HK’s Best High Tea Series: Christmas Afternoon Teas

Celebrating our first Christmas in Hong Kong checking out Christmas lights and high teas.

Our experience

What are you doing for Christmas this year, dear readers and fellow dessert lovers? As the temperature continues to hover around a rather warm 20 degrees Celsius in Hong Kong, we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic for the chilly wintry days in the lead-up to Christmas in NYC. It is certainly hard to beat a cup of molten hot chocolate in one hand and a giant smore’s waffle or gigant ginger snap cookie in the other as one wanders through NYC’s Christmas Markets, or Christmas lights or in the pre-Christmas shopping rush downtown. We also have fond memories of a number of Christmas high teas in NYC, including at Bluebird, the fancier Carlyle, the decadent Russian Tea Room or the exuberantly festive Lillie’s. To celebrate our first Christmas in HK, and as part of our continuing “Best High Tea in Hong Kong” series, we recently checked out Hotel Icon and the Ritz Carlton Hotel for their respective Christmas afternoon tea offering. And after each, we took a tour of the Christmas lights and decorations that Hong Kong had to offer — we dare say, the crowds are very similar in density to that in NYC. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas High Tea at Hotel Icon

Dessert destination: Hotel Icon, 17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Budget: $$$ (HKD $788 pp + tax/service for 2 persons; also available as a solo set).
Local flavours featured: No.
Short and sweet story: Located in the East TST district, Hotel Icon is a hotel with a distinctive boutique vibe. Afternoon tea is carried out in the lobby-level atrium area – it’s a large space with cathedral-high ceilings, albeit a very crowded spot, better for casual group gatherings than a place to impress and wow. Notwithstanding the down-to-earth setting, Hotel Icon’s Christmas afternoon tea will be etched in our memories for a long time. During our visit, afternoon tea was served as a three-course late lunch affair, where a platter of hors d’oeuvres was followed by a main course of prettily-plated steak. The highlight was, of course, the desserts, presented on a moving carousel rotating inside a giant glass globe speckled with gold stars. Such an extravagant display reminded us of high tea at the Mira a few months ago when we first arrived in Hong Kong. The sweets were all inflected with Godiva chocolate, and included pana cotta, cheesecake, choux puffs, tarts, and truffle chocolate bites. There was also an all-you-can-eat soft serve machine churning out thick swirls of very very rich Godiva chocolate ice cream and strawberry gelato.

Christmas High Tea at the Ritz Carlton

Dessert destination: Ritz Carlton Hotel, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Budget: $$$ (HKD $908 pp + tax/service for 2 persons, also available as a solo set).
Local flavours featured: No.
Short and sweet story: We have been to the Ritz Carlton before for afternoon tea, that is, almost a decade ago. See previous review here. Ten years later, dining at the Ritz Carlton still remains one of our most highly recommended dining place – the sweeping views 103 floors above ground level remain incomparable. So, when we heard that the hotel was serving up a Christmas High Tea, we did not hesitate to make a reservation. By contrast to Hotel Icon, you do need to eat something savoury before you partake in the afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton. That’s because the savoury portion of the Ritz Carlton’s high tea comprises only three Lilliputian-sized morsels. Injected with fancy ingredients such as foie gras, snow crab, winter truffle, they were crafted with a delicacy reminiscent of a Michelin-starred restaurant, but were nonetheless, t-i-n-y. More memorable, and more generous in proportion, were the many Christmas-themed desserts. A striking red dome was festooned with a white chocolate ribbon and hid a heart of apple compote nestled within a gingerbread mousse; a black forest cake was decorated as a stout little Santa; a pink ballerina graced a white chocolate-coated cube of cassis mousse; slightly sour cream cheese reacted against the cloying sweetness of caramel inside a pretty snowflake white bauble; and a vibrantly-hued Christmas tree revealed layers of pistachio, kumquat and chocolate sable. Accompanied by endless tea and a platter of scone and cinamon and cloves-infused stollen bread, your Dessert Correspondents watched the sun set over Hong Kong Island. In short, tiny savoury bites aside, afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton is a wonderful proposition for a peaceful end to a hectic pre-Christmas weekend.
Pro dessert adventure tip: ask for a window seat when making your reservation. 🙂