duck egg mayonnaise and coronation chicken. The bread of the sandwiches were fresh, not dry and shrivelled like some I’ve encountered and the fillings were decently tasty. My favourite was the coronation chicken, a mix of sweet and curry flavour with moist chicken.

The sweets.

Lemon cake, caramel eclair, raspberry macaron, berry tart, chocolate caramel truffle, mango cheesecake and chocolate mousse roulade. I’m never usually a fan of the sweets in a tea set as I find them made sloppily, but the pastries here were nicer than I expected. The pastry base and tart shells were crisp, the cheesecake was creamy and the lemon cake was buttery and fragrant.

I wouldn’t mind coming back for a proper meal and this tea set would gain higher regard in my eyes if their scone recipe improved.

Address:

Shop No. 6, 4/F, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty

The most talked about buffet in town!

Woooo, the day after I arrived back in Hong Kong , I was off to have CNY dinner at the hardest to book buffet in town! Replacing the previous fine dining Spanish establishment, The Grand Buffet now sits high up on the 62nd floor of the Hopewell centre in Wan Chai. Boasting 360 degree views of Hong Kong, the restaurant revolves ever so slowly, completing one rotation in two hours so don’t worry you won’t get motion sickness :p

Lift entrance to lobby

The restaurant is so beautifully decorated, all beige marble, sandstone walls engraved with the station of food, big spacious tables and the light accents are too chic to not mention.

For those that enjoy a glass of liquor, The Grand Buffet has implemented an automated showcase where guests can use a pre-paid card to select their favourite champagne/wine/sake/plum wine to enjoy with their meal.

As for food selection, let’s take a look shall we 😉 Be warned there is numerous photos and best not to view when hungry.

Seasonal tomatoes and mozzerella cheese

Caesar salad mixing station

Succulent duck breast

My favourite foie gras terrine, so so smooth~

Smoked salmon

Assorted sushi rolls and nigiri

Or for those that want to skip the rice, a sashimi bar is right next to it where a sushi chef is all ready to slice off luscious slices of fatty salmon, yellowtail, large size Hokkaido scallops, sweet shrimp and tuna.

Don’t just fill up on sashimi when there’s a whole blue room dedicated to serving you seafood up the stairs. A selection of Boston lobsters, snow crab claws, whole bread crabs, cockles, mussels and three types of freshly shucked oysters from the US, France or whatever is freshly delivered that day. 3 per serve per person so each guest is able to enjoy these briny treats without waiting too long and since it is a buffet you can always line up again.

And a little reveal to show how much roe goodness is inside those bread crabs~

The seafood doesn’t just end there… head over to the live big head prawn blanching station where they scoop them from the tank and cook them fresh. These were my favourite, juicy, sweet and I loved sucking the goodness from the head.

If you need a break from seafood, there are plenty of other things to tempt you.

A whole roasted prime rib

Chinese BBQ selection: char siu, soya chicken, roast goose and that suckling pig has the most crunchy crackling~

Or some dim sum whose quality is equal or even surpasses those from a Michelin starred Chinese restaurant, but then again the dim sum masters here previously worked in one of those restaurants *cough Sun Tong Lok cough*

Just look at the translucence of that dumpling skin on this spinach and prawn dumpling~

Some delicious tempura with a thin crunchy layer of batter and surprisingly not very oily.

What is a buffet without a collection of bain maries of hot food?

This double boiled cockles, chicken feet and pork soup was so sweet and flavourful, I had to have two bowls of this.

Whole steamed fish

Grilled sea bass and lobster claws

Brown sauce braised sea cucumber, mushrooms and lettuce. The sea cucumber was slippery smooth and on different days the sea cucumber alternates with abalone. This is a dish where guests stand and wait for this to be replenished.

Sauteed Boston lobster

For the spice lovers, there’s a curry station.

Chicken curry

Beef Korma

And finally we made it to desserts 😀

Pretty coffee mousse cups

Assorted fruit. Can eat it the healthy way or…

…you can dip it into the molten chocolate from this stunning chocolate fondue machine. Not too dark and not too sweet, a perfect balance.

Assorted cakes, pastries and handmade chocolates.

Madelines and friands.

These macarons are definitely worth a mention. Not only is the display pretty, but the quality of these macarons are top notch since they are made by one of their affiliate restaurants Joel Robuchon.

Assorted flavours caramel, vanilla, raspberry, lemon.

Don’t fret ice-cream lovers, there is also an ice-cream station with a server displaying her arm strength through chopping and sraping your choice of ice-cream and toppings on an icy teppanyaki plate. Ice-cream is also from Joel Robuchon and let’s just say the vanilla bean flavour is divine~

Dinner is currently priced at $658 + 10% and I have heard how difficult it has been to make a reservation via the phone so I would suggest to head up to the restaurant itself and make one directly with the helpful staff.

Such a huge post. Hope you enjoyed it 🙂

Address:

62/F, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai