I have heard of this Clipper Lounge Buffet and I had wanted to try it for a long time. I finally had an opportunity with my friend having lunch there and celebrating her birthday.

First, the wonderful service made me feel so special! I loved the friendly smile that they all had.

The food there was great and fresh! The salad bar with many kind of salad greens and four different dressings. I personally liked the balsamic vinegar dressing. Also, the USA oysters tasted very fresh and the size of the oysters were perfect! The crabs legs and scrimp were wonderful too.

About the hot dishes, there are some Chinese food and some Western dishes. I didn't try the Chinese food coz I was going for that. I did try the roasted leg of lamb. Great lamb favor and very tender. Also the braised ox tails were great! The cream of mushroom was full of mushroom flavor, but it was a little salty.

The Japanese sushi section was fabulous! Fatty fresh raw salmon, sweet shrimp, tuna, etc. delicious!

The best was the desserts! So many kinds, and everyone was good. I personally liked the ice cream bar and the mini ice cream cones. The ice cream was creamy and in super rich flavor. All the pies, tarts, and puddings were amazing! I wish I could eat more, but we were so full already!

What a great lunch with outstanding food and with dear friend!

First Impression --- foods were not luxury yet tasty.

Seafood.Best: Legs of spider crab --- nice salty.

Oyster --- I personally don't like any kind of oyster, but this time I tried one anyway, and it surprised me ! The one I picked is really acceptable! I think those oyster lovers would fall in love with it!

Soup :

There were one Chinese-style soup and one cream "white soup"(a local wording). The cream soup was really creamy, but its taste was so-so. The Chinese one is a famous traditional soup known as "Western Lake Beef Soup" ( pronounce like Shi Wu Au Yuk Kan), it was great, even better than some "Yam Cha" places (the Chinese restaurants at which the waiter there will inquire you after your preference of kind of hot tea).And desserts --- after tired all of them, I can say 90% of them were delicious. I would suggest all you guys to try fresh-cook orange wine pancake there, its great!All in all. this buffet had given me a good holiday dining experience. I will put Clipper in my possible returning list.

Before I came I found there was an online menu on what they had for the buffet, although there is a note saying *Please note that all buffet items are subject to change due to availability* I thought it would be fun to see what items could be found and what were not there.
It was easy to book a table at late notice however they needed credit card confirmation.

