Afternoon delight

Afternoon tea with desserts at Palm Court lounge in the lobby of the Langham hotel in Hong Kong. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Reinhard, an award-winning pastry chef who has been making desserts for 19 years, seems too fit and trim to be the purveyor of such fleshpots. He laughs at the question, insisting that he's too much "on the go" to gain much weight. He does taste everything, he concedes, but he says he makes a point of getting exercise to stay healthy.

The gym beckoned us as well, as we nibbled our way through goodies like the blueberry crumble, which sports a chocolate cup decorated with silver leaf and filled with blueberry cream cheese. Pertly on top is a white-chocolate and silver-leaf diamond ring, gleaming with all the glamour of the fashionable shopping district just outside.

"It's important to ensure the taste and presentation of each dessert complement each other and are pleasing to the eye and palate," he says, noting that some of the most sugary offerings are toned down to suit the not-so-sweet palates of Chinese customers. But if he's creating a party menu for a special event for Europeans, he says, he can let fly with the sugar and butter just as he would back home in Vienna.

Such afternoon soirees are not just about nibbles and fine china the tea has to be just right as well. After all, who are more particular about tea than the British and the Chinese? Here, too, the Wedgwood team comes into play, with a selection of fragrant leaves chosen by the hotel's Wedgwood Tea Acade-my-trained sommelier. Seven Wedgwood offerings include an "original" Assam blend, a different second-flush-growth Assam with a honeyed fragrance, and a Ceylon Uva with hints of wintergreen. There are also classics like English breakfast, Earl Grey and pure Dar-jeeling teas.

Langham's custom blends include a different second-flush Assam with a malty edge combined with first-flush Darjeeling, which some conoissieurs call "the champagne of teas".The Palm Court Exotic Blend features Chinese white tea and hibiscus flowers, while the Silk Road Blend was a hit at our table a delicate melange of fine Chinese Silver Needle white tea, aromatic jasmine flowers and dainty pink whole Iranian rosebuds.

Whether or not you know how to crook your little finger properly while sipping these fragrant brews, the overall experience makes a charming afternoon break－or a chance to wow mom on Mother's Day. The price for the special Wedgwood afternoon tea set is HK$428($55) for one person or HK$628 for two, which includes a glass of Veuve Clicquot NV bubbly. (A "standard" afternoon tea at the hotel is HK$298.) Afternoon teas are served on weekdays from 3 to 5:30 pm, and on weekends and public holidays in two sittings, 2:15 to 4:15 pm and 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

IF YOU GO

Palm Court

Langham Hotel, Hong Kong; 8 Peking Road, TsimSha Tsui district. 852-2375-1133.