Lobby Lounge, Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong

I am back in Hong Kong for this blog and it is more of a Cakequest as we had afternoon tea at the Lobby Lounge of the Conrad Hotel one Sunday afternoon.

Their afternoon tea is a buffet with a wide selection of savoury and sweet dishes to choose from. We arrived just after 3pm and had about two hours to eat as much as we could.

I decided to go savoury for my first dish and picked the following shown in the photograph:Vegetable Samosa; Pita Bread with Hummus; Smoked Salmon Ciabatta; Bacon Quiche and Roast Potato with Cheese. These were all delightful little finger food treats that stared the afternoon off very well.

Clockwise from 12 o'clock: Roast Potato & Cheese; Bacon Quiche; Samosa; Smoked Salmon; Hummus & Pitta Bread

My second dish had these savoury items: Har Gow; Chicken Wing; Prawn; Teriyaki Chicken Skewer and Cream of Seafood with filo pastry. This was a least favourite plate as I found the fried prawns and chicken skewer a bit bland. The rest of the plate whilst nothing bad, did not really go with my cup of Darjeeling.

Prawn Dumpling; Chicken Wing; Prawn; Teriyaki Skewer; Cream  of Seafood & Filo Pastry

Savoury items were also on my third plate, which had: Cucumber sandwich with cream cheese; Salad with pepper, cucumber & carrot with dressing. I chose the sandwich as it is a classic afternoon tea item and the salad for its lightness and to get my five portions of fruit / veg a day.

From top: Cucumber Sandwich; Salad

I finally picked some sweet items the fourth time I went to for food. This time another classic part of afternoon tea filled my plate: the scone. I took two scones, one plain and another raisin. I accompanied the scones with cream and strawberry jam. The scones were nice and not too dry, with the raisins adding some sweetness to them.

Scones: Plain on left; Raisin on right

Although the sign said clotted cream it was actually whipped cream, much to my wife's disdain. She is a bit of a connisuer when it comes to scones and cream and expressed her disappointment to the management. In a good show of customer service it was replaced with clotted cream by them, which kept my wife happy.

So with this staff friendliness I quite liked the place. The lounge area is bright and had comfortable seats, with nice tableware.

We had enough to eat, all of which was good and there were items we did not have room in our stomachs to try such as cakes and sushi so something to choose from the next time I visit.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 15/20

Total bill: $500, about £20 a head.

I ate: All of the above.

I drank: Darjeeling Tea.

I wore: Smart Jeans and Polo Shirt.

Coast, Rasa Ria Resort, Sabah, Malaysia

This late lunchquest is about the dinner I had with my wife at Shangri-La's Coast restaurant, on the last night of our stay at the hotel.

I booked a gazebo for a romantic outdoor dinner on the beach. Prior to dinner we were able to watch the sunset as I had reserved the gazebo for the evening, which was a pleasant way to start.

We went back to our room to freshen up and when we returned to the gazebo the table had already been set up for us and our butler was there to show us our seats. As well as booking the gazebo we had a prearranged menu, where we had a choice of starter, main course and dessert.

After choosing what to eat we were given a cocktail, which was part of the set menu but we had to remind our butler to bring it to us.

Carrot Veloute Amuse Bouche

The first dish to arrive was actually not shown on the menu and it was a Carrot Velouté for the amuse bouche. This small portion of soup was a nice surprise, with it being light and enough flavour.

I had chose Beef Carpaccio as my starter. Strips of raw beef were dressed with lettuce leaves, croutons and a creamy pepper dressing. The whole dish was nice enough, although they could have seasoned the beef a bit more.

My starter of Beef Carpaccio

For the main I opted for the Sea Bass. The fish was poached as it was served with a lemon garlic nage and sat on a bed of peppers with a broccoli puree. It was well cooked so that the fish meat was flaky and all the flavours combined well to make this a tasty dish.

Sea Bass Main Course

I went for profiteroles as my dessert. However, prior to serving I was told that there was no vanilla ice cream for them, which was replaced by chocolate flavour. The dessert was fine but the pastry could have been tasted a bit fresher and the having the vanilla ice cream might have given the dish more balance rather than having too much chocolate.

My Dessert of Profitiroles

Whilst I have referred to using butler (which was what was advertised) as the person who served us I would class her as a waiter. Service was friendly enough but not to the attentiveness and skill-level to butler standard.