Overall the food was ok, but some of the items I could not find.
My favourites were the oysters, green tomatoesFor fun I have posted their menu below and commented what was available and what not.
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Freshly Squeezed Fruit Juices - Orange, Grapefruit, Tomato, Watermelon, Pineapple
All were available.
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From The Selection of Hors d’oeuvres
Roast Duck, Bean Sprout, Carrot, Hoi Sin Sauce - couldnt find
Cous Cous Salad, Prawn, Orange, Carrot, Cauliflower - available
Octopus Salad, White Beans, Rosemary
Home Cold and Warm Smoked Salmon - Tasted ok
Buffalo Mozzarella - Couldnt find
Green Tomato Salad - Available and it was quite nice
Shaved Parma Ham - ok
Caponata – Eggplant, Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Pine Nuts, Raisin, Celery - couldnt find
Crab, Cucumber and Fish Roe - ok
Pork Terrine - ok
Toasted Salty Nuts in Newspaper Wrap - Available but difficult to reach
Condiments
Cocktail Onions, Gherkins, Lemon Wedges - All were available++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mandarin Oriental Sushi and Sashimi Selection of Sashimi
Norwegian Salmon, Ebi, Snapper, Snow Fish, Maguro
Selection of Nigiri
Salmon, Saba, Tamago, Ikura, Unagi, Inari
Selection of Maki
California Roll, Kappa-Maki, Tekka, Futo, Barbecued Eel
ALL WERE AVAILABLE
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Condiments
Soy Sauce, Pickled Ginger, Wasabi - Available
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From The Seafood and Oyster
U.S. Oysters
Bloody Mary Jelly / Seaweed Jelly - I was really looking forward to this but I could not find it anywhere!
Chilled King Prawn
Snow Crab, Mussel, Thai Big Head Prawn, Sea Whelk
Shrimp Cocktail Shoots
Cones with Salmon Tartar - I was really looking forward to this but I could not find it anywhere!++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Condiments:
Shallot Vinegar, Lemon Wedges, Cocktail Sauce
All were available
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From The Garden Greens
Cress Selection
Australian Romaine Lettuce
Mesclun Leaves
Rocket
Red Chicory
Market Daily Green
Cereals, Seed, Dry Fruit
All were available
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Condiments
Italian Vinaigrette, French Dressing, Thousand Island, Caesar Dressing, Reggiano Flake, Crispy Bacon,
French Bread, Crouton, Kalamata Olive, Cherry Tomato, Red Onion
All were available
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From the Bakery
French Baguette, Sourdough, German Rye, Farmhouse, English Muffin, Bagel, Multi Grain, White Toast, Honey, Jams
All were available
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Pastries and Danish
Selection of Muffin – Blueberry, Apple Bran, Chocolate
Selection of Sweet Bun – Butter Roll, Raisin Bun
Selection of Croissant – Plain, Wheat, Almond, Chocolate
Selection of Doughnut – Plain, Strawberry Jam
All were available and delicious and bascially they come from the Mandarin bakery shop.
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Selection of European Farmhouse Cheeses
Gouda, Cheddar, Brie de Meaux, Dry Apricot, Walnuts, Raisins.
All were available.
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Omelette Egg Station
Fresh Omlette, Fried Egg, Scrambled Egg or Poached
Condiments
Ham, Bacon, Red Peppers, Yellow Peppers, Green Peppers, Mushroom,
Cheddar Cheese, Herbs, Spring Onion, Smoked Salmon, Tomatoes, Hollandaise Sauce
All were available and I was impressed they had quite a variety for different eggs such as duck eggs! and after your egg is cooked, it is brought over to your table.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From The Cooking Station
Ravioli with Rocket and Cheese
Tomato Sauce, Sage Butter Sauce
Roasting Lamb Skewer I was really looking forward to this but I could not find it anywhere!
Sauces: Rosemary, Garlic, Mint Jelly, Chilli Sauce
Do not remember seeing these.
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From the Carvery
Prime Rib of Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Thyme Jus
Available and it was nice.
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Soup
Daily Chinese Soup
Sunday’s Western Soup
All were available
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From The Chaffing Dish
Mandarin Breakfast Sausage and Hickory Smoked Bacon
Roasted Potato
Seared Salmon, White Wine Sauce, Capers, Parsley
All were available
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Dim Sum
All were available++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fried Rice, Prawn, Egg White, Asparagus, X.O. Sauce
Kari Ikan Coconut Fish Curry
Poached Chicken, Kam Wah Ham, Black Mushroom
Crispy Noodle, Seafood Sauce
Roast Suckling Pig - this did not look nice but it tasted really nice.
The skin was lovely and crispy.Deep Fried Eggplant, Chilli, Onion, Salt
All were available
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dessert
Warm Traditional Bread and Butter Pudding
Warm Sago Pudding
Warm Apple Crumble
Tiramisu
Strawberry Jelly
Black Fruit Jelly
Mango Pudding, Sago, Coconut Milk
Traditional Cherry Trifle - Couldnt find!
Cream Caramel Flan - Couldnt find!
Passion Fruit Mousse
Rum Savarin
Panna Cotta with Strawberry
Crème Brulee
Chocolate Mousse
Baked Chocolate Brownies
Opera Cake
Mango Mousse Cake
Chocolate Truffle Cake
Cassis Cream Cake
American Cheese Cake
Fresh Fruit Jalousie Tart
Baked Apple Tart
Baked Apricot Tart
Large Cookies
Fresh Fruit Salad
Peanut coated with Chocolate - Couldnt find!
Almond coated with Chocolate - Couldnt find!
Hazelnut coated with Chocolate - Couldnt find!
Assortment of Marshmallow - Only one type of marshmallow
Assortment of M&M’s - Couldnt find!
Assortment of Mini Nougat Candy - Couldnt find!
Spoon Meringue - Couldnt find!
Chocolate Truffle - Couldnt find!
Broken Chocolate Plate with Roasted Nuts - Couldnt find!
Vanilla Topping, Red Berries Topping, Icing Sugar, Cream, Roasted Almond, Chocolate Sauce
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location: 3.7 / 5
goods: hotel outlet, clean, plenty of space between MY table ( same others not so lucky)
bads: the hotel was a bit old

