Afternoon Tea @ Jamie's Italian Causeway Bay

Hi my dear readers! It's been such a long time since my last post that my fingers now feel awkward on the keyboard! Something BIG has happened and kept me away from this blog over the past few months: I AM PREGNANT!! :D 

During the first trimester I felt so tired ever day that I was unable to stay conscious past 10:00pm, which meant that I wasn't able to do anything productive after work... then in second trimester, when my energy level returned to normal, I was busy reading books about pregnancy and meeting friends to share the good news. Now already in the third trimester, it's time to do some serious baby product research and shopping to prepare for my baby's arrival. In short, no time for blogging!!

Notwithstanding the above, today I feel obliged to write a review on the afternoon tea set newly launched by Jamie's Italian CWB, which I have just tried. Remember our "慈母" (caring mother) cares about us so much that "she" sent us heartwarming text messages to warn us against phone scams? Now that I am going to be a 慈母 myself too, I am driven by my mother instinct to protect my readers from being cheated as well! 

Jamie's Italian needs no introduction. It was quite a sensation when its first HK branch opened in CWB last year - restaurant fully booked online a month ahead, long queues around lunch and dinner time, people showing off their meals on FB... typical story in HK. Since food doesn't taste better when you try it sooner, I saw no point in joining the crowd and wasting even a small fraction of my life on queuing. As Hongkongers are novelty-seeking, usually queues disappear after a year... and that's normally the time I would try those big name restaurants. 

About 2 weeks ago, Hellish and I took Friday off and were planning what to do. We reviewed our FB feeds for inspiration. We eventually decided to visit the newly opened Line Friends Store at Hysan Place, as well as Jamie's Italian for afternoon tea. It's weekday and another branch of Jamie's has already opened in TST, so we thought it would be a good time to check out the CWB branch!

As expected, business at Jamie's was slow on Friday afternoon. There were only less than 10 parties in the spacious restaurant. Shortly after he had taken our order, the waiter placed 4 cans of peeled tomatoes on our table. They were not supposed to be consumed; they were intended to support the afternoon tea planks that we were eagerly waiting for! A really fun and playful touch.

Only regular tea and coffee were included in the tea set so Hellish and I ordered one each. The tea experience went sharply downhill when a pot of Lipton tea was brought to me. LIPTON! For a moment I got disoriented and wondered if I was in a cha chaan teng! I have been served Twinings for afternoon tea before but I don't think I have ever been given Lipton! :0 As if it was not shocking enough, I was appalled to find out that the teapot was only half-filled, which meant that almost half of the tea bag was above water surface. Worst of all, the water turned out to be merely lukewarm (just slightly higher than body temperature) as I poured it into my cup!!! Could the pot of tea be previously been consumed by someone else?? Urgh!!

I asked the waiter to refill the pot with hot water. He did, and the water was indeed warmer, but still it was far from being hot. I decided to give up and removed the tea bag from the pot. I'd rather drink a cup of warm water than a cup of not-so-hot tea. Anyway it's just Lipton. I've got nothing to lose... 

Our tea set arrived 40 minutes after we had placed the order, which I considered hardly justifiable because many of the items (e.g. the cheese, ham, pickles) required minimal cooking time. Perhaps some of the desserts were freshly baked, but they could certainly have made advance preparation to speed things up right? 

Savoury plank: Levoni cured meat and  "a wonderful selection of pickles and olives"

Savoury plank continued (from left) : Italian nachos, mozzarella cheese (not mentioned in the menu), Pecorino and chilli jam  

Dessert plank (clockwise from top left): Strawberries & cream, Tuscan Eat & Mess, Gennaro's tiramisu, "our famous epic brownie"

