Café 103 x Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Afternoon Tea | Hong Kong
Rating: ❤❤❤1/2
The World Cup may be over but you can still pay tribute to the glorious sport of football (or soccer for us Americans) with the Café 103 x Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolatier afternoon tea presenting sweet treats and unique savories using the world's best refined cocoa beans from South America! Cafe 103 is known for its wonderful views of Hong Kong from atop the Ritz Carlton in the ICC. The chocolate afternoon tea will only be available until July 31st from 3:30pm - 6pm. Prices are $318 for 1 / $538 for 2 on weekdays and $338 for 1 / $558 for 2 on weekends and holidays.
Check out the view from the 103/F of ICC! It was weird to see the Island east side from this angle - never knew that it would curve so much like that.
Signature Ice Chocolate - the choices for drinks were vast from different sorts of coffee, tea,and...chocolate! The waitress informed me that they are renown for their signature chocolate drinks so I decided to go for an ice chocolate since it was blazing hot outside. Made from 4 different kinds of dark chocolate, the drink was refreshing to drink as it was not too sweet while the texture was not too thick. Everything was just right. Ahhhh.
The Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Afternoon Tea Set arrived in a sleek and retro wooden case filled with chocolate themed savories and sweets. I wonder what they are going to do with all these used boxes though. Can I have one please?
Savory
Duck Foie Gras Pate Mini Puff with Cuba Cocoa Nibs - loved the combination of a dessert puff with a savory foie gras pate. The cocoa nibs were great for texture but I found the pate to be a bit too salty.
Vanilla Cocoa Oil Marinated Smoked Salmon with Rye Bread Sandwich - this sandwich was hands down my favorite out of the savory items. The smoked salmon was flavorful with a nice chewiness while the pairing with the rye bread was fantastic.
Seafood and Dill cream with Brazilian Coffee Bread Sandwich - this sandwich, on the other hand, was quite bland and unmemorable compared to the others.
Truffle Egg Mayonnaise Brown Bread Sandwich - the smell of truffle is always enticing and this sandwich was no exception. It's just that I've seen too many of these sandwiches at afternoon teas and it's hard to be impressed by an egg sandwich with truffle.
Sweet
Crusty Chocolate Tart - I loved this chocolate tart with the rice crispy crunchy base! The chocolate was not as heavy as I thought it would be but in light of all of the other desserts, I was unable to finish the tart as there was simply too much chocolate.
Orange Flavor Madeleine - I thought it was a regular madeleine at first glance but 1) it was orange flavored and 2) the base was coated with chocolate! Loved the tangy flavors which balanced the chocolate perfectly.
Religieuse - I was looking forward to this dessert the most but it turned out to be quite boring as it just tasted as expected - two choux pastry filled with chocolate cream.
Brazilian Chocolate Bonbon - the bonbon was filled with creamy chocolate ganache filling - nothing out of the ordinary though.
Plura Chocolate Macaron - the macaron was great with a chewy shell and chocolatey filling but not outstanding at the Pierre Herme level though.
Macae Strawberry Pepper Verrine - I was most impressed by this dessert out of all the sweets with its strawberry gelatin and soft chocolate mousse. The strawberry layers were sweet and tart while the chocolate mousse was not too sweet with a hint of bitterness.
Coffee Hot Chocolate - after we managed to finished the entire box of chocolate goodies, we were served with one final treat - a cup of coffee hot chocolate. One gulp and we almost wanted to throw up as it was like drinking melted chocolate. After eating all that chocolate, this was probably overkill and we just could not (and did not want to) finish this.
Verdict - the Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Afternoon Tea was exciting in concept but sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing as well. The ratio of desserts to non-desserts were off as there was too many sweets and there was only so much chocolate one can take in an afternoon. The environment was gorgeous though so it can be a delightful way to indulge yourself in chocolate heaven - if you can handle it that is.