service: 3.8 / 5
goods: fast refill of food, fast in change of dirty plate, stuff were nice
bads: they took away our folks n knives without asking, did not ask if we want a refill of coffee/ tea

food: 2.2 / 5
goods: beef with rice noodles 炒牛河 -never seen carbohydrate dish to go so quickly in a buffet
pasta -the carbonara sauce was creamy, smooth in texture, the timing in cooking the pasta were just right
roast beef -was okay, not the best beef, but it comes with Yorkshire pudding.
roast potato -rich potato taste good seasoning
dessert -the cheese cake n chocolate cake were nice

bads: cold seafood -most of them are tasteless, no sweetness in any of them at all.
oysters - aren't fresh broken shell in most of them.
soup -tasteless
rest of the food are what you expect from a hkd250 buffet.

hkd 504 per person Inc. 10%

皮蛋

In celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s sixty years on the throne, Clipper Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental is offering a Diamond Jubilee ‘Royal Afternoon Tea’ until 1 July.

Created by chef Uwe Opocensky’s the is never short of surprises but still due respect for tradition.Sandwiches
The petite round Poached Scottish Salmon Sandwich has to give way to Rhug Estate Coronation Chicken Sandwich which cannot be of more fit for the occasion - as Coronation Chicken is a dish created for the coronation banquet of the queen back in 1953. The very finely diced chicken is delicately flavoured with a creamy curried mayonnaise sauce and topped with a dollop of a mango chutney, making the sandwich tasting very elegant.
English Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich is your afternoon tea staple cucumber sandwich with a cute twist of wrapping the cucumber over the cream cheese sandwich.

Savoury
Organic Welsh Egg with Caviar is the other star of the show. The presentation is an instant hit. The egg, presumably from Wales, is a savoury egg custard sprinkld with hard-boiled egg yolk and caviar. The melt-in-your-mouth egg custard finds its pefrect companions.
Grilled York Ham and Montgomery Cheddar is another traditional English sandwich as the name suggests, it's toasted, but by the time it comes on the rack it has gone cold but this can't be helped.
Welsh Leek Tart and Salmon Wellington are actually 2 different pastries. Both have pretty dry puff pastries and I'm hoping for better things on the upper tier.Pastries
I think I'm wise to save Millionare's Shortbread till last, or else after eating this heavenly chocolate, caramel and butter shortbread I would't have space in my stomach for other things.

Mini Eton Mess has its name from the world-famous boarding school in Britain, and the dessert offered at the school was originally a "mess" of meringue, cream and strawberries served in a bowl. At Clipper Lounge it has become something like a Pavlova, with a meringue topped with sliced strawberries. I'm not a fan of pavlovas (actually meringue in particular) and think it's too sweet.

Battenberg Cake deserves to be called a royal cake as it is really a royal wedding cake. The pink and yellow check-patterned sponge cake wrapped with marzipan was originally invented by the chefs of the British Royal household to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine and Prince Louis of Battenberg. (I don't really know much about this history thanks to my dozing off in history class, but you can always Google it up.) Too bad I don't have a British palate; I don't think I can stand the almondly marzipan which is too sweet for me.
Mini Cherry Trifle is served in the tiny glass and gets dressed with a little luxury with its liqeur-infused cherries.

Scones
"Home-made Strawberry and Orange Preserves, Clotted Cream" is what is written on the menu, but as I am eating the scones I am wondering about how similar the taste of the preserve is to the famous MO Rose Petal Jam...perhaps it is my hallucination. But still, this is something not to miss here.

Last but not least, no "afternoon tea" is complete without tea! My choice this time is Taste of Legend is the MO "house" blend of oolong tea featuring sweet notes of vanilla, spices and cocoa-caramel and a citrusy aroma, it is a very lady-like tea and is the best choice to toast to the celebration!

