Anti:dote Afternoon Tea

Our server arrives at our table and gingerly places a pretty chest of drawers on the side table. We feast our eyes on the smorgasbord of sweet treats that take centre stage atop the chest. As we open up each drawer, involuntary oohs and ahhs escape from us as we reveal each layer of goodies. 

Haven't gone for high tea in quite a long while (not that I make it a habit), and since I was on leave on a weekday, decided to give this a go! I've been seeing photographs of Anti:dote's chest of drawers on instagram, and I absolutely couldn't resist it. You have a choice between three sets - Antidote, Oriental and Royal - all of which are the same, except for a difference in appetiser. The Antidote & Oriental sets are priced at $38, while the Royal set is more expensive at $75 as it includes a glass of champagne. All the sets come with a choice of tea or coffee as well! 

I was really impressed with the tea selection presented to us - you can choose any tea that costs up to $11, or top up if you would like a more expensive option. We went for Holiday in Paris and White Silk Tea, both of which are white tea blends. LOVED THEM. 

The Antidote set is a must-order for its Black Truffle Scrambled Eggs appetiser. Just look at that truffle perched on top of the egg!!!!! The presentation of the dish already won me over. Dip the crisp toast soldiers into the scrambled egg perfumed with the aroma of truffle and it is soooo delectable. 

For the oriental set, you get a trio of dimsum: Shrimp har gow, chive dumpling and scallop siew mai. These were done beautifully as well! 

My favourites from the high tea set included the prosciutto/onion jam/aged cheddar sandwich, chocolate tart, rum baba, lemon basil pound cake and scones. The lemon curd that came with the scones....OMG. It was so good!!! I wished I could have mopped up every bit of it. And while the texture of the scones wasn't anywhere near the standards that I've tried in the UK, but flavour-wise, I really liked them! The ginger scone in particular was really interesting. 

Anti:dote

Level 1, Fairmont Hotel

Tel.: +65 6431 5315

High tea: Daily 3pm-5pm

It's been a year ❤❤❤

hi :)) 

time flies doesn't it? :) especially when you're having fun :) i can't believe that just a little over a year ago we were walking down this same pathway, just friends then, and KA-BOOM! something magical happened ^^ hehe. okay i'm being cheesy! :P but i really do think that it's amazing when two people end up together. through my first two years in university, i realised that my (really naive) beliefs that it's easy to find a 'someone' in life was completely wrong. i mean, it's always possible to be attracted to someone, or have people interested in you. but for two people to have a similar kind of interest in each other and make progress to end up together is really not that easy after all! i mean, if you ARE actually serious about it.

haha anyway it was pretty funny that we managed to celebrate all our monthnisaries together, but of all times, we weren't together on our actual first year anniversary date!!!! D: because i was still in Europe :P and sam was in singapore. saddddd :"( but i'm really glad that we could still celebrate when i came back last week! ^^ 

#happygirl91 

heehee! i love my instagram card!!! :') this boy is too cute already hehe. he modelled my card after instagram because it was my fav app on exchange :p everyone was commenting on the spam i've been creating over the past 5 months lol! mwahaha and thanks to me, he now has an account too ;) 

my only criteria for our meal was that i wanted Asian food haha. since i came back, that's all i've been wanting to eat. local food ftw!! miss it so much! sooo we checked out this japanese high tea place at a new mall in tanjong pagar called 100AM! haha strange name right? i totally don't understand why it's called that. it's in quite a random location somemore. right next to Amara hotel. anyway, it's $20 a person, or $36 for two with free flow of tea or coffee. 

first up was scones! their scones look quite different from those i was used to in UK. but they tasted pretty similar (: not as fragrant on their own maybe, but good enough with the jam! 

and this was the rest of the set! sam copy my pose :P haha. they ran out of tiered platters cos too many people ordered the set!!! sadded. haha but it was okay la :) it's the food and COMPANY that matters more ;) it's a pretty comprehensive set with some savoury stuff as well! much appreciated by the both of us i think, who don't have very sweet tooths (or teeth? haha). quite liked the meatballs with broccoli on the side! ^^ there were also sandwhiches, a lychee cheese tart (yummm!), muffin (so so), caramel biscuits (me likey!), an extra biscuit (cos they didn't give us the tiered plate), matcha mousse (loved how light it was!) and chocolate in a cup (love how rich it was, but after awhile it was a bit too much. tip from me: eat the matcha mousse after this! it'll help to cleanse the palate ^^). 

Okada Coffee

100AM, 100 Tras Street #03-23

Tel.: +65 6543 6028

Daily 2pm-6pm 

went for a stroll at my fav place after! ^^ hehe happyyyy. we both got new sunglasses! ;) (look how hazy the background is!) spent a wonderfully long time chilling on some benches in a makeshift playground in the shade, watching kids play on the see-saw and just catching up. i've missed talking to you like this baby! (: i'm so glad that we could spend that time together just chatting ❤

Royal Garden Hotel English Tea

that day we visited Kensington Palace, the royal abode of Price William & his wife, Kate, we ended off our visit with an English high tea at Royal Garden hotel! (: i've always loved how the English ladies look so dainty sipping their tea with the pretty tiered stand of cakes in front of them ^^ hee! during our tour, we were told that fine ladies were never seen to visit coffee houses, but drinking tea became very popular after Queen Mary II brought over the culture of tea-drinking from China & India. pretty cool huh!

