Engaging and Relaxing Afternoon Tea

As Shenzhen China continues to grow and diversify, cultural fusion can be seen more and more in our restaurants, schools and hotels. Even now many hotels are offering a western style brunch now on Sundays while bars and pubs are beginning to allow the British Sunday Roast to reach the European expats in the Shenzhen area. One concept that I have found to be slowly growing in the Shenzhen area is the concept of Afternoon Tea.

Afternoon tea is a concept created by the wealthy in Britain in the mid-1800s. The wealthy would always have a time of relaxation and tea but it was the “Duchess of Bedford” Maria Russell who got the credit for making this a full meal instead of just a beverage only event. By the 19th century, it became a practice in both the upper and middle class and the rest is history. Now it is a culture celebrated across the world – now making its debut in Shenzhen China.

I first saw this concept offered in Shenzhen at a few smaller diners who were offering a platter between 3 and 6 pm. Later on, I would come to find out that the Marriott has in fact taken this traditional British culture and brought it into their Lounge area offering a pastry chef-driven array of salty and sweet selections along with your choice of wine, tea or coffee.

JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao’an started Afternoon Tea as their conception in 2015 and have been breaking it up into three-month themes. The first season had the theme of  "secret garden". It was a theme made around flowers.  The theme that started from the beginning of April is Berries. China’s summer season comes with a harvest of many berries and the head pastry chef has used this as a theme to create a low-calorie and low sugar tea time menu. This theme will end at the end of June so its best to take advantage of it while it's there. 

When you come to JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao’an Afternoon Tea, you are given a choice of wine, tea or coffee and a platter of 13 desserts and snacks. Due to the fact that some of the locals cannot handle all sweet desserts, a selection of salty snacks and desserts were mixed into the A La Carte menu to serve both those both sides. If you are going by yourself, I would recommend you bring a friend as this platter is made to feed two people. If anyone else joins you, they are required to purchase a drink (wine, coffee or tea) but can share in the Afternoon Tea platter.

368+15% service charge for two people if a third person wants to join they are in charge of covering their own drink.

The pastries at Afternoon Tea are made by the hotel’s head pastry chef Mr Tony Zhao. Tony has been a pastry chef for 15 years and started his career as an intern in a Chinese Kitchen. Around the end of his internship, another pastry chef saw that he had a talent for pastries and brought him into the Marco Polo in Fujian as Assistant Pastry Chef. Since then, he has worked for many five star hotels including the Sheraton, Sofitel, Wyndham and others before bringing his talents to the JW Marriott hotel in Bao’an. He has been with the hotel for one year and four months.

“Health is our major concern and we want our afternoon tea to be made up of low calorie and healthy foods. All of the different colours and flavours remind girls of friendship.”

The sweet selection created by Chef Zhao consists of strawberries, blueberries, mulberries, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries. All of these are used in the mixture of pastries. The set will include 8 sweet and 5 salty selections. All teas are imported from Germany and include Chamomile, Darjeeling and Jasmine tea.

The Desserts

One of the highest demand pastries is the swiss roll. This pastry is made from fresh strawberries and mascarpone cream. This dessert is a perfect mix for me. The strawberries bring the perfect balance of sugar and the pastry itself has a very light sweetness to it making it a perfect dessert. It also helps that strawberries are my favorite fruit so I couldn't help but love this one.

Other sweet desserts include: raspberry chocolate mousse cake, blueberry cheesecake with an oreo cookie crust, a mixed berry jam with a white chocolate mousse, Raspberry Eclairs topped with raspberry powder, almond prune cake and buns and scones. 

The scones come with one original and the other made with cranberries. They are served with a side of crushed cranberries and fresh cream. This would come in second place as a guest favorite.

The salty dishes are made by another chef and include some unique selections including pan fried prawns with black truffle and blueberries, smoked turkey breast with asparagus and strawberry salsa, foie gras terrine with raspberry and tuna sandwiches.

At their Tea Time Debut, the Marriott also debuted their in-house made Gelato. By partnering with Armani Café, they were able to become the exclusive sellers of the Ciacco brand.  Guests were shown how fresh the gelato is as we watched the creation of a strawberry Gelato. It took on the strong taste of the strawberries but was not overly sweet. Coming from someone who doesn't like ice cream, I really enjoyed the Gelato. They offer green tea, mango, vanilla and strawberry all part of the Afternoon Tea.

With the rise of “Afternoon Tea” awareness, I’m glad that the JW Marriott Hotel has integrated this idea and created a great experience for anyone either wanting to try out the culture and concept of afternoon tea, or those who already look forward to this time of relaxation and enjoyment. I would say that the Afternoon Tea at JW Marriott Hotel in Bao An is definitely worth the cost. 

The staff is extremely friendly and most that I encountered were bi-lingual and spoke English very well. I slightly mentioned that it was my birthday while experiencing this event and was surprised with a birthday cake in a very short period of time. This proves to me that the JW Marriott Hotel takes their guests’ experience seriously and will do everything that they can to ensure the guest's experience is a memorable one.

Place Name: The Lounge大堂酒廊 

Place Address: JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao'an, No.8 Baoxing Road, Bao’an District, Shenzhen

深圳市宝安中心区宝兴路8号，深圳前海华侨城JW万豪酒店大堂

Place Phone: [phone]

Editor's Favorites, Tap the Links Below:

---

Long-press the QR Code, tap "Extract QR Code" to Follow "shenzhenparty" on Wechat:

For more details, please click "Read More".

↓↓↓↓