Afternoon tea has become a mainstay at many of Hong Kong's leading eateries

Scones, jam and cream, cucumber sandwiches, chitchatting over a pot of earl grey tea - it doesn't get more British than this - and whiling away a perfect summer afternoon with friends. This quintessentially English ritual did not depart from the city with the British in the late 1990s, but stayed and thrived, and now is a mainstay at many of Hong Kong's best restaurants and hotel eateries.

Afternoon tea is so popular that queues start forming at some of the major hotels at least an hour before serving time, which can be anywhere between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, depending on where you go.

One such venue is The Peninsula, Hong Kong's oldest hotel, which claims to be the first establishment in the city to introduce the concept of afternoon tea.

"When The Peninsula opened its doors on December 11, 1928, The Lobby was a quiet tea lounge," says Florian Trento, group executive chef at The Peninsula Hotels. "But it fast became a lively, colourful 'crossroads of the East'. While we don't have a specific date in our records as to when this tradition [of afternoon tea] started at The Peninsula, the hotel was the first in Hong Kong to introduce this concept, along with popular tea dances which took place every Sunday."

Trento, who has been with the hotel since 1987, says the tea dances attracted the glitz and glamour of society back in the early days, but the celebrated classic afternoon tea has drawn people from all walks of life for more than 85 years. He believes its popularity is because "the afternoon tea experience at The Peninsula is the epitome of elegance and refined indulgence in a nostalgic colonial setting".