A Joël Robuchon High Tea at the Central

29th June 2010. Written by Xin Li.

What is Hong Kong without an afternoon tea? After some planning, I decided to skip the Intercontinental and Peninsula and go for Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon at the Landmark in Central. The salon is the closest I could get to the tasting a bit of Joel Robuchon’s cuisine.

My mum and I had the High Tea Set for 2 (298+ HKD).

The whole salon is draped in black and red palette and decorated in a contemporary and sophisticated manner. It also has seats at the gallery area where you can see the atrium of the Landmark, but the condition is that you have to order first but they will bring the items over.

Each of us was entitled to a cup of coffee or tea, and we had the Cappuccino which my mum enjoyed a lot.

The food was presented on a wooden block instead of tiered sets. First up were the Homemade Natural, Lemon and Raisin Scones served with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam. Both the cream and jam were very fragrant. The clotted cream has a margarine-like texture instead of the creamy ones I had. The strawberry jam was not too sweet with chunks of strawberries in it.

The warm scones were very crumbly, the way I like it. It is almost has a tart-like texture and the interior has a pleasant buttery fragrance.

To the sandwiches, the Norwegian Smoked Salmon and Caviar Sandwich, 3 pieces of nicely smoked, delicate pieces of salmon topped with bits of caviar on a toasted piece of bread with a layer semi-sweet puff pastry underneath.

Premium Ham with Mustard Seed Sandwich, a slice of ham in between two fluffly pieces of bread topped with chives and flowers? I like how the delicate spring onion flavour of the chives compliments the ham and mustard seeds.

Lobster Sandwich Flavoured with Tarragon.

Tuna and Poached Egg Sandwich, was ordinary.

After we finished the sandwiches and scones they would then serve the desserts, I assume this is to allow us to consume them while they are still chilled.

Macaroon lovers and chocolate would love this Macaroon Ganache. The macaroons melt in your mouth, complemented by the rich milky sweet velvety smooth chocolate ganache underneath.

The Blueberry Cheesecake was wonderfully smooth without an overpowering cheese flavour. I like how the blueberries add a fruity sour flavour to the semi-sweet, creamy cheesecake.

Paris-Brest was delicious. Sweet but not too heavy. Like a very good éclair.

Exotique reminds me of Kki’s Kinabaru (maybe it is just the passion fruit), the white portion is white chocolate with a passion fruit sponge base. The sweet-sour combination offers a different flavour when paired with the various fruits on top of it, mango adding a sweet flavour, blueberries a fruity sour flavour etc.

The Mont-Blanc is something you can find in Singapore, the Chestnut Tart here is not presented in the usual spiral tart form in this high tea set. The chestnut puree was very smooth and fragrant. I remembered this as something sweet and slightly sour at the same time.

The Petite Fours include a slice of sweet cake with has a jelly like layer at the crust, two little cubes of candies and piece of Le Rocher au Chocolate which I didn’t really enjoy. It was nutty with a coating of bittersweet dark chocolate.

Having eaten quite a few meals in Hong Kong during this short trip, this high tea at Le Salon de The de Joel Robuchon was one of the best meals we had. I am not surprised it scored a 4.1 on OpenRice.

Service wise, the staff were very professional and friendly but price wise, a little steep. Nonetheless, Le Salon de The de Joel Robuchon still offers a cheaper alternative to L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. The afternoon high tea set cost 298+ HKD for two. It starts from 3 pm and ends at 6 pm.

During our third day in Hong Kong, we spent most of our time around Central area of Hong Kong. My poor mum wasn’t able to climb those stairs up to Lan Kwai Fong and decides to busy herself with some browsing around Marks and Spencer.

I just like quaint architecture, the Old Dairy Farm Depot which houses the Fringe Club and neighbour to the Foreign Correspondents Club reminds me of the Jinricksha Station in Tanjong Pagar with the its exposed red brickworks.

Wellington Street is home to Yung Kee and Lin Heung Tea House as well as a few restaurants. Honestly, apart from the century eggs of Yung Kee, I am not very impressed by their Roasted Goose and you could probably spend less for better meals elsewhere.

The famed Lan Kwai Fong with its World Cup atmosphere staying strong even in the day with flags of soccer nations adorning the whole street.

There is something I like about the urban design in Central, many of the major malls and buildings are interlinked by overhead bridges. This photo was taken in one of them that connected The Landmark with a neighbouring hotel/mall.

Walking to the International Financial Centre is such a breeze thanks to this network. Dubbed the “ifc” (not Individual Field Craft), this tower of the recent additions (2003) to the Hong Kong skyline. The tower is about 415.8m tall (including the antenna or spire), putting Singapore’s 280m skyscrapers to shame. Within the International Financial Mall, it makes me think of Vivo City, except much larger.

It has what you expect from an atas mall. Clarks, Geox, French sounding Bakeries, The French Window (of which our local celebrity chef, Justin Quek is a consultant) but my favourite is the supermarket downstairs. If you think 360 Market Place in Orchard ION is wow. This has to be Wow Wow Wow. It is having an Italian Themed fair when I visited, they sells fresh international oysters, all kinds of fishes, lobsters, truffles, a myriad of balsamic vinegars, truffle salts and oils (about 70+ HKD for small bottle of White Truffle Oil) etc and that is just a small part of the supermarket.

Last but not least, toilets at the Landmark Mall are actually being manned. Yes, they actually have an individual stationed there to clean up the toilet after use and greet you and the corridors leading to their toilets has to be one of the nicest toilets I have seen so far. It was lined with artworks and looked very classy.

Le Salon De Thé de Joël Robuchon

Address
Shop 315, 3/F, The Landmark,
16 Des Voeux Road Central,
Central

中環
德輔道中12-16號
置地廣場315號舖