Harlan's  

The new semester began prior to the Chinese lunar new year festival.
Our last semester will be tough I guess, although I am stilling writing food reviews instead of assignments T-T

Yesterday I went to Harlan's with my two girl friends.
We always dressed up for these formal occasion. It is very mood-killing because we were suggested not to sit outside.
It was a bit foggy and they were worried about raining.
We missed the beautiful view of Tsim Sha Tsui but still sit comfortably inside.
Many customers are females, coming for this tea set. I love this bunch of flower so much. The colour combination is perfect Every table features that.The brown and white sugar for tea. I misinterpreted them as sweets as first. Anyway I don't need sugar for Earl Grey.
They are with a filter to sift the residue of tea. That's a tiny little one.WOW!!! Here comes the tea set!
I looked forward to seeing the Harlan's tower before. I think the three layer's tower gave me some cyber feeling haha!
Elliptical, shiny and modern. We ordered three person's proportion so there was another one.

From the top: Cream, Strawberry Jam, Biscuits, Macaroon
Middle: Mousse cake, Chocolate mousse with biscuit, cheese cake, crumble tart, Green tea cake roll and Scones with raisins
Bottom: Salty beef sandwich, two little bread-based XXX and a fried finger

About the food quality:

To be honest, I think that the food here don;t worth around $150 per person.
The bread comes in sandwiches are very hard to bite. Not soft at all..
My friends and I are not fond of the mousse cakes here because they were like melting as soon as the set arrived.
The texture is rather watery when we had them ! =_="
The main problem is I can't really taste what's inside. The scone was not crispy.
Personally I like cheese cake very much but it was tasteless without cheese flavour >,<

The only two items I liked are the macaroon and the biscuit. They lived up to the standard.Comparing with the previous experience of high tea in Mandarin Oriental, I prefer that much more.
Of course that was more expensive but at least the food had higher quality.
The environment of Harlan's is ok.

A couple of family friends and I had lunch at The One-Harlan's, to be honest it's inexpensive at all, especially for such awesome view. There are three combos in total, combo A: Starter, Main course and dessert for $198 + 10% service charge. Then Set B: starter, soup, main course and dessert for $298 dessert. Finally for the full course, I can't remember how much it is, but it's affordable as well. Though everything seem to be pretty impressive, food aren't as tasty as I've expected.

it was our anniversary day, my BF brought me to this wonderful place!

the place was nice and the view was pretty good too, at the outdoor area we can see IFC and even ICC, it has 180+45 view, thanks hun again *.*

we 1st sat at harlans (the restaurant we reserved a table), but then the manager told us that we can move around if we had sunday brunch, GOOD!

we then browsed around the balcony (small) at the italian side, we had 2 drinks then we moved to the japanese side, but we dont really like raw fish we just went there for different view and still eating the italian.

Im an elegant lady (hor hor) that cannot eat this much, it goes with a lobster. (maybe my boyfriend prepared for me, I dono *.*)
THE LOBSTER WAS SO TENDER AND JUICY! WOW it was sashimi quality i think it was live lobster. Bounce bounce, I love seafood now.

I have a small stomach for main but a rather big one for SWEET DISHES! Ho ho ho
the cookies there were fresh, it surprised me because it looked dull, but it was crunchy so crunchy. Oh im on a diet, aiyo *.*

OMG this is killing this dessert platter my boy friend prepared for me. The macarons was so yummy the jam inside was unforgettable. I couldn’t finish the molten chocolate, TOO BAD TOO BAD. He has to bring me there for another round of molten chocolate. BRUNCH AGAIN *.*

I think the service was just okay on the Italian side, while the Japanese side was much better. Anyway, I LL BE BACK FOR THE MOLTEN CHOCOLATE.

We had a Saturday brunch last week. With good view and nice environment we thought it would be a great place to enjoy good food and catch up and chat.

Unfortunately, our server ruined our experience.

We asked what kind of dessert is there available. He says, "You don't need to know. I will bring it to you when you have finished all your food." We asked, "What dessert is there?" He said, "Chestnut cake." We asked, "Isn't there a choice?" He says, "Yes." (Silence... followed by him sticking out his tongue)

We said, " And it is?" By then he was staring at us and tapping his foot very impatiently. Not sure why he is impatient when we are the ones not getting an answer!