There is supposed to be some art works by the royal family on display here, but since the whole lounge was full on the day I visited I didn't get to admire them.

So grasp your chance to toast with the Queen with this delightful afternoon tea!

Don't laugh at me, the last time I went to Clipper Lounge was already 4 years ago for buffet. It was not until I came with some friends recently that I got to try out its signature afternoon tea.

Things looked pretty much the same still...with elegance and style...but you could just sit back and relax without the buzzing buffet crowds...

My friend requested a table by the window on booking, although we couldn't see out of the window when seated (it was too high), at least the lambient light was better for taking pictures.

So the menu is no secret and is all on the hotel's website:Mandarin High Tea
one person $258 (selection of three sandwiches, three warm, three pastries and scones)
two people $448 (everything on the listed menu)

There were 3 of us and we just had lunch, we decided to share the two people set.

But first we had to choose our teas.
This is my Lapsang Souchong Imperial 中國立新茶, the menu described it as
"a large black leaf tea from the Fujian province, smoked over pine fires, a distinct smoky tea with a silky tarriness, wonderful depth of flavor".
Perhaps it wasn't exactly my cup of tea, as I found it rather roasty/smoky and tasted a little 'burnt'. Later I found out that was the unique character of this tea, well, curiosity killed the cat.

My companions' English Breakfast Tea and Chamomile were much safer choices.
(The tea set came with 2 teas and we had one more tea @ $65/pax)

Soon came the 3-tiered stand with our food.

Sandwichescream cheese, cucumber, herb 青瓜忌廉芝士
smoked salmon, sour cream, chive 煙三文魚酸忌廉
egg salad, chive 香蔥蛋蓉沙律醬
york ham, mustard 火腿芥末
smoked chicken, waldorf 華都夫煙雞

These finger sandwiches won our praise for their delicate looks and compactness and complexity of favours. But simple is still best, and I liked the cream cheese, cucumber and herb sandwich the most.

Warmsausage roll 雞尾腸卷
bacon,onion quiche 煙肉洋蔥撻
spinach, feta puff 菠菜羊奶芝士酥
madeleine 瑪德琳蛋糕

These savories (well not the Madeleine ) weren't really that warm by the time we ate them as we devoured the scones first as they came along.
Never mind, they tasted great too. The most special one was the spinach feta puff which looked exactly like a Shanghainese 蘿蔔絲酥餅 but under the same crispy pastry was the rich greenish spinach cheese filling. Nom nom.

Pastriesmandarin cheesecake 文華芝士餅
cup cake 紙杯蛋糕
seasonal fruit tart 鮮果撻
opera cake 千層朱古力蛋糕

When you're at the MO what not to miss is its sweets of course. The HK's best Mandarin Cheesecake (IMHO) needed no more introduction, I could have the whole piece if I hadn't had to share with my pals (well, next time just go to the MO Cake Shop to get a bigger one). The velvety/crunchy/hazelnutty/chocolaty Opera cake was superb too.

Sconesraisin scone 提子鬆餅
classic scone 傳統鬆餅
clotted cream, rose petal jam or blackberry jam
配牛油忌廉,玫瑰花果醬或黑草莓果醬

And, no afternoon tea is complete without scones, especially at the MO. Let's indulge in the irresistible aroma of the rose petal jam melting into the silky smooth clotted cream on the hot scones... now who wants the blackberry jam anyway?
But with 2 scones per person (1 1/3 in our case), you're reassured that you'll be stuffed till dinner time.

I know there're a whole lot of afternoon/"high" teas out there that I've yet to go and try, but I think Clipper Lounge has one of the most classic ones that I would want to return, partly for the food and more for the ambience and attentive service.

