【正文】 and the small tables are intentional imitations of the ones that Coco Chanel once sat at every afternoon for hot chocolate. The famous hot chocolate, known as L’Africain, is a luxurious mixture of four types of cocoa beans imported from Africa, blended in Paris and then shipped to Shanghai. It’s sinfully sweet, rich and thick as if putting a bar of melting chocolate directly on the tongue and the fresh whipped cream on the side makes a light, but equally gratifying contrast. It is also sold in glass bottles as takeaway. The signature MontBlanc chestnut cake consists of three parts: the pureed chestnut on top, the vanilla cream like stuffing, and the meringue as base. Get all three layers in one scoop, not only for the different textures but also various flavors of sweetness. The dessert has maintained its popularity for a century, even in a country like France, perhaps the world’s most petitive place for desserts. A much overlooked pairing, is the ParisNew York choux pastry and N226 chocolate flavored tea. The choux pastry is a mouthful of airy pecanflavored whipped cream, while the tea, a blend of black teas from China and Ceylon, cocoa and rose petals, offers a more subtle fragrance of flowers and chocolate. Ordering these two items, featuring a muted sweetness, makes it easier for you to fit into your little black dress. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and light supper are also served at the tearoom, a hub of many cultures and takes in a mix of different styles of French cuisines, according to the management team. The semicooked foie gras terrine, is seductive and deceptive. It’s generously served at the size and shape of a toast, while the actual brioche toast is baked into a curved slice dipped with fig chutney. The flavor, however, is honest: strong, smooth and sublime. And you don’t actually need the toast for crunchiness. This is the season for high teas, with dainty cups of fine china and little pastries that appeal to both visual and physical appetites. But there is one high tea with a difference, and Pauline D. Loh finds out just exactly why it is special. Earl Grey tea and macarons are all very well for the crucial recuperative break inbetween intensive bouts of holiday season shopping. And for those who prefer savory to sweet, there is still the selection of classic Chinese snacks called dim sum to satisfy and satiate. High tea is a meal to eat with eye and mouth, an inbetween indulgence that should be light enough not to spoil dinner, but sufficiently robust to take the edge off the hunger that strikes hours after lunch. The afternoon tea special at ShangXi at the Four Seasons Hotel Pudong has just the right elements. It is a pampering meal, with touches of luxury that make the high tea session a treat in itself. Whole baby abalones are braised and then topped on a shortcrust pastry shell, a sort of Chinese version of the Western volauvent, but classier. Even classier is the dim sum staple shrimp dumpling or hargow, upgraded with the addition of slivers of midnight dark truffles. This 共 14 頁 第 14 頁 is a master touch, and chef Simon Choi, who presides unchallenged at ShangXi, has scored a winner again. Sweet prawns and aromatic truffles — what’s not to love? His masterful craftsmanship is exhibited in yet another pastry — a sweet pastry that is shaped to look like a walnut, but which you can put straight into the mouth. It crumbles immediately, and the slightly sweet, nutty morsel is so easy to eat you’ll probably reach straight for another. My favorite is the dessert that goes by the name yangzhi ganlu, or ambrosia from the gods. The hotel calls it chilled mango cream with sago, pomelo and bird’s nest – made with ingredients that resonate with every female soul. It does taste like ambrosia, with the sweetsour fragrance of the mango forming the first layer of taste and sensation, and the pomelo sacs and sago pearls providing the tactile contrast. The bird’s nest — it’s the ingredient that gilds the lily, since it is supposed to nourish and nurture a perfect plexion. For those unfamiliar with this exotic ingredient, the bird’s nest is not a bundle of twigs, but is, instead, the dried secretion that cave swifts use to build their nest. Technically, it’s bird saliva, but the Chinese believe that it has collagenboosting properties essential to beauty. To me, it just tastes good, adding a slight gelatinous crunch to the back of the teeth. There is also a baked mushroom puff pastry that includes the highly prized Matsutake or pine mushroom. You also get a choice of teas, but I strongly remend the aged Pu’er from Yunnan province. It is a mellow tea that will go perfectly with the rich little nuggets, and will warm you up on a cold afternoon. Incidentally, the general guide is green tea such as Longjing or Dragonwell for the hot season, semifermented teas like Wulong or Iron Buddha for autumn, and more warming teas like Pu’er for winter. The ShangXi afternoon tea costs 228 yuan ($37) per person, and 388 yuan for the more opule 。brand ambassador’ on hand to ensure the business adheres to its ethos of creating innovative, hearthbaked pizzas, a slice of PR blurb that Simpson insists lives up to the hype. They are very innovative, he says. The problem with most fast food places is