After a tense few seconds, he finally answered, "Fruit platter." And walked away, not taking our orders.

We had to flag him down again to give our orders and also we wanted to ask for coffee and tea. He said looked at us like we were insane asking for our tea and coffee to go with our dessert and proceeded to stare at us with his tongue sticking out. I am not joking, his tongue is hanging out of his mouth, not just the tip showing.

This isn't the first time we have ate at Harlan's. The first time we went, we were angered by their service staff also. We figured maybe they were very busy and was an one-off thing so we gave the restaurant another chance. However, there were only 5 tables at brunch last Saturday so there is no excuse for treating their customers like idiots. Never will we go back again!

I AM a grumpy, peevish lady. But this place delighted me.

INTERIOR – beyond expected, charming atmosphere. but it’s a waste that they should located themselves at the hong kong island side. When I walked outside the tiny alfresco (not big enough my friend) the harbor view was gorgeous , if I could chopped off some buildings which blocked my photo shooting then it would be perfect. One more thing, whats wrong with the door? Please go fix it Mr manager. Even an american football player have to kick to open the door for going outdoor!
RED PRAWN LINGUINI – al dante, savory, nothing wrong but just bit over seasoned. Almost perfect. I would like it, the prawn I mean to be more tender.
CAPACCIO WITH FOIE GRAS AND TRUFFLE– THE BEST CAPACCIO DISH IN HONG KONG Ive tried so far! Im no big fan of truffle but I finished this dish all by myself without any help from my friend.
AUSTRALIAN LAMP CHOP WITH OYSTER SAUCE - the oyster sauce is too thick and heavy (to me) , but the balsamic balanced it so well.
LINGUINI WITH SCALLOP AND ASSORTED VEGETABLES – I only took 1 single bite of the scallop because I wasn’t the guy who order this. Very good. That’s it.
STRAWVERRY MACARON – the good news is this macaron was crunchy on the outside while juicy inside. The bad news is this macaron tasted much better than the cakeshop downstairs, which is also Harlan’s. =)
SERVICE – attentive, informative, but slow and clumsy.

The Chef of this restaurant has left like a few years ago and has his owned at LKF. That one also a must-go. They both moved me but the so called ‘real’ one provides better service but offers comparatively worse quality of food. This Harlan’s could be a Real threat to the Real one. I love them both anyway, but its too early to calling oneself Real arrogantly, without a Real comparison. My very personally advice is, you look for steak, go to The Stripe or gold, the rest? This TST Harlan’s. Esp Pasta

It’s much better than expected. We spent a happy night there although the restaurant was packed with people.
Most of the people just follow what others think. I do it sometimes, but not this time. 3 of my friends told me that Harlan’s no longer Harlan’s, it makes me curious. Okay, what’s the difference between Judging a book by its cover, and judging a restaurant by its chef? I came here for food, not the fame of the guy. I used to be a big fan of the ifc old harlans, today, nothings changed but the location.
it was not my 1st time going to this new harlans anyway. After a routine presentation, we ordered 2 soups, 1 pizza 1 pasta and 1steak.
First we shared the ITALIAN SEAFOOD SOUP and the MUSHROOM CAPACINNO, sorry I didn’t like the seafood soup. I stole my girl friends mushroom cap and wow its liquid mushroom! I just loved it. Thick and creamy but not heavy.
the AUSTRALIAN LOBSTER LINGUINI looks soso, but it tasted just perfect. Pasta? Not a big portion but simply al dante. Lobster was fresh and tender. For the TENDERLOIN it’s a bit under seasoned, you can call it healthy but I dono maybe its me. Coz my gal friend found it tasty.
Here comes the MAGARITA, toppings were good, the dough had a light crispy but not greasy.90 out of a 100
Finally the dessert, the YUZU SORBET was ordinary. Surprisingly the HARLANS DESSERT PLATTER was the focus of the night. This place seems to specialize in DESSERT. The presentation was excellent while the passion fruit ice cream cake was fascinating!
This meal made my day perfect. Thanks god! My girl friend paid the bill =)

Repeat patronage is the best indicator of a restaurant's performance.

This is my third visit to Harlan's within a year. That says a lot about my rating of the place.

