Eat & Drink

New & Special

The Tea Room at One-Eight-One Hotel

In Hong Kong, dining retro-style is the latest trend, especially at outlets that hark back to the old cha chaan teng style café, lovingly called “bing sutt” or literally 'ice café'. The latest stellar addition is Tea Room, an all-day dining concept located at the newly opened luxury boutique hotel One-Eight-One Hotel in the Western District.

Set in a stylish and refreshing environment, The Tea Room serves authentic old Hong Kong favourites as well as contemporary creations, including a range of dishes well known at regular Cantonese restaurants. The Tea Room's décor is eye-catching, the art deco–style black and white chairs look sharp in the brightly lit, spacious restaurant. A fascinating collection of pictures of old Hong Kong on the walls helps bathe the setting in nostalgia.

We sampled dishes across the range of food on offer, starting with Boneless Sichuan Spicy Chicken ($98), which is slow cooked at a low temperature and seasoned with home-made chili sauce. Next was Cheese-Baked Curry Chicken Rice with Japanese Onsen Egg ($128), a real comfort food. Steamed Lobster & Chicken Glutinous Rice ($400/$800 for 2 and 4 persons respectively) is also a real treat, as the rice nicely absorbs the tasty flavours of the chicken and lobster. The Doubled-Boiled Soup of the Day ($88 per person), which uses seasonal ingredients like whelk, conpoy and abalone, is yummy.

Other dishes we tried included “Golden Brick” Fried Tofu in Mushroom Sauce ($108), Sour Prawns ($98) and Steamed Giant Grouper Fillet with Mungbean Sheets & Preserved Vegetables ($480), in which the salty vegetables blend well with the tender grouper fillet .

It would have been remiss to pass up the old-style Hong Kong drinks, which include Red Bean Frappe with Italian Gelato ($40) and Black Cow (Coca-Cola with Italian Gelato) ($40) with the Italian Gelato specially made for The Tea Room by 2/3 Dolci.

Dining out at The Tea Room is a pleasure – down-home local food, a charming ambience and reasonable prices. For a genuine local dining experience, give Tea Room a try.

2/F, One-Eight-One Hotel, 181 Connaught Road West, Hong Kong.

3181 1618