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MILLIE: After three and a half years of the pandemic, it was time to revisit Hong Kong, one of my favorite destinations. My primary reason was to see a dear friend, Nancy Tso, whom I have known for 54 years. We first met when we were students in Lausanne, Switzerland, and stayed in close contact with each other since that time. She has lived in London, Beijing and San Francisco, and recently moved back to Hong Kong.
The Peninsula Hong Kong lobby was top of mind as a venue for our reunion. My friend Nancy confided her disappointment that she could not arrange for a table at our best-loved meeting place for afternoon tea at The Peninsula. So I cajoled my brother Raymund to ask his son Vince, who is the hotel manager of The Peninsula in Chicago, if he could try and book us a table, and Vince put in a request to his colleague, Kevin Tsang, hotel manager of The Peninsula Hong Kong, who instantly obliged!
The Peninsula’s grand lobby has been one of Hong Kong’s iconic meeting places since 1928 and was the perfect venue to reminisce about the good old days, our different career paths and our life’s journey. True to form, and to borrow the adjectives, “The Pen lobby is the epitome of elegance and refined indulgence,” impeccable service and style of the highest standards.”
The silver-plated teapots from the famed Beard of Switzerland, fine bone china and service with flair is definitely nonpareil! What came as a surprise was that Tsang personally welcomed us with his team!
The Peninsula Tea Collection was quite varied and I couldn’t make up my mind. There was the Classic selection with the finest Peninsula Breakfast, Peninsula Afternoon and Peninsula Blend according to one’s preference; Assam tea, a black tea from India known to boost immunity; delicate and fruity Darjeeling; and Earl Grey, which is good for digestion.
The Flavoured Selection included spiced tea with vanilla, caramel, loves, cinnamon and orange petals. The flowery choice had passion fruit, hibiscus flowers and marigold petals. The peach and ginger oolong tea sounded interesting, and so did the citrus oolong tea.
Karla and I shared a memorable afternoon with Nancy and another friend, Helen Tsui, who are both tea lovers. Since we were first offered a glass of champagne, I opted to enjoy every sip of the bubbly as we continuously chattered and laughed to accompany the music of The Lobby Strings.
KARLA: Upon selecting our desired beverage tea set, we were served appe-teasers of cold cantaloupe soup in shot glasses with a skewer of cubed smoked duck breast and melon balls while waiting. It arrived with tiers of finger sandwiches, pastries and scones.
From the finger sandwich selection, my favorite was the monaka or rice cake wafers molded into a flower, filled with diced smoked salmon, green peas and topped with salmon roe. I’m a fan of mixing crispy and crunchy textures in dishes.
We also had the Bellota ham tartlet filled with mango puree and pineapple chunks. Another interesting dish was the black-colored cheese shortbread with basil mayonnaise and garlic prawn with fried vermicelli noodles as garnish, which I had alongside the classic cucumber sandwich.
MILLIE: The signature afternoon tea pastries were light and awesome, not too sweet and quite unique. We were served an orange yogurt mousse, a peach and chocolate tartlet, a raspberry and lime choux puff and a mint-strawberry layer cake. We also had traditional English scones served with clotted cream and strawberry jam, which was perfect with the tea!
For me, a trip to Hong Kong is not complete without a stopover at The Peninsula Boutique for a few morsels of the best handmade chocolate truffles, and we bought three jars of The Peninsula’s special XO Chili Sauce made from dried scallops and shrimp and salty Jinhua ham, chili and other spices.
KARLA: My memories of The Peninsula Hong Kong were always at the boutique to pick out the chocolate truffles. My mom used to bribe me into walking and shopping with her by offering me truffles every time I felt I needed to sit down. This trip, it was the other way around. My mom was the one easily tired while I carried everything she shopped for: an assortment of teas, chocolate truffles, a handbag, specialty cheeses (which were mine, by the way) and three bottles of XO chili sauce. Phew!
Looking back, one of my most precious memories with my Lolo Joe was at The Peninsula Hong Kong. On one of our trips, he craved hotcakes for breakfast and so we walked to The Pen to have a fancy breakfast. Somehow there was a miscommunication with the order taker and perhaps the kitchen, in that what was served was crepes instead of hotcakes. We were pleasantly surprised since Lolo also loved crepes. I vividly remember having a photo taken with him that morning, which still stands on my bedside to this day.
The Peninsula always brings us back good memories of Hong Kong — my prized milk- and white-chocolate truffles, excellent food quality and service and what matters most, time spent with family.
It was a well-spent and memorable afternoon and we were extremely happy and contented to have experienced once again the best of Hong Kong!
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