The forgotten good- Grand Hyatt

If you have to pick top places for afternoon tea in Hong Kong, names which come straight into mind for years are Mandarin Oriental because of their scones, rose petal jam & clotted cream, for me its for the coffee. Then personally I would think that the choices are followed by Robuchon Landmark, Cafe Grey @ Upper House and Intercontinental Hong Kong. But knowing that we Chillbeans can't stand to stand in long queues for afternoon tea on a National Day public holiday, we chose a long forgotten choice- Tiffin @ Grand Hyatt to spend our afternoon. It turned out that this long forgotten name, probably due to the isolated location of Grand Hyatt, away from all the shopping hot spot and majority crowd, was one which never failed to disappoint. Great food, great atmosphere and VERY NICE SERVICE THERE.

To keep this post short, here are the photos:

ChillBeans Coffee. 

 The Afternoon Tea Stand for Two

The ice cream bar which comes with the tea set

More about Tiffin: 

http://hongkong.grand.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels-hongkong-grand/entertainment/dining_detail.jsp;jsessionid=2A3B3B7684ACF3470C63C1FB17763FCD.atg06-prd-atg1?itemDesc=fboutlet&itemId=1000169

Find Tiffin: 

1 Harbour Road
Hong Kong, CHINA

Chillbeans.

Chillbean at Capital M Beijing- Tea in the Wonderland.

Having heard that Capital M Beijing has one of the most extraordinary view of Qianmen as well as another couple of historical buildings which I can't really name them, I have waited for weeks to visit this restaurant for a dressed up afternoon tea session with the girls.

Travelling to the restaurant by cab was a pain, given the really heavy traffic in Beijing, there aren't really times considered as non-rush hours.

Dropping us off at Qian Men Dong Lu, there was this huge Capital M sign standing at the entrance of the carpark. Walking for a short distance into some sort of a market area, it wasn’t easy to locate the entrance of Capital M unless you paid good attention to the signage posts in the area located at the front of the doors of random souvenir shops.

Walking into the restaurant, I was fascinated by the modern and chic design, it was almost like walking into Alice in the Wonderland. Yes, almost as we were semi-dressed up with the Hung Wei Bing’s hats on. The restaurant looks very spacious and it can be easily separated into sections which I genuinely think it’s a good venue for private parties in Beijing. We chose to sit at the terrace area for a better view of the historical city. However not much luck for the day, all the seats with a full view of Qianmen were occupied.

Photo Courtesy By Capital M

As there are three of us, we ordered a Capital M’s High Tea set (138rmb) and a Tea & Scones set (88rmb).

For the High Tea Set, from bottom deck to the top, it came with 3 choices of sandwiches (cucumber, egg mayo and chicken mayo), scones and a selection of sweet and savory tarts and cakes. At the price of 138rmb, the quality and presentation of the food were not the best that I have had, but in Beijing, it might be worth the try given that the environment, exquisite cutleries as well as great restaurant service were all worth the price tag. My friends are appealed by the a la carte menu for dinner which I haven’t had a chance to try, but since I am always more concern of the interior and mood of the place, it is definitely worth a try again despite that the food quality of the afternoon tea set has pretty much been a disappointment. Like Alice in Wonderland, food here might look much more prettier than it tastes.

For more details- please visit http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/capitalm/sunday-afternoon-tea.html

They only serve afternoon tea on Saturday and Sunday from 3pm-5pm. It is better off to book in advance and request for seats with a good view of the historical architectures.

Directions:

Chillbeans.