A small rendezvous at Le Quartier

I have a confession. I had this post in my draft folder for around 11-12 months. I simply forgot. Therefore, I warn you that this is a very very late post.

However I remembered that it was during a rendezvous with my friends and at that time we really liked the interior/decor of the restaurant. When we visited this place, they just opened for business! So everything was new, the place was not too crowded and food was awesome. In conclusion, we had a great time.

I carried my Chanel Biarritz that came very handy because I can keep my Canon DSLR camera inside this bag. Until now I am still in love with this bag and I think Chanel Biarritz is a keeper ;)

Superb afternoon tea at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Mumbai

 

 

 

 

On one afternoon after having a Mumbai city tour, we decided to make a stop at Sea Lounge, a restaurant inside the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel that has been famous for serving the best afternoon tea in Mumbai.

 

And it turned out that coming to this place was a highlight of the Mumbai visit. The hotel itself has a long history as it started to open its door in 1903 and the design and details of the hotel interior are just spectacular.

 

 

The food

We ordered the afternoon tea set for two and to our surprise, it was a buffet afternoon tea. The traditional 3-tier serving plate was still delivered to our table and we still had the opportunity to take any cakes, savoury pastries, chocolate, pudding, scrumptious desserts, iced tea and of course the Indian small bites (samosa, etc) from the buffet table.

I tried some delicious Indian snacks (well almost all of them tasted so good) that instantly became my favourite. But I was too busy (for eating) to take notes of the food names. So I don't think that I would remember the name of the food for our reference on the next order (if we ever visit to Indian restaurant in our hometown).

 

 

 

The view

We sat by the window overlooking the grand Gateway of India. We could also watch the small boats/ferries taking off from the pier (next to Gateway of India) that carried tourists to Elephant Island. It was an amazing view indeed and a perfect spot for enjoying afternoon tea.

The ambiance

The Sea Lounge has a warm and elegant atmosphere and the restaurant was full house during our visit. There was a piano player who kept entertaining us for the afternoon tea session.

Well, with those nice food, best companion, amazing view and good (live) music, I had a superb afternoon tea and I simply could not ask for more.

Bag of the day

It is not a secret if Proenza Schouler PS1 is my favourite bag whenever I am travelling. The leather is very durable and PS1's many pockets are very very handy. For this India trip I carried the one in dark red. Check the midnight blue PS1 here when I brought it to recent China - Hong Kong trip.

Afternoon tea at The Peninsula Hong Kong

So, this is another long overdue post. My apologies.

My DH and I went to Hong Kong in April following our short trip to Guangzhou (check the highlight of my Guangzhou trip here and here). We spent the days in Hong Kong for meeting my best friend (used to be my colleague at office who is now working in Hong Kong) and for visiting our favourite restaurants (those spicy crabs at Under Bridge restaurant in Wanchai is super delicious and has become our must-visit place in Hong Kong). Definitely we had a great time in Hong Kong and as always our highlight in Hong Kong trip is always about the food and food (and a little bit shopping of course).

And this time we managed to have the famous afternoon tea time at The Peninsula Hotel. Yay! After many failed attempts to get a table (due to our late arrival for the high tea session where the queue already reached 40 people and all tables are occupied), we were finally able to get a table and be served. The trick is to come early. The afternoon high tea session at The Peninsula Hotel is started at 2PM, and at 1.30PM we were already queueing. By the time we arrived at hotel at 1.30PM there were already 25 queues in front of us, but we were quite confident that we could get a table. And yes we did get a table after 25-30 minutes of queueing !

What I like best while having the tea time (other than enjoying the scrumptious snacks and cakes) is people watching. Our table is quite close to hotel main door, so we had a great view to watch beautiful, gorgeous and well-dressed guests who came in to the hotel or get off from their expensive super cars.

So in this post I wish to share the beautiful hotel lobby and excellent afternoon tea set that we had.



The classic decor

The silverware for serving

 

 

The view from my table

The food

 

During that trip (i.e. visiting Guangzhou and Hong Kong) I brought my loyal Proenza Schouler PS1 in Midnight blue. It is such a versatile bag and very good for travel companion. The leather is very durable, the pockets are quite handy and for sure I don't have to 'baby' the bag during the trip.

I am thinking to bring the same bag (but in red) for my next trip to India ;)

Afternoon coffee at Shangri-la Hotel

 

 

A few days ago I had a great afternoon coffee time at Shangri-La Hotel, alone, while I was waiting for my next meeting.

As it was already in the afternoon, so I ordered decaffeinated cappuccino (although I love drinking coffee, somehow I am still sensitive to caffeine which may lead to insomnia) and my coffee was accompanied by banana fritters with vanilla and caramel sauces.

See above picture on how the barista dusted coffee powder with the Shangri-La logo on top of the milk froth. What a nice touch

In conclusion I felt so refreshed that afternoon and was so ready for next appointment;)