The gazebo setting was lovely. The weather had cooled down during the evening but was warm enough for the mosquitos to have a good feed on us, though.

The price I paid per head for this dinner is about the same I had paid before for lunch at Caprice and whilst I had a nice time here, value for money wise I would still much prefer Caprice for food and service.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 5/5

Overall: 15/20

Total bill: 650MYR, about £65 a head.

I ate: Australian Beef carpaccio, Sea Bass, Profiteroles with Warm Chocolate Sauce

I drank: Cabernet Sauvignon and ice water.

I wore: Long sleeve shirt and chinos, but still managed to get bitten by mosquitos.

Tepi Laut, Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort, Sabah, Malaysia

On our second full day of our stay at this Shangri-La resort, we had lunch by their swimming pool and ordered from the above restaurant, which is just next to the pool.


The seats are poolside sun loungers and tables are are small side-tables for placing items. The staff are by the poolside and easy to get their attention and provide very good service. We were given the menu first and they returned a few moments later to take our order.


I went for a very westernised burger and chose a lemonade to go with it.

My wife, whose birthday was that day, opted for just a portion of chips and a lime soda for her birthday lunch.

The food took a while to arrive and I even managed to doze off briefly.  Given I was lying on a sun lounger and having partaken in swimming in both the sea and pool earlier, it was not hard for my eyes to rest.

When my order arrived the plate contained my burger, which consisted of beef patty; bacon slice with melted cheese; lettuce; tomato; cucumber; gherkin; red onion and sesame seed bun. On the side was a very small pot of coleslaw and a bowl of chips.

My Burger and Chips

The burger tasted great, with a substantial patty of beef that was well cooked and the salad ingredients were fresh too, adding extra flavour. The bacon was beef as we were in Malaysian and cheese was melted on top. The chips were freshly made and piping hot and a good side dish. Only the coleslaw was the weak point of the meal.


The lemonade was freshly made and very refreshing on this hot day. It came with a small pot of syrup for you to adjust the sweetness to your liking. 


All in all a very satisfying lunch by the pool.

Scores: Food: 4/5 Presentation: 3/5 Service: 3/5 Setting: 4/5
Total: 14/20

Bill for my food: 52MYR, just over ￡10.

I ate: Classic Burger and French Fries

I drank: Fresh Lemonade

I wore:  Swimming Shorts, geographically challenged LA Dodgers baseball cap.

Sapi Island, Sabah, Malaysia

This entry is another from the 'greater Hong Kong' series. It was the first lunch my wife and I took from our holiday to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. We went on a day trip that included a trek around a local island called Gaya Island and snorkelling around Sapi island that was nearby. Included in the trip was a barbecue lunch and this is how we got on.

Although advertised as a barbecue, what we got was a buffet style arrangement were you helped yourself to the food. Presumably most of the food items on offer were grilled.

We queued and took our food from the metal containers and onto our plastic plates. On the photograph below you will see fish, crab, prawns, sweetcorn, satay, fish balls, chicken wings and sausages, which were probably the barbecued items. Along with these I also helped myself to some rice and noodles.

My first lunch of the holiday

The fish (not sure the of the name, but it is translated to 'big eyed chicken' from Chinese) and crab were nice and meaty but could have done with more seasoning. Fish balls were good too, as was the chicken satay sticks, although no peanut sauce to accompany it. The chicken wings were well cooked, moist and sweet. The rest of my meal was adequate sustenance to refuel myself after some hiking and snorkelling. As it was a buffet I went up to the food counters another time.

There was also watermelon as a fruit dessert, which was sweet enough.

As noted we ate off plastic plates, with basic cutlery and tableware laid out on the beach. Tables were only cleared once everyone had finished, but all this was expected from beachside lunching. Service was minimal but one cannot complain too much.

All in all an enjoyable lunch seeing as it was by the sea, sun was shining and the first proper day of my holiday.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 2/5
Setting: 3/5
Total: 10/20

Total Bill: included in the cost of the day excursion, which apportioning this lunch with the trek and snorkelling would maybe be 20GBP a head.

I ate: All of the above

I drank: A Cola flavoured carbonated drink, still water.

I wore: Swimming shorts, snorkelling gear