The Italian Nachos were supposed to be the only hot items on the savoury plank, but they were cold ... :0 I couldn't help feeling sarcastic when I saw that their Chinese name was "香脆意大利芝士雲吞" because they were anything but 脆 (crispy). With the smoky cheesy filling and fiery tomato sauce, they could have tasted great had they been piping hot. Shame. The plain mozzarella balls were tasteless. Well that's what mozzarella should be like; the question is why they served it without anything? On the other hand, the pickles were so acidic that my oesophagus would have been corroded if I finished them all. Overall, everything on the savoury plank was so lifeless that I wondered if they had made it with lunch leftovers. :( 

Thankfully there's the dessert plank which saved the tea experience from being a complete catastrophe. At least I really enjoyed their rich and chocolatey brownie. It was crunchy on the outside and slightly melty on the inside, just like molten chocolate cake! They didn't call it their famous epic brownie for no reason. The tiramisu was not bad either. It was the authentic kind of tiramisu: spongy, moist, and tasted strongly of coffee liqueur instead of cream. The Tuscan Eat & Mess as well as strawberries & cream were passable. 

THE VERDICT 

Ambience: B+ (I love industrial decor, but it's not really the right ambience for afternoon tea I am afraid)

Service: C-

Food: C 

Overall remarks: This tea set will not be approved by Jamie Oliver himself if he has the chance to taste it.  I have dined at Jamie's Italian in Oxford before, and I liked every dish I tried back then... which makes me doubt that they have done anything about quality control when they open overseas branches. Sure Hongkongers worship celebrity chefs and are crazy about afternoon tea, but it's plain wrong to capitalize on that and serve an assortment of uninspiring food in the name of afternoon tea set! I will not be back, not even for lunch or dinner. 

INFO

Jamie's Italian Causeway Bay (website)
2/F, Soundwill Plaza II - Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
* Afternoon tea: 3:00-6:00pm daily, $158 (+ 10% service charge) per person 

First update in 2015!

It is already March, but since this is my very first post in 2015 I would like to say "Happy New Year" to all my dear readers... well, maybe saying "Sorry" is more appropriate. :P

My quality of life has hit a record low in the first quarter of 2015, which explains the total abandonment of this blog. :( Hellish and I moved into our semi-permanent residence in Jan and then we had the CNY holiday in Feb. While these are things worth celebrating, the strenuous packing-moving-unpacking process and relentless rounds of CNY gatherings had sucked up all our time and energy before we could plan any celebration... 

Now that CNY is over, it's time for some nourishing activities... which means blogging and chado (Way of Tea) practice at home! Life is finally good again. :)

And I am taking wagashi class again. These sweets, nerikiri, were what I made in my last class. :) Making wagashi is truly a test of patience and fine motor function (I suck at both, sadly)... but it's exceedingly rewarding when you have successfully made a decent piece of sweet. Of course, the "likes" you get when you post pictures of your creations on FB are very strong reinforcers too. :P

As for afternoon tea review, I have plenty to write about!! The only problem is when I will have the time to write them all. Let's hope I can write my first review in 2015 this month!

Busy Days...

The last few working days in Year of the Snake had been a nightmare. There was so much to do that I had, for a moment, secretly wished that the Apocalypse would come and put an end to everything. The 4-day CNY holiday was no consolation to my exhausted mind and body - I was only made busier by all the gatherings and meals. Now on the 14th day of CNY, it's pretty obvious that bad luck is going to stick with me this year. Just a glance at my to-do list is enough to make me SCREEEEEEEAM!

This blog will probably be reported to Blogger for disturbingly depressing content if I go on like this... fortunately, my cupboard is always fully stocked with powerful antidotes to depressed mood: tea!

The newest addition to my first aid kit is this Tea Almanac from teakha. In the neat bamboo box there are 15 different kinds of tea, one for each day of CNY. The teas come in linen pouches which can be reused as coasters. Isn't that lovely? ;)

I love sipping tea when I feel overwhelmed. To me, a nice cuppa works like an anchor; it grounds my restless soul in the present moment. It clears my mind - even if briefly - so there is no more rumination about yesterday or worry about tomorrow. The only thing on my mind is the very cup of tea that I am drinking. It's a peaceful, almost zen-like state. That's why I always feel better after a tea break. :) 

Now writing the abstract for an upcoming presentation... I gotta make myself a large pot of tea as I can be smashing my keyboard any minute. See you, I hope it won't be too long before my next update. 

