Cafe L'Espresso

For a better review do visit my blog: http://thedessertprince.blogspot.com/2012/05/lespresso-goodwood-park-english-high.html

Unlike Tea Lounge where you could indulge in all sort of tea till your heart's content. L'Espresso  limits their diners to just a mere two types of drinks. Say if you opt for their coffee, you only get one serving. Hence, my advice as well as my partner's opinion would be to get a pot of tea for the first serving because you could refill your pot constantly and once you had enough of tea, go for their coffee or get more tea!

Earl Grey would do fine for me while my partner opt for the more flowery Rosehips With Hibiscus Flower. Don't forget to strain your leaves alright?

Two giant three-tier worth of Croissants, Sandwiches and other savoury treats. Milan Salami With Brie Cheese Croissants seemed to caught much of my attention as much as the Foie Gras Terrine With Citrus Jelly. They tasted as good as the ingredients used.

Fancy salads and smoked salmons? Past experience tells me to skip salad (Surely, my partner would agree right?) and just go for the smoked fish. They didn't have a wide array of cheese to indulge upon. Besides, I'm no cheese connoisseur to being with.

I could always enjoy a well-torched Creme Brulee. Clearly, L'Espresso's rendition has set the benchmark for future Creme Brulee testing.  It maybe petite but it's good enough for a few more servings. Just to let you know, I personally took at least five servings just for pure indulgence's sake. 

Chocolaty Araguani Brownies (top left), Chestnut Paris Brest (top right) and Coconut Orange Tranche(bottom left). Don't ask me how to pronounce them because all I did was to devour all of them! The Passionfruit Panna Cotta I have to say was the star of the day. 

We had a great time ourselves over at L'Espresso. 3 hours worth of all things sweet. Given the variety L'Espresso has to offer, it's definitely worth the price ($38++) but there wasn't any ambiance to speak of considering there were pockets of tai tais conducting their own fair share of tea sessions.

The staffs were extremely attentive though in my opinion, they were overtly attentive. I guess it's better to get the attention than not to?

This review is a little out-dated, as I had eaten there last November.  My mom was in town and I asked my friends where they would recommend.  Having been to Ritz-Carlton for their afternoon high-tea, I decided to be adventurous by taking my mom to somewhere I hadn't been before.  Since the price is similar, I had assumed that the quality would be comparable.

Sadly, I have to say that both of us were disappointed.  Even though my mom did not have the Ritz as a standard of comparison, she thought that the food was lacking, especially given the price.  Each of us had the choice of two drinks: my mom went with a soothing jasmine tea and I had a hot chocolate (which was essentially chocolate syrup poured into milk - but not thoroughly dissolved).

The spread was extremely small given the price.  There were some finger sandwiches, some scones, cheese platter and cake.  The chocolate log cake was particularly delicious, but nothing else was memorable nor outstanding.

The service could not be faulted, but at these prices, I would most certainly not recommend it as the high-tea place to try.

The first thing that caught my eye was the idyllic outdoor setting. The simple rectangle swimming pool surrounded by various types of shrubs and green trees. Diners having tea in sunglasses, guests swimming or sunworshiping. Looks like a picture from a lifestyle magazine. For those who prefer to sip tea away from the tropical humidity, you can still do so in the indoor section and yet still enjoy the peaceful scenary because the glass doors and walls separating the 2 dining sections. The waiting staff were courteous and helpful. All these live up to the expectations of Goodwood Park Hotel.

Buffet spread includes choice of 2 drinks (hot tea, hot coffee, cold coffee, hot chocolates etc.) Food items include cheese platter (4 soft, 1 hard cheese), sandwiches, scones (blueberry, plain and raisins), finger food (meat balls, some fried food), salad and desserts.

My favourites include the sandwiches. Comes in a variety of bread and fillings such as ham, smoked salmon. I like them all. Most of them come in bite size.

The scones are also great. Soft and fluffy. Comes with raspberry jam, butter, whipped cream. Great to share them with somebody too.

Desserts are the best! Cheesecake, chocolate mousse, ice cream, fruit tarts, creme brulee, chocolate fondue, rice pudding, just to name a few.

Not a wide variety of food actually considering the price: $38++ (weekday), $42++ (weekend). I guess you are also paying for the ambience. Seating capacity isn't large either, so better book your table before going down. Mind you, it was full house on a weekday. Its certainly very popular with tourists with more than half made up of foreigners. For weekdays, it lasts from 2pm-5pm. For weekends, they have 2 sittings.

Overall, I still prefer the high tea buffet at Shangri-La as far as the variety of drinks and food is concerned. Nevertheless, I think this place provides a good opportunity for those who have the day off to catch up with friends and for those who are married, a treat for your wife. :)

For photos and more, please visit http://foodphd.wordpress.com!

L’Espresso at Goodwood Park Hotel has been touted as the choice destination for English Afternoon Tea. The buffet spread looked pretty decent, a wide range of desserts, finger food, pastries and cakes were offered. In addition, each individual gets a choice of 2 drinks – a wide range of English teas, coffees and iced drinks.

Being scone lovers, the scones were the first items we went for. Scones are a must-have for English afternoon tea! There were 3 flavours offered – Blueberry, Raisins and Plain scones. The glazed surface of the scones added a little sweetness to the scone. Texture wise, the scones weren’t very dense; they were more fluffy and resembled that of bread, but with the typical taste of scones. Our favourite scone has got to be the Raisins Scones, however we felt that the chef could have been a little more generous with the amount of raisins and blueberries. The taste of blueberry was very mild as well.

Some of the savoury stuff offered at the buffet included the Potato Croquette, Prawn and Yam Spring Roll, Pork and Beef Meatballs with BBQ Sauce, Crab Mushroom & Bacon Panini and Smoked Mozzarella Tomato & Pesto Panini. There was nothing fantastic about these few items. We mistakenly took the Pork and Beef Meatballs, without realizing that it contained beef. Something to improve on would be to explicitly label the individual dishes to avoid confusion and ensure the diners are able to correctly identify the food items.

The various finger food looked really exquisite and interesting. The croissant was rather tough and cold; it felt like it was left in the open for extended periods of time. The foie gras looked and tasted like luncheon meat or pate. Our favourites included the Butterfly Prawn in Vol-Au-Vent, the Smoked Chicken with Apple & Apricot in Crispy Shell and the Slow-cooked Chicken with Crepe. The buttery crust of the Butterfly Prawn in Vol-Au-Vent was crispy and fragrant – a nice compliment to the savoury prawn. The Smoked Chicken with Apple & Apricot in Crispy Shell was a revamped kueh pie tee, with the fillings replaced with juicy sweet sour apple and apricot. The Slow-cooked Chicken with Crepe tasted very healthy and did not add on to our guilt in indulging in a buffet.  An unique thing about the Edamamme Hummus is that it deviates from the conventional British hummus made typically from chickpea or beetroot; rather, it was a more fusion with Japanese or Asian fare.

The cakes offered at L’Espresso were a little disappointing. Cheesecake – no doubt it had a strong cheese flavour, it wasn’t dense and sticky enough. The base was also a disappointing spongy layer which would be better if it was a crunchy digestive-biscuit layer. The Crunchy Hazelnut Chocolate had a very rich crunchy ferrero rocher layer and an extremely soft layer of chocolate mousse. It would be better if the mousse was a bit harder and more fudgy. We felt that the cakes were left in the open for too long without any refrigeration and that probably degraded the overall texture, resulting in both cakes being on the soft side. We liked the juicy sweet apricots embedded within the egg tart-like curd of the Apricot Tart.

