One of the things that people say you HAVE to do in Hong Kong in the way of food is to have high tea at The Peninsula hotel. However, I beg to differ on that as I think high tea at the InterContinental, just across the road from The Peninsula, is much better – if only for the view.


High tea at the InterContinental lobby will accord you with this panaromic view of Victoria Harbour – something you won’t get if you’re having high tea at the lobby of The Peninsula. Call me a sucker, but I’d rather pay for this view while enjoying a leisurely afternoon eating and chatting with my friend, than follow in the footsteps of some taitai tradition of having high tea at The Peninsula.


I went to the InterContinental with a good friend during my last week in Hong Kong. We ordered the high tea set which costs about HKD200 (before tax) per person. We liked the bottom tier best with its canapes. There was a smoked salmon canape on the extreme left, the shrimp with cavier on its right, the duck pate, and the tomato with mozzarella cheese with pesto on the extreme right.
We didn’t like the dessert platter as we didn’t think they tasted all that good. To be honest, they were somewhat boring too. The lemon tart to the extreme left had a nice buttery pastry and tasted citrusy enough. If I had to choose the best among the five there, I’d say this lemon tart was best. Next to it was a chocolate cup with small pieces of multi-coloured jello placed in it. The look didn’t appeal to me so I gave it a miss as I didn’t want to waste calories. In the middle was a cheesecake which tasted really ordinary. I took a bite and left the rest of it. If you’re a fan of milk chocolate, the next dessert is probably your thing. I don’t like milk chocolate, so I left it to my friend to finish it. The attractive rose-red dessert on the extreme right is a slice of raspberry mousse cake which I didn’t mind eating as it wasn’t too sweet. Again, it was alright, but not mind-blowing.


The carbs platter consisted of scones, madeleines, a brownie and some millefeuille pastry. I liked the scones best as they were warm, buttery and moist at the same time. Yum.


Take your pick of peach jam, double cream and strawberry jam to go with the warm scones. Did I mention that I really love a good scone? Pair it with a cup of earl grey tea and it’s comfort food at one of its best.


It comes with a pot of tea for each person. Service was very good as the wait staff were very prompt at refilling our cups.


One of the waitresses then came round with a whole platter of macarons from which we chose one of each flavour. The yellow one was lemon-flavoured, the brown was chocolate, the light brown was caramel, the green was matcha (aka green tea) and the grey one was black sesame. Personally I’m not a huge fan of macarons and so I didn’t enjoy them as much as a macaron fan would.
High tea at the InterContinental Hong Kong would be my pick over The Peninsula any time. There’s something very leisurely and a little indulgent about sipping tea and treating yourself to morsels of food there whilst taking in the Hong Kong skyline. High tea runs from 2.30 to 6.30pm.
InterContinental Hong Kong
18 Salisbury Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2721 1211
Nearest MTR stations: Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀) or Tsim Sha Tsui East (尖東)