Feast & Aesop afternoon tea – new teatime delights at EAST

If you read Sassy regularly, you’ll know that we’re total suckers for afternoon tea. Finger sandwiches, dainty desserts and lots of gossip over a good cuppa tea – what’s not to like?! So when we heard about the latest afternoon tea experience at Feast inspired by skincare brand Aesop, we quickly signed up to sample their high tea delights!

We’re already big fans of Aesop’s classy, natural and un-fussy products, which use tonnes of delicious-smelling plant-based ingredients like citrus rinds, juniper, sage, rosemary, walnut… the list goes on! These natural (and mouth-watering) ingredients were the inspiration for Feast’s tea set, and the results were every bit as lovely as we had hoped.

There are eight separate bites to the Feast tea set, four savoury and four sweet… and yes, you heard right, NO scones! The first two Rach and I sampled were the grilled chicken with sage in parsley seed bread finger sandwiches and the rosemary-infused focaccia bread with Parma ham and provolone. The perfectly seasoned chicken finger sandwiches were delish, whilst the slightly peppery flavour of the parsley seed in the bread just knocked my socks off (figuratively… I was wearing flats). Although I wished the focaccia had more rosemary flavour, the Parma ham and provolone made up for it with its super cute presentation and classic flavour combination.

Next up were smoked salmon and citrus-dressed cream cheese profiteroles. The tiny dollop of cream cheese was just what we needed to go with the profiterole crust – and the citrus dressing added a nice sharpness to this charming little bite! The last savoury item was the duck and juniper wrap, which looked stunning and was packed with juicy pieces of meat, but was just a tad too creamy for me.

For the sweets, we were most intrigued by the lime and basil macaroons; it was such a pretty mellow yellow colour, but although the texture of the macaron itself was spot on, the filling was too buttery and overwhelming for me. Likewise, the chocolate rose creams proved to be too sweet and creamy, although those with a super sweet tooth will love them!

The last two desserts were some lavender and honey teacakes and cranberry, walnut and praline tarts. I personally love a little honey in my tummy, so the teacake was a no-brainer for me – I just couldn’t say no to the cakey-texture paired with the sticky sweet golden quality of honey. Meanwhile the tart had a great crunchy crust that went well with the sharp tart flavour of cranberries. Often tea sets can feel overwhelmed by sickly sweet options, so it was nice to have these more subtle and sophisticated items on our pastry tier!

The Feast afternoon tea is priced at an incredibly reasonable $165 for two people – and that also includes a special Aesop gift plus a complimentary skin consultation and product samples at the Aesop store in Cityplaza (just a short walk away from Feast!). For tea-drinkers who snag a table on Saturday afternoons, you’ll also be able to watch on-site demonstrations of Aesop’s full range of products every Saturday in November from 3 to 4pm.

What we loved about this tea set was that it wasn’t just the usual suspects – real effort had gone into creating interesting new sweets and savouries (not just cucumber or smoked salmon sandwiches!) packed with delicious fresh flavours that complemented the Aesop theme nicely, but without feeling too gimmicky either.

So if you’re getting bored with the same old high tea scenarios and are craving some new teatime delights, book yourself in at Feast!

SASSY GIVEAWAY: We’ve got TWENTY Feast afternoon tea sets for two to give away! The giveaway ends on Friday, 9 November at 2pm and the lucky winners will be notified by email later on the 9^th November. This giveaway has now ended – congrats to our twenty lucky winners!

The Feast afternoon tea with Aesop costs $165 for two people, including a special Aesop gift. It runs until 31 December 2012, from 3 to 5.30pm daily.

Feast 1/F, EAST, 29 Taikoo Shing Road, Tai Koo
3968 3777 www.east-hongkong.com