The Landmark is an exclusive luxury mall in Central, Hong Kong. Landmark it is a serene world of high-end shopping, including Louis Vuitton’s Asia flagship store, Harvey Nichols and Tiffany & Co. The dining is equally prestigious and includes Michelin-starred restaurants like L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Other fine casual dining places like Café Landmark are popular spots for the well-to-do locals and expats.
Besides wanting to give my credit card a workout with luxury shopping, I wanted to start my morning with great pastries like Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon.
There’s so many gorgeous in-house made pastries that it’s hard to choose just one or two pastries. Taking a glance of their jewel-like pastries, about a third of their pastries are seasonal.
We started out with cups of robust cappuccino (dusted with the Robuchon name), a delectable rainbow of pastries, and some savory options like the ox tongue sandwich with hard boiled egg and ham and cheese croissant.
The ham and cheese croissant was delicious. Wispy, flaky, buttery croissant with the ham and gooey cheese (once you have it warmed, it’s not shown).
The chocolate and pistachio danish was rich with the thick chocolate center and the light, crisp and buttery puff pastry was a great vehicle. The pistachios provided just enough crunch and its unique nutty flavor.
What really appealed to me the most of the savory options was this ox tongue sandwich. I rarely see ox tongue in upscale cafés in New York City (only in certain nose-to-tail restaurants would consider) and I know the kitchen of Robuchon knows how to cook tongue properly, so I was very excited to eat this. And it did not disappoint. The ox tongue was super tender and it was wonderfully flavored. The hard boiled egg and fresh leaves of lettuce added some freshness to the sandwich.
The rose cake looked like an intense, floral cake with its vibrant red color but it’s actually a delicate cake. The airy, not-too-intense rose mousse filling and covered in a thin, delicate cake shaped in a dome.
The mango pineapple cake is a feather-light textured cake that tasted like the tropics. Not too sweet and it’s hard to share.
White chocolate and passion fruit cake was incredibly delicious. The vibrant, tart flavor of the passion fruit was prominent but tempered from the white chocolate mousse.
The mixed berry macaron is pair of medium sized macaron shells filled with fresh raspberries and raspberry pastry cream. It’s a ton of berry flavors with a touch of crunch from the macaron shells.
Since we had a fair number of sweets, we took the phenomenal Mont Blanc tart and raspberry lychee macaron to go.
Another great bakery that feels laid back but still equally serious about their food is Urban Bakery Works. It’s a popular, hip café that serves healthy but interesting salads and hot dishes. But what friends have told me their innovative croissants are what you should get.
What makes their croissants unique is the fusion of Cantonese flavors and textures and apply it to the croissant. Their best selling croissant is the pineapple bun (pronounced in Cantonese: bo lo bao; 菠蘿包) croissant, a croissant topped with the signature crumbly “pineapple bun” topping. It’s a fun take on the traditional croissant and it does take like the bun with the classic textures of the butter croissant.
The other intriguing croissant is the egg custard croissant. I’m referring to the classic dim sum steamed bun, lai wong bao. The chefs developed the recipe to have the beloved sweet-salty custard filling baked inside a croissant and topped with a sweet, crunchy topping.
They do have very good savory options with puff pastries. The beef pie was wonderfully flaky with flavorful beef filling (and it does have a good amount of beef chunks). The chicken pie was tasty as well and it was gently spiced with curry.
Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon and Urban Works Bakery are distinct cafés and bakeries in The Landmark but they are great places to have excellent pastries for breakfast or any time of the day, and also as a respite from the luxurious shopping.
To view more photos of this visit, please view the photo set or the gallery below:
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The Landmark
Official Website
15 Queen’s Road
Central, Hong Kong
Map
