Cafe Causette  

It seems that I am having quite a scone obsession lately as I find myself sitting down to an afternoon tea set practically every weekend~

So having heard about the renowned scones served at Mandarin Oriental accompanied with their special rose petal jam, I finally made a reservation for a Saturday tea. Originally, I was planning to book at the Clipper Lounge which is the usual place where afternoon tea takes place at the Mandarin, but since it was full already, I took the second option of tea-ing at Cafe Causette.

The lay out of Cafe Causette is like a long corridor, with a row of tables facing the windows. It's not exactly what you would call a relaxing environment, but is more like a casual setting. The Cafe actually adjoins the Mandarin Cake shop, so for those that plan to walk-in but end up waiting for a table, you can always admire their display of chocolate sculptures as well as their pretty, dainty cakes.

There are two variety of tea sets that can be ordered, the Classic Afternoon Tea Set or the Mandarin Tea Set. They both offer finger sandwiches, cakes and scones, but the only difference is that the Mandarin Tea Set allows you to select the fillings of your sandwiches and includes a third tier of warm savoury pastries.

I ordered the Classic Afternoon Tea Set with Earl Grey Tea. The tea was only so-so, but perhaps I have been spoilt by the Earl Grey from Fortnum & Mason so I really should not compare.Now to the tea set. First came the scones, raisin and plain, served warm and toasty in a basket.They are quite big in size which is good if you are a scone lover and the waft of buttery aroma really is quite comforting. The texture of the scone was balanced where the outside had baked to a firm shell while the inside still retained its fluffiness. So with the jam all spread evenly on the scone, I was really anticipating my first bite.. but.. the scone itself was slightly bitter which I assume is from too much bicarbonate in the mixture.I must say I preferred the raisin scone over the plain as the sweetness from the raisins helped mask the bitterness. The jam itself was a mixture of rose and strawberry and was noticeably more sour than your normal strawberry jam. Not really to my taste, but it was worth trying.The tiered stand soon arrived, with the top tier holding the sandwiches and the cakes on the bottom. The sandwiches consisted of york ham and mustard, cream cheese and cucumber in a soft roll and smoked salmon with sour cream. They really were not that special. The bread was dry and a little hard, and the fillings were minimal.The cakes however were surprisingly good, very pretty with pictures drawn on fondant icing decorating them. The left yellow square was their version of a New York cheesecake, but with no biscuit base. This was very good. Smooth and creamy with a rich flavour. Recommended! In the middle was a slice of coffee/tiramisu cake. Quite ordinary, it was not dry, but not exactly moist with a light coffee flavour. And on the right was a chocolate ganache cake. This is perfect for the chocoholics out there, dark and decadent with a full bodied cocoa taste. Also recommended~All in all, I will definitely come back for their cakes

Having heard so much about the limited edition pulled burgers @ Café Causette, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, I finally had a chance to try them out with some fellow foodies.

At just $88 for a tasting platter of five different mini pulled burgers, it was definitely a steal. You can also vote for up to 2 of you favourite burgers so that they would be added to the menu (in regular size) on April 2.

Cafe Causette will be hosting an American themed Pulled Meat Burgers event from the 12th to the 25th of March. A set of 5 Burgers are available at only $88 after 6pm during Dinner - after the tasting session, the customers are asked to vote for their favourite 2 burgers so they could find a place on the next menu update, as a permanent fixture!

The recipes are quite promising indeed, although I think they could do with a bit more sauces too. I have my favourite 2 choices, what are your ones?

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I am a regular at Cafe Causette. The food is generally solid and likewise the service. I feel comfortable because I know I will be getting consistency, quality of food ingredients and attentive (but not overbearing) service every time. I come here to decompress and just enjoy my meal time. This is the Mandarin so if you have a reasonable request they will try to make sure you get what you want. They are also very respectful of people's need to finish the meal by a certain time, so service is prompt. They will also let you know if a certain dish has a minimum preparation time so that you may choose something else if pressed for time.

I have not tried everything on the menu,. As noted above, I come here to decompress, not to be adventurous. Personal favorites of me and my significant other: healthy braised bean curb with brown rice, salmon pizza (special request), Singapore laksa, vegetarian noodle soup (special request), flower salad with hummus dressing. The pasta is OK, but I don't really come here for the pasta. Interestingly, I never eat curry in Cafe Causette (only in the Captain's Bar for lunch or the Chinnery for dinner), but Mandarin curry is a good, moderate curry that won't cause digestive explosions. Once upon a time when I ate chicken, had the Hainan chicken rice (a Cafe Causette signature dish apparently). Would recommend it to chicken eaters (can specify dark or light meat). Don't really eat the desserts from the cake shop, but on the occasions I have they are delicious (would expect that!).