What a failure! Only remembered to take photos at the last round.
The environment was a great one to have celebration with your beloved ones(including friends). The sofa chairs were cozy to sit with. Not too many tables so there won't be too many people crowding for food. Everything was constantly being refilled thus even coming at a later time won't lose much. The service needless to say, was good, at least met up to the standard of a 5 star hotel.Oysters provided were named U.S.A. and New Zealand. I personally preferred the ones from New Zealand as they have a "sea flavour" that tasted very fresh. The U.S.A. ones nonetheless were rich and "fat"Can you believe I was having bread even at the last round?! Out of the three kinds, the raisin rye bread was my favourite. Chewy yet soft. I wish they had a toaster for us to make warm the bread.I'm sure everyone who goes to Clipper Lounge is for their dessert. Alas! I failed to show the complete variety of desserts they offered. I had 4-5 rounds of desserts and they completely filled my plates everytime The lemon cake was the best although none of my family members liked it! They thought that it was too sour but that was the best part of it! The cheesecake on the other hand failed to meet my expectation, the cheese wasn't that rich and couldn't satisfy my taste buds after all the food attempted. The creme brulee stopped refilling after a short period so I only managed to try a bit(from my sis who took it at the very beginning), what a pity. There were a lot of chocolate desserts, probably due to its afternoon tea theme. Will definitely go again..and to take more photos! FYI, they gave out one dai jarp haai to every customer during this peak season.
In fact, I went to Clipper Lounge two months ago but on a Wednesday, the refills were certainly slower with less variety of desserts. With the lack of icecream, I would definitely choose to go again during the weekends. (not expensive even without any creditcard discount)

Recommended to go to this dinner buffet by a colleague, who described this as 'quality over quantity' and they were
most certainly right. You will certainly not be overwhelmed by the choice at this buffet, although the seafood was
of very good quality. Smoked salmon, oysters, crab etc all to a high standard

The salads were enjoyable - particularly the truffle and mushroom salad that night. The tenderloin beef at the carving
station was cooked to a good medium consistency. The desserts perhaps a slight disappointment as the
choice was not particularly large and the choices given were bland.

The decor and atmosphere is fairly relaxed, although I could see some people would think it is a bit too casual - for
eg., you would not come here for a business meal.

Overall though, we would go here again.

This is my second time coming here for dessert buffet. I used to like the one in Tiffin's very much but have got tired of it a bit. So this time I am bringing my sister to MO for this dessert buffet instead.
All the desserts here are made of chocolate. I must say I can tell that the chocolates used are premium chocolate. And I admire the creativity of the Chef in making so many different types of desserts out of chocolates. But to me and my sister (and I believe to many other people as well), this is too much chocolate for an afternoon.... a lot of desserts are made of really rich chocolate (e.g. chocolate mud cakes, chocolate dip, truffle..). It is just too rich and sweet that we built up a very full and unpleasant feeling after perhaps the first plate of desserts. I think they may do better to include more lighter version of chocolate desserts or even sobert will be great. The ones that we like most are mixed fruits and a chocolate mousse cake (which is very light that does not remind us of chocolate at all). Also , they should allow for refill of savory dishes such that we can have some more breaks from the sweet dish.
Also there is a strawberry mousse dessert made from champagne and something, it tastes like cough medicine...
Plus there is no chocolate fondue / fountain. There is just a bowl of melted chocolate for chocolate dip, which is not impressive for a chocolate dessert buffet.



But of course the environment is great for enjoying an afternoon just relaxing and having some sweet treats~ And also their scone and rose jam is one of the best in HK (haha of course according to me and my bf, still not as good as those from Harrods in London).

My wife and I went last Friday to try their buffett. I was not impressed with the food and especially the crowd that night. The decor looks old and service could have been a bit more attentive.
I like the crab legs, pork neck, and prime rib (which ran out rather quickly). However, the oyster was not as fresh as it should be and the tuna sashimi still had a frozen taste. Each person was given a hairy crab, which I think is quite nice. Although service was at the typical Mandarin level that you can always expect, the servers could have been better in collecting plates and refilling water more timely.
What kills my dining experience that night was the crowd, about 30-40 local Hongies were there celebrating something. They were talking loudly, blocking walkways for others to walk. Some were even drunk after taking advantage of the HK$98 all-you-can-drink special. Their behavior completely ignored other guests' presence. They obviously presume they were just dining at another tea-house/茶樓. I'm a Hongie too and have no problem people to celebrate special occasion, but be considerate of other people! The restaurant should not have allowed a large group like that to have an event there.