REVIEW: Cathay Pacific – The Pier First Class Lounge, HKG (Lunch service)

Cathay Pacific (CX)

  • Location: Hong Kong (HKG) – Gate 63
  • Class: First
  • Access:
    • OneWorld First Class ticket holders
    • OneWorld Emerald cardholders
  • Date: October 2015


THIS IS A FOLLOW UP TO MY FIRST REVIEW OF THIS FACILITY:    REVIEW – Cathay Pacific: The Pier First Class Lounge, Hong Kong (Breakfast service)


This time around the Kowloon station check in was fast, friendly and courteous.

I don’t often travel with checked bags (usually only when I have diving gear) but I appreciate that a lot of people do. If you have checked bags the in town check-in facility makes so much sense.
Security was fairly clear on this cloudy Sunday afternoon, which meant that I was in The Pier within 20 minutes of arriving at the Airport station.

I made my way directly to The Dining and sat in a corner booth, where I could spread out comfortably. Once again, the staff were totally on the ball. It was almost as if they’d had the same training as the FAs. As soon as I began to think about ordering, one of them was already looking my way, a few feet away, waiting for me to make eye contact.

The Dining – Lunch Service


REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos 

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

The lunchtime menu (depth of field on my new camera, unfortunately not very conducive to actually making out the contents)

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

I love the solid silver cutlery and crisp white linens, also little details like the silver tray under the salt and pepper mills, to prevent crumbs getting on the table.

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

I started with a delicious papaya and fresh prawn salad

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

The sweet, salty and sour were very well balanced but I would have liked it to be a lot more spicy. Still, a great plate of food and far, far better than the breakfast dishes.

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

I then went for the braised pork belly and mixed vegetables, which was really good too

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

Braised pork belly and mixed vegetables

 


The Pantry


REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

I snapped a shot of The Pantry on the way to the Day Suites. The freshly squeezed juices were gone at this time of day, unfortunately. I really would have loved a little bottle of the watermelon juice.

I had around an hour to kill and once again, having asked immediately upon entering, I found out that the wait for a foot massage was at least three hours.

I think that passengers ticketed in Firs should be given priority, much like at the Qantas First Lounge in SYD and the Concorde Room at LHR. My next layover at The Pier will be for three hours and I’ll be arriving on one of the first flights of the day, so hopefully I’ll get to experience the foot massage then. (SPOILER ALERT: I didn’t)

In any case, an hour was the perfect amount of time to spend in the peace and quiet of the Day Suites.

 


The Day Suites


I was surprised at how large and spacious the suites are, regular photos never really seem to capture this. The GoPro on the other hand, tells the story quite well:

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

The lighting is subdued and calming, the natural wooden walls also contrast beautifully with the metal and concrete outside.

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

The design is very thoughtful overall, the AC vents however are very badly positioned. They point straight down into your face as you lie on the daybed. I feel that this would be relatively easy to fix, simply placing a wooden slat a few inches under the vents and directing the airflow out to one side.

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

Making myself comfortable

REVIEW - Cathay Pacific Pier First Class Lounge HKG - Hong Kong - Jarvis Marcos

I could watch this all day…

After a very enjoyable lounge visit it was finally time for me to try Cathay Pacific First Class on a long haul flight for the first time!


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.