My Current Go-To Afternoon Tea

As I age, I realised I don't fancy eating sweets anymore. Not like I was a big fan of sweets when younger, though. Three-tier afternoon tea sets have at least one tier that consists of sweets which is a total waste. I would often pack them back just to throw them away or leave them untouched. I find that savouries on these tiered sets are not enough for me.

So Goodwood Park Afternoon Tea buffet (3pm to 5pm on weekends) is the natural choice for me.

The facade which is under renovation

The hotel seems to be under renovation quite frequently.

 

I don't go there every week but I vaguely remember the side of the hotel was also being renovated on one of my trips here some months ago.

The buffet is a spread of English and European tea items, consisting of mainly savouries. 

Most of the time, I walk in and ask for a one-seater. Today, I was informed that it was fully booked at 2.45pm. I was given the choice of waiting at the hotel lobby which is next to La Expresso till 3.15pm or first take up the outdoor seat overlooking the swimming pool and be transferred to the indoor seating area if a table is available. I took up the latter and was moved to the indoor seat about 10 minutes later.

My first time at Goodwood Park was at the pool area and didn't feel that the table and chairs were too high for an afternoon tea. Now that I am relatively seasoned at afternoon teas, I find the height quite uncomfortable. It feels more like a lunch or dinner table.

I was quite relieved that an indoor seat was quickly available. Never mind that it was at the farthest corner from the buffet table.

I was glad that I missed my breakfast in the morning. I was famished and went straight for my scones and clotted cream. I enjoyed the staff-recommended coffee flavoured scones apart from my safe original scones. While others eat their scones with clotted cream, I eat clotted cream, with scones to go with it.

I was delighted to see cream of mushroom offered as the soup of the day. I always wondered why they couldn't have something common and nice for the soup although pumpkin soup was fine.

My second course: the sandwiches. 

My favourite has to be the lobster croissant. 

I usually have at least two helpings.

Had some fried finger food: 

some cheese-stuffed bite, fish goujon, mexican drumlet and plant-based lasagne

roast beef, meat-lover pizza and lobster croissant again

Last course: (anti-clockwise) apple strudel, cheese croissant, white chocolate eclair and ... get this, 

stone crab salad with avocado & pineapple

Chef's Specials appear in the middle of the afternoon tea and it's not unlimited: Apple Strudel, Wagyu Beef Slider with Foie Gras and Caramelized Onion and Baked Chicken & Pumpkin Filo Pie

You will be informed by the ringing of a bell which some girls seated beside me mistook for an ice-cream bell.

Baked Chicken & Pumpkin Filo Pie

Tried previously. Just a chicken pie lah.

Wagyu Beef Slider with Foie Gras and Caramelized Onion

Tried previously too. A meaty beef burger lor. Didn't taste the foie gras.

The roast beef which I had enjoyed for the previous few times I went. Nowadays I just have a token piece.

The scones rack

I am not a nut person so I have never tried the nut scones. Scones are filling eats so I usually eat two in the spirit of an afternoon tea. The bread pudding at the bottom of the rack was good too.

The bill was $81.55 for one pax. I sat there from 3pm to 5pm, taking my time to eat.

Now I enjoy going to afternoon teas alone. I like eating alone and quietly. Perhaps this is what age does to you. I don't feel self-conscious or uneasy that I am alone at places where people gather for a meet-up anymore. I don't care if people think I am weird or a poor-thing to be at a hotel's afternoon tea alone. I pick up whatever food I like with my fingers and stuff it into my mouth instead of trying to cut the finger food up into even smaller pieces to fit my mouth. I don't feel like engaging in chit-chats nowadays. I think it's noisy if the people at the next table gossip or talk shop and wish I could eat in peace. I am not the most social person and am often awkward with conversations so I usually prefer being alone. In fact, I cannot think of a time I prefer to have company nowadays.

After my divorce, I find that I especially cherish and enjoy me time, alone. I guess it's a luxury I never had for 18 years. I was forced to fight all the time. Had to be ready to fight any time, any day. 

Domestic violence does not need to be proven with bruises.

It's Certainly Grand at The Grand Lobby

After suffering a bout of cold and two fevers within a span of a week, I decided to go ahead with my afternoon tea at Raffles Hotel that I had booked a few days ago.

Before the hotel had closed for a two-year refurbishment, I had wanted to visit The Tiffin Room for an afternoon tea but for some reason, I procrastinated and had gone to other seemingly more glamorous and colourful afternoon teas at other hotels instead. By the time I saw that the hotel was closing for a two-year renovation on television, it was too late.

I told myself I must go for an afternoon tea at the renowned Raffles Hotel at least once. It was Michael Jackson's choice of stay when he came to Singapore. Must be good.

This was what greeted us the moment we stepped into the hotel

"Wow, so pristine!" I thought aloud.

We were ushered to The Grand Lobby which was on the left side of the chandelier.

