Café Causette (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It's been a long time since I last indulged myself in one of those themed afternoon teas in Hong Kong. The last one I had the pleasure of having was Pierre Hermé's Infiniment Citron Afternoon Tea at Ritz Carlton and that didn't turn out very well so I have been much more selective these days.

Three weeks ago, I started hearing about Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s special collaboration with Vienna’s famous Café Central and Julius Meinl coffee. Won't that be something. I have always been a huge fan of the vibrant European café scene and this is one of the oldest institution in Austria. I am sure mom would be interested too.




During this collaboration or cross-over, both Clipper Lounge and Café Causette will be serving a selection of Café Central's traditional homemade pastries accompanied by Julius Mienl coffee. A special afternoon tea set featuring the café's signature pastries is also available during the afternoon hours.



While everyone is dying to get a taste of the Viennese coffeehouse culture, I decided to just get a cup of hot chocolate instead. Not bad.



Mom was excited to see the three-layered afternoon tea set ($498 for two people) but I was too busy taking pictures left and right.



They've got a pretty good scone. That's a start.



Out of all the savory items, I love this salami sandwich with egg omelette the most.



Mini Schnitzel burger. Hm....just OK.



Time to get our hands dirty on the sweet stuff now. What we have here are bite-sized versions of the famous Viennese sweet treats including from left to right, Esterházy cake, a sponge cake with delicious butter cream; their signature Sachertorte, a traditional chocolate cake with apricot jam; Marmorgugelhupf, a marble bundt cake that is tender and buttery and last but not least, Café Central Gâteau, a layered chocolate cake with marzipan, orange and exotic spices.



The Café Central Gâteau was definitely the best of the bunch.



With guest pâtissier Johannes Warmuth in the house, I thought we owe it to ourselves to try at least one of Café Central's famed pastries (no, not the bite-sized versions). We ended up getting this Zwetschgen-Mohn, a type of Austrian poppy plum short cake. The plum flavors were really nice and strong with what I thought was a bit of wine backing it up. Very good.



The Café Central collaboration will be around until the end of June so stop by Clipper Lounge, Café Causette or The Mandarin Cake shop for your Viennese treats soon.

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: M/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong Station
Tel: +852 2825-4005
Website: www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/fine-dining/cafe-causette