Lanvin ♥ Sevva Afternoon Tea @ Sevva

Happy 2014 everyone! :D As one of my new year resolutions is writing more on this blog, I think it'd be great to start this year with a brand new blog entry. :) I know I have promised to write about my tea experience in the UK, but after having tea at Sevva a few days earlier, I really can't wait to share my juicy story about it! 

The story began in mid-December, when we Evil Girls planned to celebrate Christmas with one of the hottest tea sets in town - Lanvin ♥ Sevva Afternoon Tea. Mindful of Sevva's no-reservation policy for afternoon tea and Kong Girls' obsession with branded tea sets, we decided to arrive at Sevva 45 minutes before tea time (3:00pm) to queue for a table. 

To our astonishment, a long line was already formed by 2:05pm on the day! :0 We could not get a table and had to move to Cafe Causette for tea in the end. While the afternoon with EGs was as enjoyable as always, I had difficulty letting go of our failure. I guess I was just mad at myself for not arriving at Sevva early enough! :( 

At the end of the day, I resolved to revisit Sevva 2 weeks later for Lanvin afternoon tea. I told myself that I ought to make it, no matter what it might take! It sounded absolutely crazy, but even crazier were Hellish and his friend FK, who were willing to do that with me!!! :0 I wouldn't be surprised if we were caught and sent to Castle Peak Hospital, cos we were indeed nothing but insane!

So here you go, a chronicle of our epic *Lanvin afternoon tea adventure*: 

[14/12 night] Fixed the date and time of our operation: 28/12 1:45pm. No pain, no gain.  

[27/12 night] Studied reviews of Lanvin afternoon tea on Openrice and prepared myself psychologically for rude treatment by Sevva staff. I had been a victim myself before, but it just wouldn't hurt to be better prepared for the abuse that was bound to happen. 

[28/12 12:00pm] Called Sevva. Was told that queuing time for Lanvin afternoon tea formally began at 2:15pm (no wonder there were already so many people by 2:05pm last time). Decided that meeting at 1:45pm would be safe. 

[1:30pm] Arrived earlier than planned at Prince Building. There was already a neat queue for afternoon tea in the lift lobby! :0 Understood it was not the official queue but joined it anyway. We were like the 3rd party in the queue. 

[2:00pm] Lift lobby chock-full of people. Security guards of Prince Building and Sevva staff tried to arrange the queue to alleviate the congestion. 

[2:12pm] The girls queuing in front of us seemed to think it's time and entered the lift. Although we were certain that it was too early, we did not know what to do other than following them. :0

[2:13pm] Lift arrived at 25/F Sevva. A stone-faced hostess stood right outside the lift and blocked our way. With a watch in her hand, she mercilessly announced that it was not yet 2:15pm and we should go back to the lift lobby first. 

[2:14-2:15pm] Lift carried the bunch of aggrieved people back to lift lobby. I was calm, though. Conclusion: psychological preparation works. 

[2:15pm] Lift stopped at G/F. "Sevva" and "Door Close" buttons were pressed as soon as the lift door opened.

[2:16pm] Lift stopped unexpectedly at 2/F. Panic swept over everyone as queuing time had started. A guy entered the lift.

[A few seconds to 2:17pm] Lift stopped at 3/F. Panic intensified. A woman entered. 

[2:17pm] As the lift was racing towards 25/F, it became apparent that the guy and the woman were also heading for Sevva. They had jumped the queue by squeezing themselves into the lift from other floors! :0 Resentment filled the lift while the free riders tried to pretend that they didn't sense the murderous stares.

