Travel is about experiences. Even if we do something and decide that we didn’t especially care for it, we likely learn something from the experience. We didn’t know a lot about “high tea”, but it involved food and didn’t look too strenuous, so we opted in.
The Peninsula Hotel is truly a grand affair. Built in 1924, it was the site of the British Surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese on Christmas Day, 1941. It’s populated by the uber-wealthy, and has hosted people like Princess Di, an assortment of presidents, actors, actresses and recording stars, and undoubtedly a lot of people who would just as soon people didn’t know about them.
If you stay there and need a ride, they retrieve you from the Airport with one of their fleet of Rolls Royce automobiles, their 2008 acquisitions being the largest order ever placed. They are all painted “Peninsula Green” and two of them were out front when we got there.
As one might assume, they held priority parking places that were protected against door dings from nearby Maserati and Porsches, not to mention random grocery carts that seem to find their way everywhere.
In the lobby, there was an orderly queue starting about 1:30 for the 2:00 seating. That meant there was time to find the bathroom, which is upstairs, down the hall and around the corner. EB held our spot in line while I went in search.
The main thing you notice about the hotel is that, like most hotels, there are commercial enterprises in it. What’s odd is that they are jewelers (like Cartier) and very high end places.
The other thing you notice is that there are people in grey suits (the uniform for at least some of the staff) standing at EVERY store door and hallway intersection, not to mention who knows how many cameras.
It wasn’t until the trip back that I realized that the folks in grey were also likely armed. You also didn’t just walk in – you had to be buzzed in. Such was the value of the things in those stores.
That’s OK, though – we weren’t jewelry shopping, we were there to eat.
When seating started, it was interesting to note that there was no rush. We soon realized that they were pacing the seating so that the staff wouldn’t be overwhelmed, and you didn’t end up sitting there a long time getting annoyed that your waiter / waitress didn’t come.
One thing we realized was that we hadn’t done a lot of research on this event, and were therefore not especially prepared as to what was appropriate and how to proceed.
Those nice people had already thought that out, though. The first item on the menu was “High Tea” for either one or two people. All we had to do was pick the type of tea and as luck would have it, one of the offerings was “Peninsula Afternoon” tea.
For those of us who grew up on Lipton or Luzianne iced tea, that was undoubtedly good enough.
Oh, and we happened to notice the table next to us ordering cocktails as well. Those Brits really know how to do tea right!
High Tea is apparently as much form as it is sustenance. They didn’t seem to get in a hurry about much of anything, so we had a chance to take pictures while waiting. Oh, and other people were looking jealously at our “selfie stick”!
Our drinks came first, and then after a few minutes they brought a three-tiered display of the accouterments (i.e. “food”) that went with it.
The bottom tier had four cinnamon raisin scones, which weren’t triangular like at Starbucks but were instead round.
The second level had an assortment of sandwiches (two of each, so you didn’t have to make divvies or argue) – some we weren’t quite sure of, but there was a ham and cheese, a cucumber, something layered and with salmon and a round thing kind of like a little tart (an inch and a half across, and with straight sides rather than slanted like a pie) with seafood-type things in them.
The top layer was desert. There were two little shot glasses with some kind of custard topped with raspberry glaze, a couple of tiny tarts with mango (?) on top, some little red cupcakes (probably our least favorite – they were kind of dry) and a layered thing that had chocolate involved.
Oh, and during the event a waitress came by with a couple of macaroons with icing daisies on top.
It sounds like there was a ton of food, and there certainly was enough to satiate us for lunch (and to warrant skipping dinner even, since the event wasn’t over until after 3) but remember that most of these things were one, or maybe two bites at best. The scones were the largest thing, and they were about the size of a standard cupcake you’d make at home.
Oh, and there was “clotted cream” – which for all the world looked and tasted a lot like butter --- and organic strawberry jam.
It was all very good. The sandwich with smoked salmon on it was probably our least favorite, and there was more than enough to eat.
After we’d nibbled away a couple of sandwiches (we started in the middle) and moved on to a scone each, they brought the tea. (Time for more pictures!)
Tea is served in bone china cups (with a saucer – this is a classy place!) out of sterling silver service pieces. They bring a smaller teapot – it probably holds a couple of standard coffee mugs worth – and a slightly larger one with more hot water I it. They are pre-insulation, so they have little quilts on the handles to keep you from burning your hands.
There’s also a little silver cup about the size of a 1/3 cup measure and in it sits a miniature colander (not a screen strainer, but think the ¼ cup measure with holes poked in it like a salt shaker). This has a kind of hook on one side across from a handle on the other, and you rest it across your cup to pour the tea through.
Turns out the tea is “loose leaf”, not in tea bags, and this is to catch the dregs.
So we had tea. Which was very good, especially with the sandwiches and other goodies. It was very elegant – something that you wouldn’t do every day, but that we can certainly see doing on special occasions, just because it’s fun to do something formal and out of the ordinary at times.
We were at a table along the edge closest to the front doors, which was great for people watching. For some people it was obvious that they had significant wealth and didn’t give it another thought. Some of them came in with LOTS of bags from high-end sores.
For some, bless their hearts, someone needed to tell them that no matter how high-end their purchases, it would not make them pretty. Wealth does not necessarily translate to “looks good,” even with plastic surgery.
The funny ones (at least to us) are those who THINK they are all that and a bag of chips. They want you to recognize their importance. Little do they realize that some of us simply aren’t all that impressed.
There was one young lady – about as big around as a 10 pound bag of flour – in a tight fitting black dress with this complicated shoulder strap setup and a “hat” – it really went across part of her face and stuck up straight, kind of like a bug shield – that both defied logic and offered absolutely no protection from the sun or elements.
It may have either collected solar energy or improved her WiFi reception, though.
Think those ridiculous hats that Princesses Eugenia and Beatrice wore to the last royal wedding. This one, too, could have come right out of Dr. Seuss.
She had to parade through the front doors 3 or 4 times to make sure that everyone in the lobby noticed her, although it really would have been difficult NOT to notice her – even with everyone looking at their cell phones.
By that time we’d finished our tea and tired of the parade of humanity, so we were ready to get our check and move on with the day. $160HK for the whole affair (about $130.00), which was not bad at all for the entertainment value we got.
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| Rich don't translate to "pretty" for sure!!!!! |
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