The first visit was for lunch, the second for afternoon tea. This time, it's for lunch again (price of dinner is a bit steep for me )

I heard that the price of their hot-in-demand afternoon tea set has gone up already. But lunch remains at $198 and includes soup or appetizer buffet, mains, dessert and coffee. A real bargain if you take into account the nice setting and the superb view of TST and Victoria Harbour.There were a good variety of choices for the set lunch

I was very excited to come to Harlan's this evening, with my best friend. We hadn't caught up in a long time and thought would be perfect location to do so. We arrived at 7:30pm and were escorted straight to our table by a polite man as we had made a reservation. It was quite busy for a Wednesday night, which provided a good ambiance. The outside balcony is perfect for after dinner drinks as it overlooks Victoria Harbour.

Our wine and water were refilled often, plates were changed swiftly and the bill came as soon as we asked for it, with no trouble at all.

Porcini Mushroom SoupThe soup was very hearty with an intensely flavorful broth. My friend did not enjoy this dish, however, I loved it. I think should only be for 'Mushroom Lovers' as the flavor is very concentrated.

Tasmanian Lamb Rack The lamb rack was tender and moist and melted in your mouth. The tomatoes and salad on the side, complimented the dish well. Although the salad was fresh, I wish there was more and it was more crispy.

Pepperoni PizzaMy friend enjoyed the Pepperoni Pizza, the base was think and crispy and nice selection of toppings.

Dessert Dessert was the perfect size, as we were already quite full nearing the end of our dinner. I loved the cookie crumble at the side.

An enjoyable dinner. I will hopefully return soon.

Went to Harlan's with family to celebrate my birthday. It was such a disappointing experience. The restaurant is nicely decorated with spectacular view and we were able to grab a table by the window for lunch on a Friday. Our server is friendly and attentive; however, the atmosphere of the restaurant is simply not up to par for the price they charge. We were reminded multiple times that the restaurant has a business casual dress code blah blah, but you can spot people with jeans,sneakers, and tees all over the place. Cell phones ringing the entire time and people talk so loud on their phones as if they were in a market. For some reason, the restaurant did not turn on the AC and we were sweating sitting indoor.

Food was just average, nothing special. The bread, mushroom soup, and lobster bisque were okay. The pasta was too rich, steak was tasteless, and the fish was a rip off. The line cook looking man kept coming out to socialize with his friends sitting next to us and offered them food that were not on the menu. It was pretty annoying and disrespectful. The service was SLOOOOOWWW. We waited 20-25 minutes for the entrees after finishing the soup/appetizers. Desserts were nasty, not sure what the heck was wrong with the mango raspberry mousse cake. It was simply inedible. Overall, the whole dining experience was unpleasant even though our server was nice and apologetic. Definitely won't return to this overrated restaurant again.

We've decided to have our monthly gathering at "Harlan's" 2 weeks ago and luckily it's not yet fully booked

I had no room to try the bread so can't comment on them. The lunch set is mainly divided into 3 and we chose the middle one, with appetizer buffet and main course, which should be sufficient for ladies

The best part was the appetizer buffet! I like the parma ham and melon a lot the melons were so fresh and juicy! smoked salmon and tuna were good as well~ I took twice Varieties of salad and cheese were limited but acceptable

Roast of the day was rib eye but it's not tender enough that I couldn't finish them all

Dessert was not too bad~ We had a white chocolate mousse cake and mango ice-cream / sorbet, the mousse cake was creamy and soft though the mango sorbet was too sweet for me

P.S. after having a nice lunch there, we decided to reserve a table for the afternoon tea for our next gathering, but we were told that all Sat/Sundays are fully booked already we finally chose 28-Jan-2012 but the booking is still not yet confirmed that if the restaurant is chartered for private party, we have to re-schedule our booking!!! but we're making the reservation 3 months ahead!

I expected a lil more seafood in a HKD2XX seafood salad. I literally had 3 shrimps and 2 pieces of scallops over a conservative bed of lettuce. My fiance's garganelli with truffle cream sauce was alright. The only thing is that they ran out of garganelli and had to subsitute it with regular spaghetti or penne. Regarding the service, we were not offered any condiments for our meals i.e. pepper for salad; Our wine glasses were empty on several occasions. The only "fine dining" part about this place is the white table cloth.

