Last week I celebrated another year of birth with an afternoon of tea and cocktails at one of Hong Kongs newest speakeasies, Dr. Ferns Gin Parlour. Like many of Hong Kongs infamous speakeasies, Dr. Ferns comes with a fun backstory: Dr. Fern, an unconventional physician, has opened an office in Central with the intention of curing his patients’ illnesses with local, botanic herbs and gin from around the world.

You’ll find his office located in the Landmark Atrium on the first floor. As you head towards the entrance, you’ll notice two cleverly marked doors. The “waiting room” is actually a fake door that doesn’t open, so be sure to mind the sign and “please see the doctor next door”, which will be to your right.

The inside of the parlour is quaint and quirky with mismatched Victorian-era furniture and subtle nods to the doctors favorite book, Alice and Wonderland. The drink menu includes more than 250 varieties of gin from all over the world, making it the largest gin establishment in Hong Kong.

Before we sampled some gin, we took part in the Mad Hatter tea sampling. A few of the sweet and savory items on the menu included:

Savories

• The tick tock roll: lobster roll
• The truffle bonkers sandwich: lightly scrambled egg sandwich with cucumber, cream cheese and truffle paste (my favorite of the savories)
• Tweedle Dee’s treat: a heaping amount of smoked salmon on toasted sourdough (my second favorite)
• Wonderlands cream cheese and crackers: cream cheese dip topped with sesame seeds, enjoyed with crackers.

Sweets

• Queen of tartes: matcha green tea tarte
• Eat me tarte: chocolate ganache with raspberry filling
• Cheesy rabbit cake: simple cheesecake (my favorite of the sweets)
• Cheshire carrot cake: spiced carrot cake with cream cheese icing

For tea, I enjoyed the Yin and Yang Chinese tea, while Mr. Dave opted for the apple pie tea, which surprisingly, was not as sweet as it sounds.

After the tea set, it was time for some gin. I’m not much of a gin drinker, but when in Rome, right? The gin menu is quite overwhelming with more than 20 pages of gin alone, so feel free to ask the staff (dressed in lab coats, because it’s a doctors office, remember?) for recommendations. There is also a list of “prescribed” gin and tonic cocktails recommended by the doctor himself.

I decided to basically do eeny-meeny-miny-moe with my order. I selected a spicy gin from Scotland and paired it with a crisp tonic. As I mentioned above, Dr. Ferns beverages are all specialized with a specific fruit or herb; mine came with a couple of tiny blueberries. Mr. Dave went with one of the prescribed cocktails which was served with a lemon twist.

Although both were good, I learned that I should have followed doctors orders. Dave and I ended up trading as his was more of the crispness I was going for, and mine was making me sprout chest hair.

After we finished our cocktails and snacks it was time to part ways with the doctor. If you’re looking for a fun twist on afternoon tea, or if you’re simply looking to cure what ails you, then I would highly recommend Dr. Ferns Gin Parlour as the best medicine in town!

The afternoon tea set is priced at $498 HKD for two, with an additional $50 per gin and tonic.

Dr Fern’s Gin Parlour

Shop B31A, First Basement, The Landmark Atrium, Central

Tel: 2111 9449 (tea bookings recommended)

Open: 2pm-1am (Friday and Saturday until 2am)