[2:18pm] Lift finally arrived at 25/F. Everyone made a beeline for the freshly formed queue just outside Sevva - yes, some people had already reached Sevva as we wasted time on our lift journey. We successfully got into the new queue before the free riders did. I felt relieved as I was certain that FK would kill them brutally if they joined the queue more quickly than we did.

[2:23pm] Table assignment begun by stone-faced hostess. We secured a table!

[2:28pm] Queue was cut. I reckoned that only half of the people who queued in the lift lobby were given a table in the end. :( 

[3:03pm] WE WERE SEATED AT LAST! But I was too exhausted, both mentally and physically, to feel happy...

It's the first time I got seated in the indoor lounge area. We saw groups of people being escorted to the adjacent dining area even after the queue for afternoon tea had long gone. Then we had an epiphany: Sevva reserves tables for their VIPs; only mortals like us have to battle for tables. Indeed, the supply of tables for VIPs was far greater than the demand - the dining area was only half-full even at the busiest time. I felt sorry, if not angry, for those who were turned away by Sevva after queuing for so long. 

There were 3 of us but there were only 2 sets of cutlery on the table. The waiter who brought us to the table was completely oblivious to that until we asked for one more set. Well, THIS IS SEVVA. 

As each Lanvin tea set was designed for 2 persons, we ordered 1 tea set and a mini burger platter to share. I had a pot of Petal Tea by Penelope Sach, and it turned out be the first thing that went right at Sevva that day. It was a beautiful blend of rose petals, lemongrass, and other organic herbs. It had a calming herbal scent, which was what I needed after the straining queuing process. 

I had seen pictures of the Lanvin tea set beforehand, but still I was struck by its lovely presentation when it arrived before my eyes. The eye-catching pop colours matched nicely to the charming illustrations by Lanvin's artistic director Alber Elbaz, which could be found all over the special placemat and afternoon tea menu.

1st tier (clockwise from right): snowflakes coconut chiffon sponge, vanilla & cocoa macaroon with French vanilla crème, strawberry & pistachio macaroon with chocolate crème

View of 1st tier from another angle. The Santa decoration was so adorable!

2nd tier (clockwise from top): signature minced chicken sandwich, petite finger rolls of French ham & brie cheese, foie gras mousse & onion marmalade on savoury waffle, truffle scrambled eggs on toasted Poilâne, baby potato stuffed with smoked salmon, eggs & crème fraîche, ratatouille on cucumber

3rd tier (clockwise from bottom): pineapple crème gâteau; raspberry, rose petal jam & crème anglaise éclair; chocolate coated éclair with candy sprinkles; banana & strawberry crème; ♥ candy lollipop; Mont Blanc coupe; flower power espresso cheesecake

A better view of the Mont Blanc coupe and flower power espresso cheesecake. See the pic below for a full view of the ♥ candy lollipop!

We were reluctant to admit it, but... well, the food was, ahem, really good. I could not name a top pick because I had several favourites! The pineapple crème gâteau was light as a dream, the chicken sandwich juicy, the foie gras mousse lush and savoury. Even the espresso cheesecake, which is sloppily made in most restaurants, was prepared with care. Unlike those heavy cheesecakes that can become really icky in your mouth, it was so soft and creamy that it made me see cheesecakes in a new light. The only weakness, if I must name one, was that the macaron shells were too hard. But we were completely distracted from the problem because the macarons were generously loaded with luscious chocolate/vanilla crème... who cared about the shells? :9

A pretty gift card was given to guests per order of tea set. It could be exchanged for one special gift at the nearby Lanvin store. The guys were not interested in the gift at all so we did not have the problem of gift allocation. But what if 2 girls have the tea set together and both want the gift? Wouldn't that make the tea experience end on a sour note?

But my worry was unwarranted. Cos the gift was just an ugly Hello Kitty Lanvin mirror that I doubt anyone would be interested in. I definitely like the paper bag with Alber Elbaz's cute sketches more lor...