Mini Desserts Galore! Perhaps the Mango Soup was left in the open for too long, it was rather warm and did not taste well. The Coffee Eclair was filled with a rather large amount of coffee cream, not as bare as the eclairs we normally have at other buffets. The Chocolate and Coffee Mousse in Cup was pretty novel and unique. However, the strong bitterness from the coffee completely overshadowed the taste of chocolate. The Chocolate Brownie was filled with walnuts and pretty dense on the outside. The Cassis Slice and Hazelnut Praline weren’t exactly mind-blowing. They were just average sponge-mousse layered cakes.

The Bread and Butter Pudding had a generous serving of raisins! That was the best part of the pudding. Somehow, though it was labelled as “raspberry compote”, we felt that they looked and tasted more like raisins. The Vanilla Creme Brulee was pretty good too. It was served on a rather shallow dish hence the proportion of charred caramel was comparable to the custard itself.

There were 2 flavours of ice cream from Häagen-Dazs. One was conventional Chocolate which tasted like Milo; the other was something akin to Raspberry Swirl with chunks of digestive-like biscuits within the ice cream. L’Espresso should probably display their ice cream under proper refrigeration. The ice cream that we took were stored in metal tins and turned out very soft and melted. It was a waste of Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

We left the sandwiches to nearly the end of the buffet as we didn’t want to fill our tummies up with carbohydrates. There were other sandwiches including Tuna Mayonnaise, Egg & Truffle Cream, Roast Beef with Gherkin, Smoked Pork Loin with Caramelized Onions, Turkey Ham with Dried Pear. Perhaps L’Espresso could consider making smaller slices or even open face sandwiches. The presentation of the sandwiches were pretty mediocre and hence not all that appetizing. Tastewise, it is just as it looked. One should forgo these sandwiches for the other more interesting afternoon tea items.

We tried 2 different teas – Rosehips with Hibiscus Flowers (Fruit Infusion Series) and the Sencha (Green Tea Series). The Rosehips was very rich in flavour. It was on the sour fruity side and was rather refreshing, definitely a drink that simulates your appetite for afternoon tea. The Sencha, on the other hand, was more mild and bland. In fact, it tasted like any other green tea we have around. We also had the Caffe Chocolate which was chocolate sauce, regular coffee topped with whipped cream. Honestly, we did not detect any chocolate taste, all we tasted was the rich bitter black coffee.

The English Afternoon Tea at L’Espresso was priced at $42 per pax. For a meatless, carbohydrates and sugar loaded meal, it was on the expensive side. However, this is definitely a good place to while away an idle afternoon, catch up with friends as well as indulge in sweet treats in a comfortable and relaxing ambience. Service was commendable too.

Everything else is not great except the scones. They are really light and delicious!

The sandwiches were hard. Tarts were ok. The savouries were ..... limited and cold? Selection was so limited but what can you ask for for 30 bucks?!?!?! Hahahaha!

Scones were good enuf for me.

Everyone has an option of two drinks. Not free flow. After the second glass you will be pretty filled. I ordered the cammomile tea and immediately regretted because the leaves were so messy, it went right thru the sieve. Hahahahaha :D leafy tea yeah...

Ice cream was soft and wet looking. So I did not dare to try.

Errm... definitely will not go back again unless its a treat.

The ambience was totally spolit was a bunch of kids who were running all over and shrieking and jumping, with their parents laughing at their antics. Definitely a place for families with children. When I have my own one day, I will definitely go there for high tea and join in the merrymaking..

Not a nice place for quiet relaxation or private chats. Definitely not a place for first dates unless your date is horrible and you need distraction or excuses.

This is a way overdued review but nonetheless, the photos brought back the good memories my friend and I had of the place, hence here is the review.

It was our annual birthday(s) celebration high-tea session and year after year, we would scout Singapore and try the different high-teas at different hotels. We must admit that we were attracted by the UOB card promotion, which explained the price which we eventually paid.

The high-tea session started off with an order of teas (of which the selection was rather limited) and some slight slacking, before we 'charged' towards the buffet line. Despite being punctual for the high-tea, there were already many people ahead of us in the buffet line.

