A Cathay Present: Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge

After hearing so much about Cathay Pacific lounges, I am so glad that I am finally able to be able to check them out. I am like a little kid, bursting out when the transit bus arrive and speeding through transit security like a season traveller. Belts off, laptops out, two bins each. The security check let us out around Gate 1, same as if you are departing from Hong Kong. I decide to head to The Pier, which is located around 62, it is a long walk. Thankfully there is a train that takes you from Gate 1 to Gate 40, but it only goes in one direction. Weird! This is one of the two awesome first class lounge in Cathay Pacific base, with the other being The Wing.

The Pier is located one level below the gate, like a basement. You can find it easily and just head down the escalator, the host will be there to welcome you. There was no wait, even though given the amount of premium passenger from Cathay as well as Oneworld Elites, it doesn’t seems to be too crowded. The whole lounge simply felt classy and like a loft. Just next to the entrance is the assistance desk where they would be able to help you with any booking or ticket issues.

Then you will be lead out to the main “Corridor” I shall name this the corridor as it links you to various areas of the lounge. The is the main pathway in the lounge and you get to the different areas from here. The lounge is segregated into numerous areas, such as The Dining Room, The Retreat, The Bureau, The Library and The Pantry. Of course, The Dining Room is definitely the most crowded area of the lounge. I love the way they categorised it, it sounds really classy and well defined.

Let me just says that the “Corridor” is absolutely gorgeous. It is classy and not over the moon like Emirates with all their gold finishing. It is designed like a classy manhattan loft or a furniture shop. I enjoyed taking so many photos here!

First up, The Dining Room. This is the first place that I head to for a bite after unable to secure a massage reservation, I will share more about that later on. The Dining Room is located at the far end of the lounge. The Dining Room is model like an actual restaurant with sit down experience, it is famed to be good. I was welcomed in and ushered to a table.

The whole place feels awesome, it is also the most crowded and noisy place in the whole lounge, Somehow it feels like a Bread Street Kitchen under Gordon Ramsey. There was the use of green and gold, which gave it a mixture of class as well as low key.

The menu was presented and a drink was offer. The staff were nice and polite, although certainly not polished enough as well as the command of English aren’t that good too. Perhaps I had too high hopes for them. HEHHE Hey, My canto is pretty awesome and I am able to order a glass of champagne in canto.

One thing to note is the lack of outlets in the dining room. I won’t say that there is any better seats in the dining room since they are all rather the same.  There is also a mixture of family and smaller tables, so it really depends on your group. What I would wish would be the view of the apron from The Dining Room, which other parts of the lounge had.

I asked for some recommendation and my order was taken. I appreciate that the meal was served in minutes, it was lighting fast and this is clearly super important for a lounge, although it seems like it was a mess, since my main course arrive first, followed by the two starter that I ordered. This is not perfect, after all it was said to be an actually restaurant experience. I ordered the Double Boiled Sea Conch and Chicken Soup as well as the Xiao Long Bao for my starter. They were pretty good.

Then for the main I had the Pan Seared Atlantic Salmon. While the waiter did mentioned that the portion was small, it was tiny, the salmon was of the size of my spoon. On the bright side, it was one of the worse salmon I ever had. The salmon were rubbery, like way too overcook. I think I can do it better myself. It literally just ruined the piece of fish. The sides were pretty good though. This is the worst dish I ever had here, word of advice don’t order any fish dishes in the lounge!

I was still feeling famished and decide to get the Wagyu Beer Cheese Burger, which was super awesome, The meat was flavourful and juicy with a nice char outside. This is very much recommended as one of the best dishes in the lounge and it didn’t disappoint. While I’m not an experts in burgers, the bun was crispy and buttery and the patty was thick, crisp and tender on the inside, it was flavourful. I went for medium well, which is not what most would do. I love that there is a bite on the patty. It came with bbq sauce as well as ketchup. The fries were awesome and came crispy!

I ordered the Mixed Berries Clafoutis for dessert. Although there is nothing interesting to talk about.

I had a glass of champagne and upon the manager recommendation, a cocktail called Asian Mojito.

