A Date with Mother at Chihuly Lounge

My mother had mentioned that she had poor appetite. 

I called Chiluny Lounge to reserve a table for 2 adults and 1 child for an Afternoon Tea and we were there the next day.

I read that the Lounge serves 8 courses for Tea, and the mini dishes looked delectable on every blog and website.

First course: passion fruit drink with crackers and their special XO chilli sauce

The crackers were nothing out of the ordinary. I am no fan of passion fruit, but the drink was not repulsive to me. It was light and thirst-quenching.

Second course: Beef Wellington

We enjoyed it. Tender meat with a thin layer of crust wrapped around it. Although there seemed to be a hint of wasabi, it didn't hinder me from enjoying it at all.

Then I am lost here. Some said that this three-tier rack consists of 2 courses, but unless it actually consists of 3 courses, I can't seem to locate 8 courses in all!

But never mind how many courses are there in this rack. It looked so pretty I must have a picture with it.

High class hotels have high class waiters.

He must be the first waiter to take a sharp picture using my DSLR, and without a flash at that! 

A closer look at the 3 tiers:

First tier - plain scones and scones with raisins, with the hotel's special buttery cream

I like the scones here better than the ones at The Regent. These are soft on the outside as well as the inside, and the buttery cream is a cross between clotted cream and butter. Love it!

Second tier - cucumber sandwich, smoked chicken sandwich and salmon sandwich

I failed to catch what the waiter said for the second one from the left but it could be chicken mayonnaise sandwich.

Third tier - desserts (raspberry macarons, cheesecakes, passion fruit tarts and chocolates)

 Sixth course: Berries (strawberry, blueberry and raspberry) with cream

Seven course: raspberry sorbet ice-cream

I am not a sorbet person. It is just too sour for me.

Eighth course: kuehs and chocolates

The waitress pushed the cart to us and we made our choices

Baby didn't like the insides of the chocolates

We thought these green orchids in test tubes hanging from the ceiling display were really pretty and creative!

The ambience at Ritz Carlton Hotel was peaceful and classy. There were normal table-and-chair seats as well as lounge seats which we were led to. The lounge was flooded with natural light that came in from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The servers were a mixture of foreign talents consisting of 1 caucasian, some filipinos and at least one other nationality that I could not tell. She looked Chinese, but didn't engage us in Mandarin when I was explaining what she said to my mother. All in all, the servers were polite and attentive although I could be overly sensitive to the 'are you sure you belong here?' vibe emitted from the male caucasian server.

The available beverages: ice teas and hot coffees

I am alien to ang moh teas. The only coffees I know are the frappucinos from Coffee Bean but I didn't want to have coffee for fear of being too filling. I had to rely on the waiter's recommendation - Earl Grey.

Each person can have a pot of tea throughout the afternoon. I asked for one pot first in case Earl Grey was not our cup of tea, but it turned out to be acceptable to us, so we opted for Earl Grey again for the second pot.

The afternoon tea cost $49++ per set. It used to have child's price for the tea but it seems to have been done away. However, the nice waiter allowed me to share my set with Baby. I would not take it as a common practice though.

Overall, we enjoyed the afternoon tea at Chihuly Lounge.