Definitely need reservations for weekday lunch (regular spot for the business crowd) and weekend lunch/tea. Dinner I haven't found the need for reservations. This is a hotel restaurant so expect prices to be a bit more expensive. I regularly spend HKD400-500 for a business lunch for two or HKD600-700 for dinner for two. But I've spent as much or more at restaurants in Soho with cr@ppier service, so I consider Cafe Causette a relative bargain for no headache.

Didn't book table

had a Club sandwiches - is good, won't say is the best

Mexican hot chicken Penni- the bread is too hard, not enjoyable when eating and is not spicy at all , it comes with a salad. presentation is not attractive.

Nice place. will go back and try other dishes

Love the ambience, you really relax once you are inside. Great place with a wide menu selection for everyone. The variety on the menu is excellent - you can have Chinese, Indian, South East Asian, Pizzas, Japanese and Western and even a kids menu .. We think the Western dishes are better here though.

There is also a good selection of wine and alcohol. They even offer a cheese plate if you ask. Service is top notch. Best hotel cafe in Hong Kong I think. They don't have buffets so no big crowds!

Finally, Cafe Causette. Had been wanting to come here for some months now. Today my will was finally done. Thanks V.

Environment :
It is a rather beautiful place. Quite serene. Dark woody furniture, large tables, low lights. Very relaxing environment. We spotted 王敏德 sitting with 2 friends at the table near the entrance.
Nice ceramic teacups, thick grey napkins.


Service :
Excellent service. Professional and attentive, efficient. I think each waiter's name is embroidered on his sleeve?! Both the chinese and english name. I'm not sure - i didn't ask. But it's an interesting detail. One waitress who was passing by saw V squinting at the afternoon sun and asked whether she preferred having the blinds down. so 細心!

On the menu...

Cafe Causette has been on my wish-list for some time. I've been wanting to visit for their a la carte menu (only been here for tea), and to my luck my mother was in Central for lunch.

Upon ordering, a fresh and very warm sour dough was promptly served, and I loved it. Crusty and crunchy exterior, hot and extremely soft inside....lovely!

Cafe Causette has a pretty extensive international menu, with so many things I wanted to try.... Finally, the three of us decided on the following.

Hainan Chicken Rice (breast or thigh available) $208
Chicken breast sitting on pak choy, chicken flavoured rice, chicken soup, condiments
The chicken here was quite disappointing for the three of us. Surprisingly, the chicken did retain the natural taste of chicken, but the breast meat was unbelievably tough, incomparable to what I tasted in Singapore. Perhaps chicken thigh would be a better choice?
The rice was not oily but was flavourful, which I appreciated, and the soup was mild and had quite a bit of chicken essence - yummy =)


Phad Thai ($188)
Rice noodles, prawns, tofu
Phad Thai here was quite moist and not oily, i.e. more liquid was used to fry this noodle dish. The prawns were huge and juicy, and the rectangular pieces of tofu and strings of egg and spring onions made for a colourful dish. G and my ma thought this was too 'wet', but I personally like fried noodles with a bit of gravy, so this was good. Most importantly, the seasoning was balanced - savoury, and only the slightest hint of sugar.

Barbeque Spiced Cod ($188)
Pearl barley risotto, maple cucumber dressing
The natural flavour of cod is unbeatable in this dish. This is one of the few cod dishes I've had where the seasoning of the fish (in this case a mixture of spices) did not mask the natural flavours of the cod. It was done so that the brown top had a crisp texture, whilst the middle was cooked perfectly - flaked well and was smooth.... yumm! The cod sat on top of a barley risotto which had barley substituting arborio rice, and an abundance of pine nuts for a variation of texture. Again it was seasoned very well, and I can't find any faults for this dish.

Save for the dry chicken breast, and very moist phad thai (can be good or bad depending on your taste), I had a very enjoyable lunch, and couldn't find space to order their lovely cappuccino....maybe next time!

For original post + pictures:
http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/10/cafe-causette.html

My boyfriend took me to Mandarin for breakfast in a sunny Saturday morning, enjoy a long long breakfast.

The environment was cosy and comfortable. service was excellent.

We ordered mandarin breakfast and we chose english muffin, it was fresh and crispy over the edge. Coffee was good.
The breakfast was big and includes fresh fruits, yogurt, juice, I love the sausage and portabello mushroom most.

Thanks to my Mr D .

