China World Tower's The Lounge Gets an Afternoon Tea Revamp, 80 Floors Up; Atmosphere, a New Head Bartender
Perched at a regal 80 floors above Beijing's CBD at the top of the China World Summit Wing, it's a given that Atmosphere Bar and its neighboring café and restaurant The Lounge make for one of the best views to be had of the city's horizon in flux. The experience of sitting so high up warrants a special occasion alone, one that's almost certainly to be marked with an initial bout of dizziness and a finger in the ear as you wiggle out the remnants of the pressure inflicted by the elevator ride skywards.
This occasion is in aid of testing The Lounge's new afternoon tea set before walking the 30 paces to Atmosphere to sample the creations of Mochammad Fadli, the bar's new head bartender as of February.
First up, the afternoon tea. Being British, you might think a multi-level, ornamental cake set is the only way I eat all my meals. And you would be right, except for the small fact that my perma-broke status sadly doesn't allow for such luxury, and luxury is what The Lounge is aspiring to. Designed based on elements of the high-end Italian lifestyle brand La Perla, this new set features eight desserts stacked on a platter that doesn't look too dissimilar to the Chinese character 丰 (fēng), which coincidentally means bountiful.
The savory and sweet cakes and sandwiches range from a simple egg tart to as well as a open smoked salmon sandwich, to a gum-licking dark chocolate cup filled with chocolate mousse and sprinkled with, what else, cocoa powder. You'll definitely want to take a partner in crime to demolish this lot to avoid a paranoid ride back down to earth, second guessing as to whether the elevator is traveling twice its usual speed. If that's not enough, fill up on the comparatively austere offering of scones, jam, and whipped cream, which left me secretly wishing for another plateful to have my dirty way with.
Well, enough of that.
Over at Atmosphere, the dapper Mochammad Fadli, who originates from and cut his cocktail-making-teeth in Jakarta, but has done stints in Sydney, Dubai, Cambodia, and Bahrain over the past 15 years, creates an entirely new cocktail menu for the bar that boasts a combination of local ingredients and those compiled during his travels.
Highlights include his flashy Metropolitan Sorbet, a lime-infused based vodka concoction with crème de mure, fresh lime and cranberry juice, as well as the creative and China-inspired Great Green Wall, which is a mixture of gin, Poire Williams eau de vie, elderflower syrup, simple syrup, and fresh lime juice topped with homemade baby bok choy foam.
Not one for overly out-there cocktails, my favorite proved to be Fadli's take on an a classic Old Fashioned, suitably smooth, strong, and full of orange notes. At RMB 116 plus service charge, these cocktails don't come cheap but on a particularly clear day they make for the perfect excuse to enjoy Beijing from an angle you rarely get to see.
The La Perla afternoon tea is available from 2-6pm and guests will receive a special La Perla scented candle as a gift. The set costs RMB 276 for one person and RMB 452 for two. Call 8571 6459 or send an email to fbreservations.cwsw@shangri-la.com for reservations.
Photos courtesy of The Lounge and Atmosphere, Veronica Wu
