Artisan Lounge by Lubuds — Restaurant in Kowloon

Located on the ground floor of the artsy K11 Musea shopping complex, Artisan Lounge is hard to miss with its ornate decorations and signature afternoon tea set presented on a classy birdcage suspended above the table.

Luckily we had called to book a table in advance, so we could skip the queue. We were a bit late as we hadn’t known that the dining time was limited to 2 hours, but that was still more than enough time for us.

There are 2 all-day afternoon tea sets to choose from - the Artisanal or Musea ($1688 each, using premium ingredients including wagyu, abalone and truffle). When we visited last year, the Artisanal set was a little bit different, but the main highlights are still the same as the current menus seen online.

For the bottom rack of savories, we loved the ham & melon the most, as the fun experience of squeezing out the melon juice balanced out the saltiness of the Iberico ham. We also loved the tuna tataki, as the chips on each side of the seared tuna paired nicely with the sesame crust for a nice crispy texture.

Some of the sweets were too sugary for us, but we really enjoyed the soft cheese cup that had a delightful layer of berry compote and the light buttery lemon madeleine that neutralized the palette. The flower bavarois was visually stunning with edible flowers and matching fruit infused in the clear gelatin while the artisan bonbon was a unique lime chocolate.

We were super full already after finishing everything on the racks, so we didn’t have enough space for the scones that came later and the waitress nicely helped us wrap it up to bring home. There were two flavors, in which we preferred the ones with cranberries over the plain ones. Not a huge fan of scones due its crumbly and dryer nature, but the clotted cream and homemade rose jam definitely elevated the entire experience.

Organic tea or coffee under $75 were included, so we got a French earl grey and cold latte. Definitely recommend ordering hot tea for the pretty teapot!

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2025 Restaurant Week 2

Burrata Cheese with Cherry Tomato When you see "burrata with cherry tomato" on a menu, you're probably imagining a generous mound of creamy cheese oozing all over a bed of fresh tomatoes. Think again. What arrived was so minuscule that I could count the tomatoes on one hand (and still have fingers left for the burrata). It was borderline comical-like the kitchen's idea of a sample, not a starter. The flavors were decent enough (you can't really go wrong with burrata, tomatoes, and balsamic), but come on: at least pretend to be generous.

Pan-Seared Foie Gras Rice In Chinese, there's a phrase “味同嚼蠟,” which means "it tastes like chewing wax." This dish took that concept to new heights-more like chewing oily air. Whoever made this might have forgotten salt even existed, because the flavor was missing in action. Meanwhile, the rice was doused in extra oil for no apparent reason. And the foie gras, normally a treat, was just a greasy slab on top. To add insult to injury, they charged me an extra HKD$50 for this travesty-money that could've bought me a far better fried rice at a Hong Kong-style café. Actually, let's not insult cha chaan tengs; they at least know how to season their food

Brownie Finally, a tiny beacon of hope: the brownie. It tasted like a standard-issue chocolate dessert—rich, a little fudgy, and topped with a decent dollop of cream. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to slam, either. At least it was edible and sweet enough to salvage the meal’s sorry state.

Service The staff whisked away my water glass with no explanation. I didn't want San Pellegrino or Acqua Panna. I just wanted to stay hydrated. Apparently that's too much to ask. Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding, but it felt like a passive-aggressive way of upselling...

Well, this was a shock of an experience. The place looks quite comfy since it's in a nice modern mall. However, it is the opposite of what it looks like.

Me and my wife sat here to enjoy a nice break from walking having an espresso and an earl grey tea. Little did I know that the coffee would taste rancid and worse than a capsule. On top of this, the basic such as sugar was not even provided with the cup nor did they ask me how I would like my coffee. When I asked for sugar, they gave me a replacement that tastes nothing like it and made the espresso even worse, intensifying its rancidness.

I am a coffee lover and never expected in my life that I would not be able to finish an espresso so, given how small espressos are, I think this explains pretty well how bad this place is.

The earl grey was not bad, however the bar staff is really not welcoming and poses as someone who doesn't like their job.

Definitely can go to a cheaper place and get much better service and food. Do not recommend this overpriced, tacky, piece of food garbage...