Arriving nice and early, being told that the tea time only started at 3pm, my friend and i had the chance to look around before making our orders.There were plenty of selection and i was truly delighted by all the displays of beautiful chocolate and cakes around me. In addition to this, service was noticeably thoughtful; with no additional pressure on people sitting there for more than 3 hours

Our coffee ( Latte and cappuccino) arrived very soon. With a whopping $68(?) , my cappuccino tasted nothing extraordinary. Rather, the chiefs had greater passion on desserts and pastries.$385 bought us 5 different cakes, the signature scones and 2 coffee.

Having not tried any remarkable scones before, i had been online earlier and made up my mind to give the signature scones a try; and they worked out! The lightish golden brown on the outside weren't particularly attractive among all the pastries and cakes but the unique butter smell was remarkable.Unlike those crumbly scones in other restaurants, these ones were still presentable when you halved it. The scone itself was so moist and fluffy and they did match with the rose petal jam.

Although i was pleasantly full, i still had the urge to try a bit more. I then ordered raspberry and apricot Mousse and Opera. The mousse was a successful surprise with a light sour taste of raspberry cake and bits of apricot at the bottom. It wasn't filling and it made a good "appetizer" before the Opera. The Opera tasted good and especially appreciate the semisweet chocolate on top crispy chocolate base . Yet, the numerous layers tasted no difference to me... maybe i was too full at that moment...

The american cheesecake and double chocolate cake my friend ordered were tasty as well. The cheesecake was rich in texture with thick moist crusts at the bottom. Again, i couldn't tell much difference between opera and double chocolate cake given they both had strong chocolate taste. ...
we ended up sitting there for 3 hours....

This cafe is no doubt a delightful addition to the world-renowned mandarin oriental.

Very friendly and decent environment Much less crowded than other places in the area. Really good place for a nice lunch and chill with your friends.

Food is really good!.
Fish & Chip: Fish was okay hmmm. kinda soaked and fishy but the fries was REALLY good
Pizza causette: Superb! One medium size pizza cut into four flavours: mushroom, parma ham, mozzarella and confit tuna. I am not at all a pizza lover but was very very impressed by this Very nicely cooked and the variety is great

Two dishes already too full that we have to take away 3 slices of the pizza.

A little pricey but pretty much worth it ;)

As a celebration to the beginning of summer, a friend and i decided to have afternoon tea here. We arrived at 3.30 we were guided to our pre-booked table by a window with views of the square next to Prince's building.

After looking at the afternoon menu, we went for the following:
Freshly baked English Muffins $68
There was an option of berry of rose petal jam, and i opted for their renowned rose-petal jam of course! It also came with butter and devonshire cream. It arrived with two muffins sliced in half, so four pieces altogether. The muffins were toasted just right - browned english muffins are never good as they turn hard upon cooling. These retained its soft spongey centre, and was really good with generous servings of devonshire cream and jam. However, as for the english muffins, I was unable to distinguish MO's from english muffins previously tried....

waffles with strawberries and cream $108
There is one waffle, sliced in two with quality whipped cream and sweet fresh strawberries and maple syrup. The waffles were soft, not the crisp type I prefer but they were still very good. The quality of the cream surprised us - very light and only slightly sweetened in taste.

Cappuccino $65
I recommended my friend to try this, as I love their cappuccinos from previous experience. She agreed that MO's capp is very good =)

Fresh coffee with milk $55
The milk served with my coffee could have been hotter as the coffee went cold quite quickly. Taste was not bad but not special or memorable either.

All in all, we were unable to decide whether the food we were given were worthy of its price despite the 5* setting. The portions - especially of the waffle could not justify its price even given the quality ingredients used. But since this is a once-in-a-while splurge, nevermind!

If you want to enjoy a beautiful English high tea in a relaxing Saturday afternoon, Cafe Causette would be one of your best choices in Central. Scones lovers, you would definitely appreciate the perfect setting of a basket of warm scones, rose jam and premium quality cream. I particularly appreciate the tableware and flower arrangement. Good venue for causal dating and girls' gathering. Don't forget to visit the cake shop, they have beautiful chocolate cakes and fresh cream fruit cakes.

the first time of coming here. if my memory is not wrong, this is the second time i came to this hotel.

as my first visit of 'coz i ordered the famous dish - the hainan chicken rice.

services were very nice - and they asked me which part of chicken i preferred.

the bread (yes, quite strange feeling of being served with bread with chinese dishes) was hot and spongy, tasted good! we finished the whole bread!

about the chicken rice... rice was soft, evenly covered with oil and yellow in color, tasty too. the chicken was tender and just cooked right.

well.. maybe i expected too much, i expected a "wonderful" meal here that i would shout "wow great!!!". the chicken rice was definitely okay, but, well, not a "wow" experience that i dreamed of.