I was given a not-so-ideally located table, almost beside the walkway, but it was still cosy and this was my view on my left.

I thought the edited picture looked closer to the reality, strangely. 

The lightings were warm white and the colonial feel was thick.

I looked longingly at the cosy and more private booth seats. 

Incidentally, the seats were allocated to two separate groups of Caucasians guests.

We were one of the first patrons there so I enquired if it was possible to let us have those two seaters inside.

"I'm afraid it's not possible. They are all taken." the Caucasian serving lady replied with an apologetic look after checking with someone else.

At the time of leaving, one of the tables was still empty though.

3-tier set:

Bottom tier - sandwiches with chicken, tuna and salmon as fillings

Middle tier - sweets

Top tier - apricot meringue and fruit cake-like pastry

I love the salmon sandwich best. 

The chef combined the usual cucumber and salmon with mayonnaise. 

It was delicious.

I actually ate all of the items except the fruit cake pastry. I rarely finish everything at an afternoon tea as there are items I know I definitely don't like, but the portion at The Grand Lobby was just nice and the food was scrumptious. "All are edible" is my verdict.

A quick snap of a pic as evidence that I was there

The peanut flavoured sweet was not as peanutty as most peanut items are. Not overly sweet either. 

William had thought that it was a real peanut sitting on top of the bar. He poked at it with a fork and was surprised to find that it was made of cream.

I thought it looked really realistic too.

The scones were separately served by a lady when we were in the middle of our tea. 

I thought we could only have two so I asked for one plain and one raisin scone.

The lady came by again later and checked if we wanted more scones. 

I asked for another plain one.

I prefer the plain one as I feel that there were too many raisins in a scone.

The scones were superior to many others. One of the best scones in my opinion.

One of the best clotted creams too!

I think Regent either comes close to or is on par with it.

I tried the rose petal jam. While I could taste the rose petal flavour, I found it too sweet for my liking, like any other jams.

I will stick to clotted cream.

The only item I didn't like: the fruit cake

We heard the playing of the 'piano' for the entire time but we didn't see the harpist until we were about to leave. She was hidden behind the wall separating The Grand Lobby and the sitting area.

I can't think of a word to describe the music. It was just right for an afternoon tea. Not overly soothing or calming. It certainly made me want to sit there longer to listen to the music. Regent Hotel has a live pianist. The music was great, but this is even better.

Even the intricacies of the tableware were so understated

I usually don't do such a thing, but the place was so beautiful I had to have myself in it.

I asked for the washroom and I exited The Grand Lobby to see this pristine marbled corridor.

Everywhere is so beautiful at Raffles Hotel!

Despite my slightly negative experience about not having a more private table as the ang mohs would have, I would still think Raffles Hotel does live up to its 'Legendary Service'. 

The servers made us quite comfortable. They were attentive and did not forget any of our requests, not that we had many. I asked about another pot of tea and the server obliged without advising me on the number of pots of tea I was entitled to. I asked for more clotted cream and it came quickly. I didn't get the feeling that I was treated less than the Caucasians (why should I even mention this though?).

It must be the most expensive tier-set afternoon tea I have been to though. It was $68++ per person, so the final bill came up to $80 per pax.

But this afternoon tea reignited my hope of finding a good afternoon tea.

I think I might have problems looking for a better afternoon tea elsewhere (Oh dear!).

Our Favourite Haunt at Tea Lounge of Regent Hotel

I was reading through my Afternoon Tea posts when I realised that my last post before my recent comeback was lightyears away!

There were quite a few that I did not blog about, probably because I was distracted by other less important things in life.

My last Afternoon Tea musing jolted my memory of a funny incident in March this year when I went for a tea with the girls at Regent Hotel.

Although I have credit cards, I try not to use them as I am forgetful and tend to procrastinate on paying credit card bills. By the time I remember again, they are often overdue. It's a hassle to ask for late payment waiver and sometimes I don't manage to get it (Thank you very much, OCBC!).

So I often use NETS and carry minimal cash on me.

Yes, I do know about the credit card point systems but I am just not a point person. Rarely redeem points before they expire too!

So, merrily we went for a nice and cosy afternoon tea which we were all happy with one afternoon, on the outskirt of Orchard Road.

I have always thought that Regent serves one of the most decent afternoon teas. Most items are for eating, not for viewing pleasure only, like most afternoon teas.

Its scones are one of the best too, in our opinion.

The ambience is classy and cosy. Lovely and comfortable place.

And I often reserve a table on the day itself. Apparently, Regent is not a popular choice for afternoon tea with most people.

When it came to time to pay, I whipped out my ATM card but the staff said,"I am sorry but we only accept cash or credit cards."

It was an awkward moment there. I only had $50 on me. The nearest ATM machine was in another building away from Regent Hotel.

I was contemplating going out to withdraw cash when the little one asked,"How much?"

It was $130+. 

She replied,"I have!"