If gifts are supposed to make guests happy and promote a brand's image, Lanvin has failed utterly in this respect. I'd rather they offered no gift rather than giving people such a hea gift. Perhaps the other gift option, a Lanvin USB storage drive, was more attractive... it probably was because it was no longer available by the time we got to the shop. 

THE VERDICT 

Ambience: A-

Service: U (U= unclassified. Does what they are doing, e.g. making their customers stand for more than an hour and being totally indifferent, rejecting potential customers when tables are actually available, etc., really qualify as SERVICE!?? In fact, there can only be one reason for Sevva not to take reservation for afternoon tea: to create in the lift lobby a super long queue, which visualizes their popularity and serves as their very best living advertisement! As I have remarked elsewhere, when a restaurant uses its customers as a publicity means, it's the customers who are actually providing SERVICE! How very shameless of Sevva to have charged 10% of our bill for service... I should have dialled 999 to report a case of robbery...)

Food: A- (food was fantastic, but still it's hard to justify the hefty price tag!)

Overall remarks: I have come up with the perfect slogan for Sevva: "Heavenly Food in Hell".  Being the antithesis of customer-centred business, they expect you to follow their rules if you want to play their game. Not happy? They can't care less. If you are really, really interested in giving Sevva a try, you may wish to read this post at least 5 times to enhance your mental toughness beforehand... but I will not be responsible for your post-traumatic stress symptoms after the visit. 

Special thanks to Hellish and FK: this tea adventure would not be possible without you!
FK: It's so nice of you to think about me when you read about the Lanvin afternoon tea! You are wonderful :)
Hellish: You are the most wonderful, of course! :P

INFO

Sevva (website)
25/F, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong
Afternoon tea: 2:30 - 6:00pm (Mon - Fri), 3:00-6:00pm (Sat)
* Lanvin ♥ Sevva Afternoon Tea was priced at $680 for 2 persons and available in December 2013 only. 

Diptyque Moheli Afternoon Tea @ Cafe Gray Deluxe Hong Kong, The Upper House

Had a pretty depressing week and was not in the mood of writing. :( 

But as I was organizing the pictures of my first afternoon tea with Baby Valerie, I found myself smiling and feeling better. Babies are amazing, aren't they? Their every single move is enough to make your heart melt... as long as you are only responsible for playing with them instead of tending to them. :P

(Photo courtesy: Vivian)

We girls were having Diptyque Moheli Afternoon Tea at Cafe Gray Deluxe and were so excited that Ly had brought Baby Valerie along! We took pictures with her and forced Ly to promise that Valerie's very first tea-with-aunties姐姐-pix would appear in Valerie's wedding slideshow in the future, haha... 

Back to business - our Diptyque afternoon tea!

Top tier: curry poached chicken salad tartlet & ginger pear chutney, blackcurrant scones

Middle tier (from left): smoked salmon on bagel toast with salmon caviar & lime cream cheese; egg salad and cucumber finger sandwich; salami and Gruyère cheese pretzel bun with whole grain mustard; roast beef sandwich with pomegranate glaze, pickled red onion, and goat cheese

Middle tier from another angle

Bottom tier (from left): Tonga bean ganache and caramel, mini cinnamon roll with golden raisin, jasmine and rose bavarois on graham crust, coffee macarons; apricot jam linzer, almond milk rice pudding and marinated citrus

A better view of the rice pudding and apricot jam linzer 

(Photo courtesy: Vivian)

How was the food? I'd say that it's generally okay but Baby Valerie was far more interesting than it lor (I did spend more time playing with Valerie than eating!). :P While one normally expects fancy pastries and savouries with layers of flavours in a 5-star hotel, our supposedly Diptyque-inspired tea set was, sorry to say, unimaginative and straightforward. It was disappointing that the tea set had no connection to Diptyque at all... the brand was not even mentioned in the tea set menu! 

