Afternoon Tea at InterContinental Kaohsiung in Taiwan ended up being in the back area of what looks like a bar. The BL. T 33 seemed to share space or be right next to the SEEDS Restaurant, but that could also have been because I brought a 2-year-old with me. They allowed me to place her stroller behind the seats. My cousin phoned to make the reservation for me at the BL. T 33 the day before. It is also possible to make a reservation online.
The cost for one set of afternoon tea in November, 2023, was NT$1680 before the automatic 10% fee for a total of NT$1848/US$57.13. (The server recommended only one set, given my companion was a child.) It came with 2 teapots or coffees (refilled as requested or when noticed), 6 savory, 6 sweet, 2 scones, and a plate with 2 cookies, raspberry chocolate bark, strawberry jelly squares, and a truffle. I also received a pink beautyblender gift bag which contained a pink beauty blender, a silicone cleaning brush for the beauty blender, a soap to clean the beauty blender with, and a small clear pink zipper bag to hold it all.
They helpfully provided my English Rose tea in a squat teapot and my Mango Bergamot tea in a taller teapot. This was important, because the teapots otherwise looked the same. Both teas were quite good!
Next came the scones and their spread options, promptly followed by everything else. Of all that was provided, I found the presentation of the scones most impressive. The jar was pretty and there were warm pebbles at the bottom to keep the scones from cooling too quickly. The jar lid was a smooth comfortable wood I associate with spas and it was interesting to see everything through the glass.
However, there was significant confusion when it came to the spreads: The server described them to me in English as clotted cream, mascarpone cheese, and guava honey. After tasting, I was quite confident it was whipped butter, mango salsa, and guava honey. I personally suspect the server memorized a previous set in English and forgot to memorize what the new set is.
I was disappointed though not entirely surprised that 3 out of 6 of the savory things were cheese; cheese has seemed to be a default positive in the views of Taiwanese women when it comes to pastries. I suspected a 4th also was cheese but was less sure. The sweets were more to my liking. One positive is that the majority, sweet or savory, were complex in taste. It was unfortunate that the complexity involved tastes I did not like as much.
My dear 2-year-old daughter showed that she was decidedly not ready for her own tea set by being only interested in the cookies and spending most of teatime playing with her “egg”, also known as a beauty blender.
