Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental hotel stirred up ridicule on Friday with an afternoon-tea promotion for men based on pork pies and beef rather than dainty snacks "normally preserved for women".

From March, however, "distinguished men will be able to meet and relax, or secure business deals over two different afternoon teas... which have been created especially for them", it said.

"It is quite silly, as a marketing strategy, to single out certain food and beverage outlets and meals as more suitable to one sex than the other," Annie Chan, chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Feminism, told AFP.