The food was so average that there wasn't much worth writing about. There's one thing I always like about Cafe Gray's tea set though, which is the scones! They are big and chunky so you can put lots of jam, cream and honey (honey is such a lovely touch :j) on them. I lurrrrve the sugar granules atop which give the scones an extra bit of crunchiness. There were only a few things that had really gone wrong, such as the stale macaron and the puddle of weird flavours that was named "milk pudding". 

Tea was a nightmare. I appreciate the fact that Cafe Gray have their own tea blends, but they should really hire a better tea master. Last time I had their signature Cafe Gray Tea, which contained roselle and was horribly tart. This time I knew better - I thought - and ordered Flower Blend. Given how the description was worded, I thought there were 2 choices of flower blends, namely either rose petal tea or chamomile and mint tea. I told the waitress that I wanted the rose tea, but in the end I was given a pot of tea which tasted like anything but rose. It was bitter and very herbal, much like Chinese medicinal herbal tea... :0 A waitress confirmed that it was indeed my order, and she added that it was not a pure rose tea. So perhaps Flower Blend was actually a BLEND of rose, chamomile and mint!?? My advice: stick to the classics...  

When we asked for the bill, we were given 3 vouchers for Diptyque Moheli gift set. THREE!? There were 5 of us! We then found out from another waitress that because we ordered 2 x tea set for two persons and 1 x tea set for 1 person, there would only be 3 vouchers. Jesus Christ! Could they not be so miserly? They should have stated clearly in the menu that vouchers are issued according to the number of tea sets instead of number of persons. Not wanting to start a fight for gifts among ourselves, we changed our orders to 5 x tea set for 1 person (the difference was that we had to pay a bit more because tea set for 1 person was $240 while tea set for 2 persons was $420, i.e. $210 per head). The waitress agreed with the arrangement but then she recalculated the bill wrongly... so much hassle before we eventually got our gift - 2 small samples of Eau Moheli eau de toilette - at Diptyque's Pacific Place store!

THE VERDICT 

Ambience: B+

Service: B- (misleading beverage menu, mean voucher policy, wrong bill... enough said)

Food: B- (average food, awful tea)

Overall remarks: Cafe Gray is an acceptable tea place if you know what to expect (and which tea to order). Go for MO Bar (see here or here) if you want a truly amazing branded tea experience! 

The Moheli tea set was hardly impressive, but the afternoon was just as enjoyable with my dear friends and Baby Valerie.  ;) Thanks for organizing, Vivian! 

INFO

Cafe Gray Deluxe Hong Kong (website)

Level 49, The Upper House, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong

Afternoon tea: 3:30pm-5:00pm daily

* Diptyque Moheli Afternoon Tea is served until 30 June 2013. 

$240 per person, $420 per 2 persons

Savouring...

Sunday morning with homemade Rilakkuma macarons and a cup of Darjeeling. :)

MingCha x teakha Tea Pairing Class

Finally visited teakha in Sheung Wan in late August. It has recently started an interesting series of tea pairing classes with MingCha. I was interested in joining the class, yet given the suffocating hotness in HK I had been reluctant to move my lazy ass to Tai Ping Shan Street... until I received Eric's invitation. I decided that an evening in a charming little cafe with my good friends might be what I needed in the face of endless work. 

I was sweaty all over after a walk from Sheung Wan MTR Station to teakha in the roasting weather. When I pushed teakha's glass door open, it was like I had entered another world. The turquoise and whitewashed walls gave the petit cafe a fresh and clean feeling. The wooden communal table and open kitchen imparted casualness to the place, creating a welcoming atmosphere that made every guest feel like home. 