Café 103
103/F, ICC
1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
2263 2270
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HongKong/Dining/Cafe_103/Default.htm
Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/supertastermel
The World Cup may be over but you can still pay tribute to the glorious sport of football (or soccer for us Americans) with the Café 103 x Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolatier afternoon tea presenting sweet treats and unique savories using the world's best refined cocoa beans from South America! Cafe 103 is known for its wonderful views of Hong Kong from atop the Ritz Carlton in the ICC. The chocolate afternoon tea will only be available until July 31st from 3:30pm - 6pm. Prices are $318 for 1 / $538 for 2 on weekdays and $338 for 1 / $558 for 2 on weekends and holidays.
Signature Ice Chocolate - the choices for drinks were vast from different sorts of coffee, tea,and...chocolate! The waitress informed me that they are renown for their signature chocolate drinks so I decided to go for an ice chocolate since it was blazing hot outside. Made from 4 different kinds of dark chocolate, the drink was refreshing to drink as it was not too sweet while the texture was not too thick. Everything was just right. Ahhhh.
The Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Afternoon Tea Set arrived in a sleek and retro wooden case filled with chocolate themed savories and sweets. I wonder what they are going to do with all these used boxes though. Can I have one please?
Duck Foie Gras Pate Mini Puff with Cuba Cocoa Nibs - loved the combination of a dessert puff with a savory foie gras pate. The cocoa nibs were great for texture but I found the pate to be a bit too salty.
Vanilla Cocoa Oil Marinated Smoked Salmon with Rye Bread Sandwich - this sandwich was hands down my favorite out of the savory items. The smoked salmon was flavorful with a nice chewiness while the pairing with the rye bread was fantastic.
Seafood and Dill cream with Brazilian Coffee Bread Sandwich - this sandwich, on the other hand, was quite bland and unmemorable compared to the others.
Truffle Egg Mayonnaise Brown Bread Sandwich - the smell of truffle is always enticing and this sandwich was no exception. It's just that I've seen too many of these sandwiches at afternoon teas and it's hard to be impressed by an egg sandwich with truffle.
Sweet
Crusty Chocolate Tart - I loved this chocolate tart with the rice crispy crunchy base! The chocolate was not as heavy as I thought it would be but in light of all of the other desserts, I was unable to finish the tart as there was simply too much chocolate.
Orange Flavor Madeleine - I thought it was a regular madeleine at first glance but 1) it was orange flavored and 2) the base was coated with chocolate! Loved the tangy flavors which balanced the chocolate perfectly.
Religieuse - I was looking forward to this dessert the most but it turned out to be quite boring as it just tasted as expected - two choux pastry filled with chocolate cream.
Brazilian Chocolate Bonbon - the bonbon was filled with creamy chocolate ganache filling - nothing out of the ordinary though.
Plura Chocolate Macaron - the macaron was great with a chewy shell and chocolatey filling but not outstanding at the Pierre Herme level though.
Macae Strawberry Pepper Verrine - I was most impressed by this dessert out of all the sweets with its strawberry gelatin and soft chocolate mousse. The strawberry layers were sweet and tart while the chocolate mousse was not too sweet with a hint of bitterness.
Coffee Hot Chocolate - after we managed to finished the entire box of chocolate goodies, we were served with one final treat - a cup of coffee hot chocolate. One gulp and we almost wanted to throw up as it was like drinking melted chocolate. After eating all that chocolate, this was probably overkill and we just could not (and did not want to) finish this.
Verdict - the Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Afternoon Tea was exciting in concept but sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing as well. The ratio of desserts to non-desserts were off as there was too many sweets and there was only so much chocolate one can take in an afternoon. The environment was gorgeous though so it can be a delightful way to indulge yourself in chocolate heaven - if you can handle it that is.
Café 103
103/F, ICC
1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
2263 2270
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HongKong/Dining/Cafe_103/Default.htm
Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/supertastermel
Follow me on Instagram @supertastermel 
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