It's my friend's birthday celebration and we decided to treat her to lunch at Harlan at iSquare. We booked a table 3 days beforehand as they are quite popular even on weekday lunch and can get full easily.

A bread basket was first served while we were going through the menu and deciding what to order. I tried 3 different types of bread and ALL of them tasted great. I love their white bean sauce that they served together with the bread. The appetiser buffet spread is good with parma ham (and cut melon), smoked salmon, assortments of fresh greens, a good variety of salad dressing, fresh fruits (whole apples, pears and bananas), pizza, a variety of salads and a few others dishes.

Previously when I came, I found the portion of the main course on the small side. However, this time round I feel that the portion has improved. We ordered 3 different main course to share, and they were Ribeye, Pork Chop and Fish. All the 3 dishes taste as good as they look. The meal ended with a great dessert, which is peach sorbet with white chocolate mouse cake an a cup of Cappuccino.Most importantly, my friend enjoyed her birthday lunch very much.

Sure not value for money Not value for service, especially a male waiter who really make me feel very bad on Harlan. We had spent more than HK$1200 for two adults and one child but I think even take the view into account, it only worth for $800. Never go to Harlan, unless you had reserved outdoor seats to enjoy the view (but you can have other choice in The ONE with the same view) AND you reserve femail waitress to service you (I don't think it is possible!).
一間強迫消費餐廳的最佳例子!

Had an enjoyable lunch here a little while ago. LIke the place a lot and said I'd come back.
So I did, for afternoon tea experience this time.Two suggestions:
Two suggestions before I start the review:
(1) Seems like the high tea on weekends is always on high demand. Tried to make reservations a couple of times before, but was always a bit too late and the place was already fully booked. This time, I made the reservation 2 weeks ago and bingo, finally got through.
So, suggestion number one is, make reservations well in advance to avoid disappointment.

(2) Suggestion number 2. Be on time. The afternoon tea starts at 3:30 pm and ends at 5:00 pm. We arrived at 3:25 pm and we were not allowed to go in Pretty strict eh? And towards 5:00 pm, you would be reminded of the ending time. They said the strict timing was to enable them to provide better service for their guests That said, the rules are ok with me and didn't really take away from my high rating of the place.
Environment:
The place is clean and bright, with high ceiling, floor to ceiling windows, well lit by natural light, with neatly ironed table cloths, shiny cutlery. On top, it offers a great view of the TST area which I consider is a main selling point. Service:
Apart from some rigid rules on timing I mentioned above, service is generally friendly. Just a few minor points.
(a) I noticed that the place was less than one-third full and started to wonder why reservation was so difficult. So I asked and was told that they would only accept a limited number of guests for afternoon tea as they wanted to maintain their service and to better prepare for the dinner. So that explains why it was always "fully booked". Anyway, that's ok with me as I can enjoy a quieter and roomier environment.(b) I read about the ironing of table cloths in some OR reviews and witnessed it this time. No complaint but it would of course look more professional if they could do the ironing backstage.Food:

There were 8 of us and we ordered four 2-person sets ($198 per set). The food is elegantly sized (I don't quite like the size of the scones at Four Seasons as they are really too big, in my view) and offers good varieties. Starting from the bottom rack of the tower:
Aged cheddar, avocado, turkey on brioche - great, fine balance of taste in the ingredients.
Cucumber, egg mayo and white bread - the toppings are good but the white bread is a bit on the dry side.
Smoked salmon, horseradish cream, dill on wheat bread - the smoked salmon is good and fatty but again the wheat bread is a bit dry.Mini porcini mushroom flatbread - this is like a mini-pizza, crispy and tasty.
Cranberry and plain scone - the scone is warm and moist (personally, I think it's comparable to that served in the Mandarin).
Italian cheese cake, green tea opera, double choco cake - I'm not a dessert maniac but the green tea opera is great, has the fragrance of green tea and the sponge cake is moist and blends in perfectly with the green tea flavour. Didn't try the cheese cake but the double choco cake is also good.
Choco strawberry - this is a nice surprise. The choco coating is still crispy and blends in well with the strawberry.
Raspberry macaroon - I'm not really crazy about macaroons and found this a bit too sweet.
Cinnamon apple puff pastry - I like this. Very fluffy and the cinnamon apple filling is just at my degree of sweetness.

