Decadent Afternoon

The Lobby is bustling with customers having afternoon tea

This afternoon I did a touristy thing and had afternoon tea at The Peninsula with a friend from out of town.

We were debating about when to get there as the hotel doesn't take reservations so we decided to play it safe by lining up at 1:30pm.

Started on the bottom tier with raisin scones

This turned out to be the right call because while my friend arrived before I did, there was already a long queue behind her and she was probably the fifth or sixth party in line. There was a massive line out the lobby for the more than two hours we were there.

In any event time passed by quickly as we chatted in line and soon afterwards we got a table on the side closer to the musicians above us.

Pretty much everything's just as I remembered, the silver teapots, navy blue and yellow plates, and of course the three-tier afternoon tea set -- but the price was definitely different -- at a total of HK$580 ($74.68) for two including 10 percent service charge.

Since when did the price get jacked up that high?

Nevertheless we munched on the scones speckled with raisins and smothered them with clotted cream and strawberry jam; then we sampled a variety of sandwiches, cucumber and dill, ground ham, turkey and cheese on pretzel bread, smoked salmon roll, and mini sun-dried tomato tart.

A selection of savoury sandwiches and tarts

We were also given a small pina colada mousse before we sampled the top layer of desserts. This mousse was very light and did have the pina colada taste minus the booze. Then we tried the sweets consisting of a small slice of chocolate marble bread, a little nutty tart, moist chocolate cube, a coconut mousse cake topped with raspberry jelly and chocolate and pistachio macaroons.

Considering The Peninsula churns out these tea sets everyday for hundreds of visitors everyday, it's quite amazing the standard is consistent. The afternoon tea isn't absolutely delish, but it isn't inedible either.

We've come to soak up the colonial ambience, take in the quartet playing in the background and while away our Sunday afternoon in decadent surroundings.

A selection of desserts on the top tier

A fun and sinful perk -- good to indulge in once in a while.

Lobby, The Peninsula Hong Kong
Salisbury Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
2920 2888
www.peninsula.com