The Mandarin Cake Shop    文華餅店  

mandarin cakes, my favorite.
today i went there for afternoon tea,and found that their display was changed,
but the name tag of lemon tart could be put up-side-down?as i've already tried all their chocolate cakes series,
and their cream horn and this month's special were sold out today,i ordered the only-one-left chocolate mousse cup ( $37 ).
sugar powdered on top of scratched-sliced chocolate which was a bit too rich in sweetness and taste,
mousse texture was extremely excellent,richness was just well,
and the bottom layer was even darker than the upper layer,which i could say it was a truffle-like thick layer.

....after the truly satisfying seafood dinner at JW's California, my dad ruined the fun by asking the waitress to serve us the birthday cake right in front of me. I could feel that the waitress was equally surprised by his explicit request and wondered how on earth could a person be so unromantic and fun-ruining. It was hard to cheer up again until i saw the cake with the lit candle slowly and carefully served by the helpful waitress.

It was later revealed that it was a Spicy Ginger Tea Crunchy Chocolate cake brought from the Mandarin Cake Shop, one of the most famous bakery and cake shop in town which I have always dreamt of going but never had the chance to, as my family members do not have sweet tooth and basically eat no sweet snacks nor cakes, not to mention afternoon teas. Thats how this cake turned out to be my first experience with the famous bakery.

I was staying in HK during a weekend before heading back to LA. So, i decided to spend a lovely afternoon with my family in mandarin oriental for some desserts and cappuccino. I have never tasted their tea sets before so i had high expectation on them.

I ordered the classic tea set for two and ordered 7 cakes separately

As I've tried the sacher cake, double milk chocolate cake, opera cake and also the tiramisu,
i came today to buy the chocolate muffin, chocolate truffle cake and also chocolate brownie.
However, maybe I was too stupid to first have a chocolate tart in sift before I came,my target has only one left in the display cupboard---only brownie left, all other chocolate food were sold out.
So, I still bought it and it tasted really good no matter it's the leftover piece of all chocolate cakes.
It was not dry at all, with really moist centre inside the brownie comparing to MRS FIELD'S COOKIE's one.It was a different kind of brownie with my loved ROLL's brownie because ROLL's brownie has chocolate chips and almonds inside.
This piece was much more expensive with similar size, but much more bitter than ROLL's brownie.
I think this was the reason of its price, I really love the bitter taste more than the artificial sweet.
Love it~!

Opera just OK,
Tiramisu第一次好多好多wine there in the cup i saw,
sacher very good,
rasberry apricot mousse OK,
cheese scone好好no need rose jam actually...

To celebrate my daddy birthday, I have bought the American Chese cake, the cake is smoth and rich in chese taste. It is different from others, other texture is not have enough chese like eating cake only, but it is added enough chese to made it so it may feel as enjoying chese. The price is reasonable than other cake shop high classed cake shop, the price on other cake if have this standard may cost about $300. I feel that the chocolate is also have a good standard, although it is higher that other in price, but I feel the quality and smoothness is better than other chocolate shop and the style is so creative. I shall try them next time.

I had high expectations of this place mostly due to the immense amounts of very delicious looking pics being posted here. However, as what people say, looks can be deceiving.

What was ordered:
1) Blueberry cheesecake - the cake was too dense, did not have that fluffy feeling at all. Moreover, the cake should be better if they use cheeses with a stronger taste.
2) Lemon pie - tasted average with a base that was too thick. The lemon filling does have a nice zest though. The generous globs of ice-cream to accompany each desert was nice enough but can do with a stronger vanilla taste.
3) The latte and cappucino seriously lacks a kick. I have pledged my allegience to Starbucks, but biasness aside, MO should really go and some stronger beans.

The environment was ok though the place was a bit noisy on that Saturday afternoon, not with that very chatty middle-aged metrosexual who sat next at the next table talking non-stop to the waiters/waitresses.

I admit I am a dessert monster, cakes in particular. Mandarin Cake shop is the best among all the branded cake shops/bakeries. I picked two cakes which are not attractive on appearance, but it is a surprise for me and a test of how good this shop really is.

I find Opera a bit traditional yet with its unique freshness. The chocolate layer on the top is thick and rich, it is not milky chocolate but those with high purity. The cake layers are sipped with alcoholic smell and taste. It is soft in texture but the smoothness of the moose and cake are separately outstanding. What's more is.. the base of this tiny piece of cake is crunchy, similar to that of the base of Tony Wong Patisserie, but the taste of chocolate in this base is stronger than TW's. Price wise, as TW cakes shrunk in size now, $32 for this Mandarain Cake worths a try.

