Together at last: afternoon tea and luxury footwear. That, at least, is the proposition behind the Gianvito Rossi Ribbon Afternoon Tea, available at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong’s Café 103 until November 30. It’s an association that could perhaps be described as a tiny bit tenuous – but if it results in an afternoon tea like this one, who cares?

In honour of shoemaker Gianvito Rossi’s latest collection, the Ritz-Carlton chefs have taken some of the ingredients that characterise Italian cuisine and experimented with them, resulting in offerings like the semi-dried pomodori formaggio sphere with lemon gel – which could not sound more molecular if it sous-vided itself – and the rather more traditional but no less delicious-sounding marinated octopus and capsicum tartlet with orange aioli.

Sweeter offerings include lemon ricotta with crumble cheesecake, and beetroot tiramisu. The whole thing even comes on a stand topped by a cut-out of the shoe brand’s ribbon stiletto. The only remaining question – what do you wear?

A five-star CBD treatment

Further evidence of the ongoing mainstreaming of CBD comes with the news that you can now get it in a five-star hotel. Specifically, the Oriental Spa at Hong Kong’s Landmark Mandarin Oriental (LMO) is promoting the plant extract as a sleep therapy. CBD, or cannabidiol, is the non-intoxicating, entirely legal component of cannabis, which has numerous claimed therapeutic benefits – and, if you hadn’t noticed, it’s risen to the top of the wellness agenda and these days is in seemingly everything.

At the LMO, both pure CBD oil and something called “deep sleep tincture” are deployed in a 90-minute massage that aims to help the many Hongkongers who struggle with sleep, what with this being a city full of bright lights and loud noises that fetishises overwork. The oil used in the treatment comes from Kiara Naturals, a recently established CBD company that harvests its products in the somewhat unlikely location of Switzerland.

Jakarta’s new hottest address?

Perhaps the most decisive indicator yet that the pandemic is on the wane: new luxury hotels are being launched again. On September 9, Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels opened the doors of its first property in Southeast Asia.

The Langham, Jakarta, features 223 guest rooms – including a 3,600 sq ft Presidential Suite – spread over 65 floors in the city’s Sudirman Central Business District. Its stylish design is the work of architecture firm Smallwood Reynolds Stewart Stewart, although the most eye-catching feature of all comes from Czech lighting and glassware company Lasvit: a chandelier in the ground floor lobby depicting 3,000 crystal butterflies, in a nod to those that inhabit Indonesia’s rainforests.

The hotel’s extensive art collection includes works by Indonesian artists such as John Martono, Hanafi and Jumaldi Alfi, while all the Langham F&B favourites are present and correct, including Tom’s by Tom Aikens, Morimoto, Artesian and the Hong Kong-inspired T’ang Court.

An ode to the malt

The alcoholic drink industry is one of the few not to have suffered so visibly during Covid-19 – customers simply moved from enjoying their drinks in bars and pubs to drowning their sorrows at home during lockdowns.

A sign of the continuing prosperity of the booze business is Johnnie Walker’s vast new visitor experience, newly opened in Edinburgh, Scotland. Set over 71,500 square feet, Johnnie Walker Princes Street is a testament to the success of the world’s bestselling Scotch whisky. This swanky new emporium promises a vast range of delights over its expansive eight floors.

Arguably most impressive is the Journey of Flavour tour that will allow guests to have their personal flavour preferences mapped from 800 possible combinations, with drinks tailored to their palate. Other delights include the Explorers’ Bothy whisky bar stocked with 150 different whiskies, and the 1820 cocktail bar where drinks are paired with a carefully curated menu sourced from, and representing in culinary form, every corner of Scotland.