Fancy flowers and fancy views in Hong Kong.
Our experience
Whereas high tea is not a strong point in NYC, it most certainly is in many parts of Asia. As part of our “Best High Tea in Hong Kong” series, this month we visited the Regent Hotel across the harbour in TST for a high tea created by Mineko Kato, a dessert chef who was recently named Asia’s Best Pastry Chef 2025. The setting of the afternoon tea was the hotel’s lobby lounge area, which offered dramatic, almost 270 degrees views of the Hong Kong skyline. This is certainly an ideal spot to bring important guests, including family members and others who need to be impressed.
On the day of our visit, afternoon tea started with an amouse bouche of a bright pink-purple beetroot espuma, flecked with dried raspberry and toasted buckwheat. This was followed by a platter of four ribbon sandwiches, which quite unlike our general indifference to ribbon sandwiches, were not that terrible. Featuring no meat protein, the sandwiches included one of wild mushroom and truffle, chickpea and hummus, avocado and mango, and olive tapenade.
The crowning glory of the Regent’s high tea was undoubtedly, three finely-sculpted miniature desserts: a veritable garden of flowers skewering a ball of cream on a biscuit base; a chocolate mousse ball resembling a stone dappled with moss; and a dumpling-like almond rose cake. A selection of more standard dessert fare rounded up the high tea, including somewhat hard hojicha scones, a very rich chocolate cake, and petit fours.
Our verdict
Long-time readers of this dessert blog will know that we set a very high bar for high teas: there must absolutely be no boring ribbon sandwiches, no loud pandemonium-like ambience and no quotidien careless desserts, please. Although we were initially a little hesitant to book the Regent’s high tea because it skewed towards a vegetarian palate, we have no regrets. The hotel’s carefully considered “Alchemy of Perfumes” afternoon tea befits the award-winning status of the patisserie chef, and we will certainly be looking out for more Asian dessert chefs stepping up the afternoon tea game in Hong Kong as well as across the region.
Dessert adventure checklist
- ☑ Dessert destination: Regent Hotel, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Rd, Kowloon side.
- ☑ Budget: $$-$$$ (Approx HKD $488 per person, plus service tax; approx USD $60 per person).
- ☑ Sweet irresistibles: High Tea.
- ☑ The short and sweet story: Fancy flower and fancy views in Hong Kong.
Dessert Correspondents 