Another piece is the "UGLY" black Passion Fruit Chocolate mousse. Cakes attract diners by colourful appearance - a big no for this cake. The black seeds of passion fruit is mixed with some other citrus like fruits, a bit sour yet refreshing your appetite. I didn't pick the famous strawberry tarts/mango ones since it is relatively easy to test how well the cakes go in this shop. If they just get some really fresh strawberries / mangoes, with a nicely made tart base, they excel. However, this piece of Passion Fruit Chocolate mousse, I would say, is a piece of art work. The simple colour of black and five small dots of transparent sauce on its top, yellow deco, the true colours are hidden inside. Compared with Opera, the chocolate taste is less but not absent. the cake layer inside is soft and goes very well with the passion fruit layer outside.

The taste and quality of these cakes are better than Tony Wong Patisserie & Paul Lafayet. Not because these two popular shops are not good enough, but because Mandarin Cake shop is outstanding from them. Creativity, freshness and uniqueness all to be rated at a 5 out of 5 in the scale. This shop is also caring in take-away customers, unlike TW, the cakes are stuck to the box by a thin piece of scotch tape and you can check some reviews of TW that the cakes change in shape or are broken if you take them away in bulk. However, Mandarin cake shop uses a box, like those for mooncakes but comes in small size, to accomodate each cake in a safe and ordered way.

This is my very first time to give an all-5 ratings for a restaurant! Recommended for take-away and worth trying once in a lifetime.

as recommended by the sales, i had a rapsberry and apricot cake for tea time. it was really very good. the outlook is so beautiful and romatic. layers of songe cake, apricot, and rapberry moouse. the moouse is so smooth and light. the sweet apricot balance the little bit sour rapsberry. If it is a little bigger, it will be perfect.

good and attentice service. patiently explained the differences between all the cakes on display (first timer, plus i've always been v skeptical about western patisserie in HK)

i wanted a cake that is quite summery and not too heavy after a korean bbq dinner. and as per their suggestion i ordered the mango moose. alas i was pleasantly surprised how light and summery it was. all the girls loved it.

will definitely go back to try the rest very soon!

ive heard this place for sooo many times as if i really go there myself, well which is an illusion

yesterday i planned to go to m restaurant in the fringe club. unfortunately only after i arrived i was told they didnt have afternoon tea...... fine. i walked around n finally it occurred to me that i had never been to mandarin cake shop! ok here i go.

in m floor i found it. its smalled than i expected but cute n elegant.

i was hungry so i ordered three pieces of cake n moccha, which i regretted later....

opera. nothing more to say. classic n never let u down.

i also like american cheesecake. so creamy n rich～

strawberry cheesecake... well just normal. but acceptable.

i didn't have expectation on moccha but it surprised me. better than starbucks. i like it.

the only thing that was bad was i ordered tooo much.....they were so delicious that i just didn't want to waste....... my poor stomach>__<

in total i paid 166. ill come next time n order less

I do not know why that I always have impression that the cakes produced by the former Mandarin Cake shop on Ground floor were much better than the current one. I have tried several times after its renovation/facelift. This time tried its Mango mousses. The first look was not impressive. It looked like Pisa Tower. That means it was not standing properly on its own. Why??

The mango taste of the mousses did not impress me. It was a bit artificial or strange to me. Did they use Philippines mango or what? There was some coconut filling inside the mousse to go with the mousse. A little bit better. However, overall speaking, did not like it very much. Too bad.

All the cake i was tred, i think was too creamy.
Like raspberry one, taste was good, but too creamy.
Cheese cake, was very good like before.
Chocolate Bon bon, flavors was good, but too much color.

Having been highly recommended in OpenRice, my friend and I made an attempt to this restaurant in view of reasonable price and decent environment.

We have ordered:
Cheese cake --> rich in content, NICE! $32@
Tiramisu --> Layers of different taste, it's the best of the best among the 3! $32@
Blue berry --> Actually couldn't remember its full name. We chose it becoz of its nice appearance. It's a bit sour, feel fresh, But this taste could be found in other cake shop as well, without surprise. $32@
Macchiato x 2 -> Too bitter for me, but depends on personally taste. $55@

All the price are subject to 10% charge when eat in. The price for the cakes were reasonable as mentioned. I would suggest to request for water than coffee.

My bf bought me one piece of cheesecake and one piece of chocolate truffle cake for tea time. Both are very rich and delicious. I think the chocolate truffle cake is the best in the town (Rhine Garden's is the second). it was very very rich and very very delicious.