On my return trip, I was back again for lunch, while there is no change to the menu I got to try some different dishes. I ordered the Singaporeans Fried Prawns with Oatmeal, this was served with rice. It was just alright. Cathay dining seems to be really underwhelming considering the awesome experience I had in Flagship First Dining hours ago. Thankfully the prawns are fresh.

While in HK, live in HK, I also got the Wanton Noodles which is definitely something that you could not miss. Laugh at me all you want, including that fellow Canadian guy that arrive from YVR together with me, the noodles were awesome. Fresh tasty wonton with springy noodles and the broth, how comforting that it. Paired with some XO sauce, beautiful. I even went for a second helping on those wonton.

Next up, The Retreat. This is one of Cathay Lounge speciality and alot of unique features is found here, including the massage service as well as the showers and day suites. One of my first task is to dart to The Retreat, to make a booking for the massage. The Pier provides free massage services, however they are super popular and constantly fully booked, I tried to book one, but the earliest slot is 4.15pm, which doesn’t work out for me, hopefully I’m able to try it on another day. Something did surprises me though as I was told that you are not allowed to book the Day Suites and Shower, it is just on a first come first serve basis. Here is a menu for the services though.

This time around on my second visit, I managed to get a booking for the massage within my layover on ground. There was a wait but nothing beats complimentary massage. I finally know what is the hold up, there were space for 3 guest as once. That means a total of 12 pax can be served in an hour, but there was only one masseur working. It does seems that the service was improve from 10 mins session in the past to 15 mins currently. I got the eye treatment which was really fantastic, considering the fact that I had been almost up for more than 40 hours.

The lounge have awesome shower rooms and they are all individually located. It is so gorgeous, each came with a toilet, a chair and such a fancy decor. The amenities are provided by Aesop. I really love the rain forest shower. The use of a little gold just elevated the whole vibes. They provide towels, toothbrush, hairdryer and other amenities as well.

Then the Day Suites. This are awesome quiet rooms that have a daybed for you to laze and rest on. They face a tarmac and had like an awesome view of planes. It does seems a little weird to have a BA plane rather than a Cathay one. You can bring some snacks over if you want as well. Do note that there is not an actual door but just a curtain. Although foot traffic is really low. I do find the heat a real issue. It was facing the tarmac and the sun was shining in. That makes it super warm and stuffy in the Day Suites. I in fact could not even spend like 15 mins in it, let alone sleep. This is less than ideal.

If you require to do some business, you can always head to The Bureau, how fancy does that sound! Here is the business center and you can find some really awesome cubicle, like in a gentlemen’s club, to work on. There are also computers provided if you do not have your laptop.

The last two area that I would like to share on would be The Pantry as well as The Library. The Pantry is a small room where you can grab some snacks, drinks, this is the self help area. I love how good everything look, there is pastries, snacks, cakes, fruits, some cold cuts and cheese as well. Furthermore you can get coffee, tea, drinks all here. The fridge look so amazing with bottles and bottles of juice, beer and fancy water.

Lastly, the main chilling area in the lounge is called The Library, this is also where the gorgeous bar is located at. The main seating areas are here as well. A assortments of reading materials can be found on the side. It is absolutely gorgeous, it actually look like some designer furniture showroom.

It is not a super huge space, but very well designed, the chairs all look super comfy and it faces the tarmac and you have an amazing view of the plane park nearby. I really love how they did this up.  Then, there is the Bar, this is the main centerpiece of the lounge and it is gorgeous.

I just wish that I had more time to spend here. You can ask for any drinks from the manned bar as well. Probably they should save the gate for a cx plane since it is such a nice view and also the nearest to the lounge. Something to improve on!

I was in a rush, given that I had only about 2 hours in the lounge, which is clearly not enough! A layover is never too long in HK, since there are 4 different lounges for me to review, sadly I have only been able to complete The Pier First Class Lounge, didn’t even have time to check out the Business Class side. Hopefully I will be able to next week. I will definitely recommend to head to the airport early or plan a lengthy layover to enjoy the lounge. This is definitely one of the best that I have been to! If you want to chill head here, if you wanna have a nap and a shower, The Wing is a better choice. I will do an in depth review on The Wing soon.