I looked at her in disbelief and said,"A hundred dollars?"

She said again, affirmatively,"I have!" and proceeded to take out her wallet.

And she gave me two fifty-dollar notes, much to the chagrin of the staff and me!

I knew that she carried some cash on her but she never told me that she had that much on her!

So we settled the bill, by the grace of the little one.

Before we left, another staff who obviously had been informed of the matter, greeted the little one goodbye,"Bye, Boss!"

The little one felt very proud to have saved the day indeed!

A Tai-Tai Moment at The Landing Point

Last week, I had a sudden craving for an afternoon tea (as usual), so I asked Coco to tea at The Landing Point at The Fullerton Bay.

It was my second time at The Landing Point after ... at least two years? Food at afternoon teas is seldom impressive for its taste. I relish the ambience more. Perhaps it's an escapism for me - an escape from the reality that I am not a tai-tai, an escape into the surrealism that makes me feel like a tai-tai, even if it's just for a few hours.

Pardon the poor resolution. I have gotten lazy and handphones are so much handier, and kinder on my ageing visage than the too-honest DSLR that shows my every single line and shine.

Our favourite was the Boston Lobster Cornet a l'Oriental, shown on the bottom left corner. Afternoon teas at the Fullerton hotels are always replenishable (that includes the afternoon tea at The Courtyard at The Fullerton Hotel itself) and that was our third serving of the same item, and we got savage with our request: 6 please! Coco took one before I could take a picture of an indication of our overt display of gluttony.

The rest of the items were not fantastic to me, but Coco enjoyed the afternoon tea a lot. In fact, she said that it was the most enjoyable tea she ever had! 

Like her mother, she prefers savouries to sweets. At the end of the tea, we had quite a few sweets left on the stand. We didn't even bother to pack them home as history has proven that they are just waiting to be thrown into the home dustbin!

Hardly The Anti:dote for A Great Tea at Fairmont

After seeing the dainty and pretty chest of drawer presentation on various websites, I had always wanted to try The Anti:dote out.

The items looked aplenty, varied colourful and appetising, and I could not wait to pull out the drawers for myself to see what surprises await.

So I took Coco and Baby for a tea on a weekend afternoon.

The service was by far the lousiest.

We were guided to a seat and waited for 15 minutes in vain. Nobody asked us what tea we would like.

I got up from my seat and walked over to a lady at the entrance and asked nicely,"Do we have to get the food ourselves?"

Of course we didn't.

Then the service started on a 'Play' mode.

We were served an egg container with two sticks of bread. 

Runny egg with truffle

I quite liked the taste. The truffle was not overpowering like most truffle-accompanied food. 

After that, we were served the chest of drawers.

It was a pretty sight with the sweets on the mirrored top tier 

and the savouries in the drawer tiers. 

The items look better than they taste.

The waitress actually said the 'towels' were in the bottom tier! 

We opened the 'towels' to wipe our lips just to find plain and raisin scones inside! 

The third drawer hid the clotted cream and jams and some cookies for us to take home. 

Apparently, the clotted cream was too little for us.

Food was mediocre. Service was terrible. Knowledge of waitress was terrible. 

Price was $45++ per adult. I believe child's price was half that of the adult's.

I'll place this under: might go back when I have forgotten that the food was plain ordinary and the service sucked.

Ahoy! It's The Landing Point at The Fullerton Bay Hotel

The Landing Point should get "The Most Thoughtless Place" award.

A full metal-body tea pot! 

I scalded myself once and my elder sister scalded herself once, just because we touched it accidentally. Ouch!

Scones were hard and dry.

The three-tier rack was brought to our tiny table.

We were given a two-seater by the floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the left. 

I do believe the ambience could be dramatically improved if we had secured the better seats on the right.

First tier: cucumber sandwich, salmon sandwich, bagel with content that I have forgotten, brie on cracker, smoked salmon quiche

Second tier: canele, chocolate cup cake, chocolate tart, kueh lapis, chocolate eclair, fruit cake, lemon tart, creme brulee

Bottom tier: egg sandwich, (should be) duck confit burger, duck rillete crepe, Boston lobster coronet 

The savouries and sweets are replenishable but how much could we replenish? 

My elder sister was pleased with the afternoon tea. 

She felt that it was 'worth it' at $45++ per person since it was replenishable and the items were okay-tasting.

I thought the food was just average.

Weeks of afternoon tea have rounded my face!

This was our favourite. The amount of lobster was meagre though.

I believe I had at least 6 of it. 

Towards the end of the tea, it got spicier and saltier. 

My sister suspected there was demand for it and the chef prepared it in a hurry.

Other repeats

As we made our way to the exit of the hotel, The Fullerton Bay, we came across this beautiful and relaxed seating area. We enquired and realised that it was Clifford Pier, another afternoon tea place with local items.

The elegant view from the entrance.

Well, when I am in the mood for local afternoon tea then.