If you’re looking for a way to celebrate Galentine’s Day (Feb. 13), this afternoon tea is the perfect excuse.
The Artisan Loft, located upstairs of DEAN & DELUCA HAWAIʻI at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikīkī Beach, offers afternoon tea and a weekend brunch. Its afternoon tea is available every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The afternoon tea’s “urban picnic-style” experience is a five-course menu ($60) that highlights fresh, local ingredients, while showcasing the DEAN & DELUCA bakery’s selection of artisanal breads.
First things first — choosing your tea. You can choose from an assortment of hot or iced teas. The selection can be overwhelming — there are many hot teas to choose from — but the servers are great at breaking down the choices by flavor profile.
We ended up with the caffeine-free Rooibos vanilla tea, along with the caffeine-free red berries tea. The “Afternoon in Paris” flavor, a blend of rose and vanilla, is a customer favorite and came highly recommended.
If you want to take your afternoon tea experience to the next level, an a la carte cocktail menu — with beverages like yuzu strawberry fusion ($18), afternoon bubbly ($18) and a tipsy tea flight ($25) — is available.
The tea experience begins with a vanilla scone served with housemade strawberry jam and mascarpone whipped cream. The fragrant scone boasts a flaky interior, and the light mascarpone whipped cream is to die for. It’s like eating a cloud.
This saffron seafood chowder is crowned with a puff pastry. It’s so flavorful that you’ll probably wish that you had an entire bowl of it, but the petite size allows you to save stomach space for the courses to come.
The assortment of savory sandwiches includes garlic shrimp on focaccia bread featuring a Kaua‘i garlic shrimp salad, beef katsu sando with katsu sauce and Dijon mustard, smoked salmon truffle tartar, and mushroom duxelle with saffron spread (garlic herb-roasted Ali‘i mushrooms) on a croissant crostini.
This course also includes chicken pate with red wine gelee — served with house-baked fig bread — edamame-stuffed mushrooms and ratatouille terrine, a colorful medley of seasonal local farm vegetables and herbs in a tomato water gel.
The stuffed mushrooms are a one-bite wonder — made even more pleasant from the crunchy panko — and the smoked salmon tartar with black truffle pate was one of my favorite dishes. The katsu sando, featuring beef katsu cooked medium-well with a panko-crusted exterior and soft, pillowy shokupan bread, is reminiscent of what you’d find in Japan.
Next came my favorite part of afternoon tea — the dessert course.
This selection included raspberry vanilla mousse cake with a white chocolate glaze, mango pudding topped with mango sauce, rich vanilla crème brulee, pineapple tart — a buttery shell filled with pineapple mousse — and the featured macaron flavors of the day. The flavors for the latter happened to be some of my favorites — chocolate and Oreo.
The afternoon tea concludes with a petite Kochi yuzu sorbet. The sorbet is made with yuzu and zest from Kochi, resulting in a refreshing aftertaste.
CONTACT
The Artisan Loft
DEAN & DELUCA HAWAIʻI at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikīkī Beach
383 Kālaimoku St. 1F, Honolulu
808-729-9720
https://www.deandeluca-hawaii.com/afternoon-tea/
Instagram: @deananddelucahawaii
Afternoon tea is from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays (last seating at 3 p.m.)
Valet parking at The Ritz-Carlton is validated for up to three hours
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
