Tea Lounge

Had a weekday off and decided to dine like those tai-tais does, of course the fact that I had the 1-for-1 voucher from Spore Women's Weekly helped :D

My impression of high tea on a 3-tiered tray was not good, it is always sad soggy sandwiches with loads of butter and cucumbers, plus stale pastries. But this one...different!

I had wanted to take a picture of the menu because it features at least 15 items which really did appeared on the trays, but I forgot....sorry~

Sandwiches and pastries came on 2 tiers, while the bottom tier was desserts. Smoked salmon, cucumber, ham, and egg mayo sandwiches, crab meat puff, chicken puff, hot dog puff, spinach quiche, cheese scone, raisin scone, butter scones, butter biscuit, coffee macaroon, mixed berry tart, chocolate biscuit, lemon curd eclair, lemon curd tart, and lastly a creamy cup of sponge fingers which　I can't put my finger on.

The quantity and quality impressed me, I never thought so much food can fit into a 3-tier. For the sandwiches, they replaced butter with mayo as a spread, which made them tastier. The puffs fresh and didn't reek of stale oil. Desserts were not as impressive though。

The star of the tea were the scones :D Served warm, it was quite fantastic and not too dry either. They came with clotted cream, strawberry jam, and lemon curd (yes they love their lemon curd), which went very well with the scones.

The high tea came with free flow of one of their teas, coffee, or hot /cold chocolate, and you can have them all normally. But the 1-for-1 promotion didn't entitle us to switch between the drinks, and even for tea we had to stick with one kind, which was might as well, as one pot will fill you up nicely.

For tea, I had the Granny's Garden, which is a fruit tea using dried fruit cubes. Interesting~~

Quite pricey at $36 per pax normally, so I would only come back if there's a promotion again.

A little under-staffed though, there were only 3 staff for the whole lounge so service may be slow.

I had high expectations of the high tea buffet since the review rating was 8.1! However, I was sadly disappointed. For $42, the selection was embarrasing...little, the worst selection I ever saw in my life. There was a very small table of sushi (no sashimi), a table of appetizers (prawns, salad, bread), 2 small tables of cooked food (satay, mee goreng, a small selection of fried items), a table of dessert (3 selections of cakes, some candies, scones, crepes) and that's about it. What!! You could literally see everything from the entrance of the lounge. Certainly, I left with my stomach feeling unsatified. The only saving grace is the wide selection of unique tea, which comes free with the buffet. The other good thing is the ambience, which is cozy and quiet. In conclusion, all I can say is that this place is ideal for tais tais who have lots of cash to spare, who are small eaters and who would like to have a slow afternoon drinking tea and nibbering away at the small bites.

I have been hatching an evil plan for the past week. One that will allow me to eat what I want without having to pay.....
So I decided it is time for me to do some entertaining by inviting some customers out for lunch.
After some discussion(or rather persuasion), we decided to go for the Mini buffet at the Regent esp after having read that it will be a hit with the ladies.
Located on the first floor of the Regent Hotel, the tea lounge is decorated like a luxurious study with an old English feel. The setting just makes u feel like sitting down with your favourite book while sipping hot tea. Ah...the pleasures of life.
The china, utensils down to the tea set that are used further enhance the vintage feel to the place.
Upon arrival, one will understand why this is called a "Mini Buffet". The spread of the buffet is not extensive and all the food items are serverd in mini portions.
The first item I had was the baked salmon in fuff pastry. The pastry is crispy and the salmon is juicy - very tasty combination.
Lamb antipasta with tomato salsa is succulent while the mini sandwich and cheese bread roll are soft and delicious. Mini Shepherd pie has a golden crust, digging beneath you will find mashed potato and minced beef in tomato, only gripe is that the pie is not hot enough. I also had the vegetable roll in spicy sauce (which is kinda of tasteless except the spicy sauce) and chicken consomme soup which surprising is very flavouful.
For dessert, I tried the tiramisu and opera cake. Tiramisu is so-so, nothing exceptional but the opera is very delicious - rich in chocolate and very creamy (read sinful, luckily it is just a small piece). I took a spoonful off my customer's vanilla ice-cream - it was creamy with vanilla exploding in your mouth with every bite only that it was a little too sweet for me. All my other companions love it though.
The food in the Mini Buffet are a visual treat - elegantly displayed and I would say majority of the food did not disappoint though you will have to walk many times to the table to get food as the portions are really small if you are a big eater.