We could not finish all the food and had to pack some for after-dinner dessert. As for the drinks, there's really nothing special except that when one of us asked for a iced mocha, the reply was that they didn't serve iced mocha. Not even at a premium? No, because they didn't have that machine??? What machine? They can make espresso but they can't make iced mocha. Still don't understand even now. Ia special machine really needed for iced mocha or they have mistaken iced mocha as a frappucino/smoothies??!!
Overall, great environment, good service, good food. At $198 for two, I consider that a reasonable price especially since I learnt that some chain coffee stores in IFC are offering tea sets also at $198 for two.

Will still encore at leisure.

Four of us have been planning this high tea 2 weeks before this day. The High Tea starts from 3:30 and ends at 5:30 sharp. We arrived at around 3:25pm and was arranged to sit indoors because it was quite sunny that day. The waitress said it would be more comfortable for us to sit indoors so that the cakes would not be exposed to sunshine. So we listened to her advice. There was a couple who would like to walk-in for the high tea that afternoon; however, they were told that the place is full. In fact, it was only half house full that day. Thus, we have really spacious area near our table. One useful tip is to book the table for high tea some days in advance, it was quite depressing when they told you it's full when you actually see there are a lot of seats in there.We ordered two High Tea Tower and they were the source of excitement! In the high tea tower, there were three layers in this tower:

BOTTOM - light snacks
Aged Cheddar, Turkey, Avocado and Brioche:- the cheddar is impressive, avocado sauce not strong enough, but overall a good snack for cheese loversCucumber, Mint, Egg Mayonnaise and White Bread:- There wasn't any mint flavour but an overwhelming egg mayonnaise sauce. The taste is so-so, like simple egg salad sandwich in town.
Mini Porcini Mushroom Flatbread:- very nice mushroom tart-like snack! Flatbread is not strong flavoured yet the mushroom in cheesy sauce is very nice.Smoked Salmon, Horseradish Cream, Dill and Wheat Bread:- This is the most favourite non-dessert snack that we had, the smoked salmon is nicely decorated, and the cream goes well with the taste of the fish.

MIDDLE - Cakes & SconesDouble Chocolate Cake:- Recommended! Liquid chocolate on top of chocolate cake layers as well as chocolate crisp base. Similar to Tony Wong's Chocolate Dome, it doesn't taste very sweet, but simply chocolate-filled.
Green Tea Opera:- Recommended again, very special cake which is full of green tea taste and the texture of the cake is just right. The creamy fillings do not taste stronger than the green tea flavour.Italian Cheese Cake:- If you don't taste it, you just couldn't distinguish what it means by "Italian" Cheesecake! The Cheese is a bit sour than usual, yet it is sweet at the same time. Quite nice cake base made by cookie pieces.
Chocolate Strawberry:- Outstanding yet simple strawberry. The strawberry wasn't too sour because the thick-coated chocolate out layer would just melt in your mouth when the slight sourness began to seep into your tongue!Cranberry and Plain Scone, Clotted with Cream and Strawberry Jam:-the scone is not soft enough, a bit hard on its surface. There isnt any cranberry scone so I guess the menu is a bit misleading. The Cream is very smooth and Strawberry Jam is not too sweet. It goes well with the scone.

TOP- Macaroon & PastryRasberry Macaroon:- Slightly out of expectation, the texture is not crispy nor like usual macaroons (i.e. Paul Lafayet's), the outlook wasn't impressive too because the tip of it is not smooth enough.
Pastry:- we didn't know why there are two pieces of pastry on the top of it without mentioning them in the menu. The pastry is quite nice and the fillings were actually peach, but it tastes like mango. We like the cakes better than the pastry though.

We ordered four Earl Grey for the tea set, because of the time limit of 5:30 was approaching, the tea wasn't enjoyed fully. The waitress actually came to our table and urged us to pay for the tea, and reminded us we have to leave before 5:30pm. If you don't want to have tea-set in a rush, then it would be better for you to order earlier.After enjoying the tea set, we went to the balcony of the restaurant to take pictures. How nice the view was, we would want to sit outdoors next time if the sunshine wasn't too bright for us. This tea-time experience is fabulous, we have wonderful time with fine food and time to gather around in such a cosy place. The price for one tea set is $198, plus 10% service charge.