Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge Review Hong Kong
For my Cathay Pacific First Class flight two weeks ago from Singapore to Hong Kong and on to San Francisco I had a 4 hour layover in Hong Kong. Since I had been to The Wing First Class lounge near Gate 4 several times I wanted to try something new.
Since May 2015 Cathay Pacific operates the The Pier First Class Lounge near Gate 63. That is a solid 15 minutes walk away from the gates where most West Coast US departure leave from but it's worth it as you will see below.
When I stopped by the lounge at 8 PM I expected some solid crowds since the Cathay pacific lounges fill up with passengers departing for the many flights to Europe and the US just before/after midnight. However the huge lounge was pretty empty almost the entire time.
Since I was hungry I steered clear of the spa and settled into the restaurant area. It is huge with maybe 30 tables. There was only one other table occupied at 8.30 PM - prime dinner time if you ask me.
The menu was exhaustive with a range of delicious options. I opted for two appetizers and two entrees. The portion size was rather small to begin with and I was curios to try more food options.
All the options were delicious and a big improvement over the food served at the Wing. The service was impeccable as well - maybe a bit too rushed as it was rough to finish anything since the wait staff would literally grab the table from under my fork.
After this feast I moved on to the sofa area and explored the snack buffet. The buffet as a number of delicacies like the yogurt and was very well presented.
The lounge area has a waiter drinks service (I selected champagne and rose which were both excellent) and macadamia nuts!
For most of the time it was very quiet and very comfortable.
I have two gripes with the lounge - I brought a warm sweater and I really needed it for the lounge - it was freezing and other passengers also were bundled up in their coats. Additionally the Internet was so sloooow - think top speeds of 1 Mbit. Add to that that I was basically by myself in the huge sofa area and the speed seems ridiculous (even for a public airport WiFi this would be considered super slow). It also kept dropping the connection every time.
If they would now fix the Internet I would think Cathay provides serious competition to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal.