Afternoon tea is such a treat, but afternoon tea plus free beauty samples? I'm so there! On the weekend the girls and I went for afternoon tea at Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon, where they're currently doing an afternoon tea set in collaboration with Lancome. We had such a lovely afternoon, but how was the food? Let's find out...
Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon has a pretty decent selection of teas and coffee. I ordered
a Valrhona 66% cocoa hot chocolate and it was delicious. My friends had Earl Grey Citrus tea, Kusmi Caramel tea and Zhangdong Rosebud tea,and they were all very good. The flavours weren't artificial and were still potent after adding more hot water. The staff were gracious about adding hot water, some restaurants are so stingy and don't give you more hot water after you've finished your pot of tea. Getting tea is definitely better value than getting a hot chocolate or coffee, as you can see from the photo their teapots are huge!
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| Menu (enlarge to view) |
The scones were quite good, not the best in Hong Kong but still very satisfying. The clotted cream was heavenly and once again the wait-staff were very gracious when we asked for more (such fatties right), however the homemade strawberry jam was too runny and they didn't serve it with a spoon.
The savoury tier was very colourful, but taste-wise it was rather average. The highlight is definitely the salmon, which had a nice texture and wasn't too salty or fishy. The foie gras and berries jelly was a good pairing, I just wished there was more of it. The croissants were enjoyable too, especially when loaded with cream. The "oreo" is actually sardine tartare sandwiched between squid ink toast, it sounded so dodgy I didn't even eat mine, and my girlfriends all agreed that it was too fishy. I wish they served us warmer savoury food rather than just cold appetizers, like a mini onion tart perhaps, this is a French tea salon after all...
Overall, the pastries were all very good. There was a berry flavour across the board, so the slight acidity stopped it all from becoming sickeningly sweet. The macarons were good and chewy and the shell to ganache ratio was definitely en point, I can't remember what the flavour was but it sure was yummy. I didn't realise that the chocolate cake was a brownie until I read the menu afterwards, it has a much lighter texture than a brownie but I loved the hazelnut praline situation that was on top. The little white chocolate balls were good, I didn't know what was inside so it was a lovely surprise. The "lipstick" is actually raspberry mousse and was much nicer than the blackcurrant mousse next to it, which was wayyy too sour (and too big of a portion). The chocolate covered orange sticks, which I didn't even notice 'cause they just blended into the colour of the tray, were delicious. If you like jaffa-cakes you'll love these. Lastly, the madeleines had good flavour, but they were a bit dense 'cause they'd gone cold.
And did I mention that you get a complimentary Lancome beauty gift set with the tea set? The set includes: three samples of the products from their Absolue Precious Cells line, and a little vial of Tresor Midnight Rose edp (perfect for stashing in your handbag) and an invitation for a brow trimming and eye massage service at a Lancome boutique. While $498 for a tea set for two isn't something that I'd splurge on without cringing, the deluxe sized samples make it worth the money. I had such a lovely afternoon with my girl friends and we were all very satisfied from our afternoon tea. If you've been craving a good afternoon tea, I'll recommend giving this one a try this weekend. :)
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| The deluxe sized samples come in a cute little box that you can reuse to store lipsticks or hair accessories etc. |
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