In comparison with many other high-tea buffets, Cafe L'Espresso offers a selection of open-face sandwiches and breads, fried Asian finger food and a rather extensive spread of desserts. What was truly impressive was the spread of open-face sandwiches and breads, which had fillings such as prawns, sausages, smoked salmon slices, ham slices etc. As usual, I was very drawn to the ones with prawns!! Though they were slightly on the cold side, the prawns were still succulent and crunchy and definitely left an impression!

Though the fried Asian finger food were left under a heater, it was not exactly kept warm and hence the flour layer was actually rather cold and flat. That didn't really strike a cord with either of us. Though we had to admit that the Kueh Pietti had rather interesting and ample filling. =)

The high-tea session ended off sweetly, with much indulgences in the wonderful dessert spread. As usual, I was very much attracted to the chocolate mousse and the chocolate fruit fondue, while my friend was sampling bits of the entire spread, ranging from raspberry sponge to cheesecake! YUM!! =)

Cafe L'Espresso is conveniently located at the lobby of Goodwood Park, overlooking the swimming pool, hence one can enjoy both indoor and alfresco dining. If possible, please request for a seat away from the doors leading to the pool deck, as it was rather distracting to have hot and cold air sweeping across one's face at regular intervals.

The buffet spread will not appeal to one, who is there for 'bites fit for lunch', instead, it is more tailored for individuals who will enjoy a lazy afternoon with small bites and pots of tea. Therefore for non-working individuals, it will be nice to visit Cafe L'Espresso on weekday afternoons, while working individuals will have to settle for weekend afternoons. As such, do remember to make a reservation before showing up for the high-tea session! =)

Decided to give it a try after watching Buffetlicious. Dined on a friday for the English High Tea buffet, which came in 2 seating timings. My sis & I opted for 12 - 230pm slot and am glad that it wasn't overly crowded. We were seated next to the desserts station, and in front of the spread of food.

 

Most of the food came in exquisite bite-sized portions with varieties of sandwiches, salads & dressings, cheese, fried prawns, scones and desserts ranging from cakes, ice-cream to chocolate coated fruits or mashmellows from the chocolate fountain.

 

I gave most of it a try and returned for more helpings on those that I personally like. I would say their prawns with mango crossiant was good, refreshing tasty. My sis liked their egg sanwiches, while I thought the foie gras pate tasted rather good. Their kueh pie-tee is a die-for! We had numerous of it, its crispy on the outside and crunchy on the inside, the taste is rather unique! simply delicious!

There were fried butterfly prawns, fried seafood rolls which were crispy. The lasagna surprisely tasted real good! I'm not someone who likes pasta in tomato sauce as I felt it has a sour taste to it. But, l'espresso lasagna really tasted good as it aint sour at all! I had plain scones with more strawberry jam and some whipped cream. The scones were light and fluffy, while jam & cream gave it a flavourful taste.

 

As for desserts, I love their cheesecake! and hazelnut chocolate mousse for my sis. Had some of the petite bite-sized oreo and choco cakes. Hibiscus tea was the choice of drink for us.

 

Basically it's still quite a nice environment to chit-chat with family or friends over a selection of fragrant tea and good food.

 

They have few varieties. So you will realise that you have been eating the same thing over and over again. Things there comes in really petite sizes. Slow to replenish and slow in clearing plates. The pastries are nothing much to rave about.

If you have a craving for English high tea, L'Espresso is the only place to go. Located inside Goodwood Park Hotel, L'Espresso serves delicious sandwiches, pastries and the most delightful dessert. It's hard to find bread pudding in Singapore and frankly, I think L'Espresso serves the best bread pudding ever. I doubt you could find another bread pudding better than the ones they serve here. So follow those Japanese tai-tais and take a weekday afternoon off and laze it away with fine food. Make your reservations though.

WOW! That is all i can say! WOW! I mean the coffee was like great and the ambience was awesome! Totally amazing stuff..