Class began as soon as all the 10 participants had arrived. It was led by Tea Master Vivian Mak, a sweet, energetic lady who is also the founder of local tea brand MingCha. In an animated manner she gave us a basic introduction to the types and manufacturing process of tea, which prepared us for subsequent tea tasting. The small class size made interaction easy - everyone was free to ask questions or share his/her tea-drinking experience. This had certainly made the class more interesting and informative. :)

As the theme of our class was black tea, we were given 4 kinds of black tea to taste. To facilitate comparison, Vivian used a standardized brewing time of 1 minute for each tea. Shown above are the dry leaves of Lapsang Souchong, sourced by MingCha from Wuyi, China. With its unique smoky aroma that results from smoke-drying over pinewood, it's an unforgettable tea for sure... but I really can't say I like this liquid version of bacon. Vivian said Lapsang Souchong was highly sought-after by Western but not Asian tea drinkers, perhaps because Westerners were accustomed to beverages of strong taste (e.g. whiskey). This seemed very true in our class: our Caucasian classmates loved it unanimously while the rest of us thought the taste was too overpowering. :P 

This is another black tea by MingCha: Tanyang Golden Rim from Fujian, China. Can you see the golden rim of the leaves? :) It is a robust black tea with hints of fruitiness. I thought it was pretty decent. :)

Owner of teakha, Nana, shared with us two black teas in her collection. This is Khongea Assam Tea from India. The tea leaves were finely cut as they were CTC-processed (CTC = crush, tear and curl). Vivian told us that because of the large surface area of the leaves, CTC teas infused quickly and required only a short brewing time. No wonder this tea became bitter after brewing for only a minute! 

Finally, we had Forest Black Tea from Taichung, Taiwan. It's lighter than the other 3 teas, slightly sweet but very fragrant, and it has a floral undercurrent. It's definitely my favourite of the day. 

After we had tasted all the teas, we were served a freshly baked apple pie. We were supposed to pair it with the 4 teas by ourselves and see which combination was the best. But since it was already after 7pm, mindful tea pairing had become a mission impossible to us.  Without much hesitation we shoved the tea cups aside and wolfed down the pies right away! :P Sorry, Vivian... but the pie was just TOO delicious! The crumbly topping was buttery and crispy, and there were lots of fruits in the hot pie. The fact that Eric (who hates desserts with fruits) had finished the whole pie quietly was a solid proof of how marvellous it was! ;)

Hungry as we were, how could we be satisfied by the apple pie alone? (At that point, we had completely forgotten about tea tasting!!) Fortunately there was homemade ginger ice cream to appease our growling stomachs. The ice cream was rich and very smooth - unlike cheap homemade ice cream that often contains small pieces of ice - which went really well with the crunchy ginger cookies. The balance of sweetness and spiciness was perfect. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed by teakha's desserts!

Each of us was also served a glass of Indian Chai, one of teakha's speciality teas. I like to have chai with lots of sugar, but teakha's version is largely unsweetened. It's too spicy for my liking, but if you are looking for authentic masala chai it will definitely be your cup of tea. 

Overall, the tea pairing class was a fun experience... although we didn't really spend much time pairing the desserts with tea (obviously the extraordinarily delicious desserts were to blame :P), it was great to try different kinds of tea under guidance and have some seriously scrummy desserts! Just 2 humble suggestions for Nana's and Vivian's consideration: 1) distilled water, instead of water infused with lemon, should be used for palate-cleansing during tea tasting; 2) snacks can be provided to guests before tea tasting so that they do not have to drink tea on an empty stomach. Indeed, when people are less hungry it may be easier to engage them in tea pairing. ;P 

Last but not least - thanks Eric for the invitation. It's wonderful to have friends who love food around me! :D


INFO
teakha (website)
Shop B, 18 Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Opening hours: 11:00am-7:00pm (Wed - Sun)
* Visit teakha's Facebook page to get updates about upcoming classes and activities!


MingCha (website)
12D Wah Ha Factory Building, 8 Shipyard Lane, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
* Visit MingCha's Facebook page for more updated info about the company!