the English tea at Royal Garden Hotel is served at the Park Terrace Restaurant. there are only two options for tea - the Kensington tea (£24 per person) or Royal tea (£34 per person), the only difference being that the the Royal tea includes an additional glass of Champagne and strawberries. we opted for the former, which includes assorted freshly prepared sandwiches, freshly baked raisin & cinnamon scones served with Devonshire clotted cream and homemade preserves, a selection of cakes and pastries from the Royal Garden patisserie and a pot of freshly brewed tea. do note that the photo shows high tea for two, so if it's just one person, it'll be half the number of sandwiches and cakes! i felt that it was kinda little for one person (imagine how sad it'll look!), but we shared this amount here amongst four people and it was surprisingly filling! 

the sandwiches were served first, and initially we were disappointed, wondering why it wasn't on the tiered platter :( but realised that the tiers were coming later for the sweets hehe ^^ loved the variety of flavours for the sandwiches! the sweets were pretty good, but not super outstanding. except for the scones. OMGGGGG :D i'm in love with them!!! never particularly liked scones before coming to the uk cos those that i've eaten previously all seemed rather bland. but since trying them in york (will do a post on that soooon), i acquired a liking for them, even eating them plain without the clotted cream and preserves. of course, they add to the flavour and make it even better though! but the scones here...they were something else altogether :)))) SO SUPER DUPER AWESOME!!!! wonderfully soft and super fluffy, i had to resist stuffing the whole thing in my mouth, but forced myself to eat it really slowly (and daintily heehee), savouring every mouthful of it :') omgosh. love it so much! and with the clotted cream (it was a little sweet, which was a nice touch!) and the strawberry and mango jams, it was so so so good. 

for the teas, there was quite a wide range to choose from, and i had the Eight Butterflies, which is a type of green tea with the scent of fruits in it! (: very nice! i would totally come back here again for the scones. i miss it already!!!!!!

Royal Garden Hotel London

2-24 Kensington High Street

London W8 4PT

Tel.: +44 020 7937 8000

Legnano

haha okay so we all kinda know that castellanza is a pretty boring place :p it's a super small town where you can probably walk from one end to the other in half an hour or so? and there is literally no shopping at all here! so for some entertainment we decided to head to our neighboring towns to explore, and i found a gem in legnano! :)) it's also quite small, and everything is concentrated at this main street and square where there is a little bit of shopping, plus lots of cafes and gelato shops! perfect for chilling and alfresco dining/studying in this lovely spring weather ^^

the moment you hit the main square, you will see Bar Pasticceria Gobbi. it's one of the first few cafes there (: a really nice place to sit down for a meal and relax. the staff are pretty friendly, although they don't speak much english, but they let us sit there doing our work for hours without bothering us (:

the lunch menu is pretty limited. mostly salads and paninis. but sam had the gnocchi al ragu (€8), which is a kind of dumplings made of flour/potatoes. anything with ragu can't go wrong, but note that it's really just pasta and sauce and nothing else! haha.

i liked my insalata di avocado (€9) much more! ^^ it was a huge portion and chock-full of ingredients like smoked salmon, avocado, oranges, pineapple, shrimps, lettuce and raisins :)

Bar Pasticceria Gobbi 

Corso Garibaldi 33, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

we were totally spoilt for choice when it came to eating gelato in legnano!! there were so many stand-alone gelato stores, plus all the cafes practically had some sort of geletaria within it. so yumms! ^^ this seemed to be the most popular one though ;) packed to the brim, you have to pay first, then squeeze with the crowd till you get to the front of the counter where you can order. they have so many flavours!!! just the hazelnut flavour itself had so many different versions haha. and they have this gelato-shake kind of thing which was pretty interesting (:

Geletaria Soleluna

Corso Magenta, 27, Legnano, Lombardy, Italy

i spotted Morello Cafe from afar, because of it's alfresco seating right in the sun (: really nice for chilling if you have the time for it, but if you want to study, probably indoors would be a more conducive option, although there's music playing. i conclude that italy's pastries are really nothing to shout about, although they might look nice (from a distance) :p i had an apple tart (€2). it was decent, but well....not great haha.

this cafe is really nice though! (: i really enjoyed studying there. and the staff pretty much left me alone (i was quite worried about getting chased away initially). their lunch is all laid out from around 12-3pm and you can just order whatever you like. i got this chicken salad thingy for €6, and they gave me a whole basket of bread just for me alone! :D nice of them ^^ they also had samples of their foccaccia, which are available for lunch as well (: and gelato!!! looked good :D

Morello Cafe

Corso Magneta 36, 20025 Legnano

Afternoon Tea

Where better to get your fix of afternoon tea than a place that is called just that? a little cosy store along tanjong pagar road, the smells wafting out are enough to lure you into the place. and when i saw their 'Fabulous Friday' promotion where muffins were going for $1, i absolutely couldnt resist it!!!

i spent the longest time poring over their selection, unable to make up my mind! im so gonna go back and get somemore! haha. i bought the azuki matcha, pear cinnamon and caramel almond! if you want a taste of japan, go for the azuki matcha ;) the taste of matcha is quite faint, but i loved the azuki inside! the japanese azuki is just somehow WAYYY tastier than typical red bean. for a delectable sweetness, have the caramel almond. and i loved the pear cinnamon for its simplicity! :) the soft pears were just absolutely yummy :) the muffins itself were fluffy and not too dense, with just the right amount of moisture. yummm!

Afternoon Tea

1 Tras Link, #01-07

Orchid Hotel

Tel.: +65 9817 0111

Mon-Fri 7.30am-4.30pm

Closed on Sat, Sun & PH

Arteastiq

i love all these pretty tea places that i've been to! it's just so chic and ladylike xD haha. so fun!!! :D totally living the tai-tai life. tucked in a corner of mandarin gallery is arteastiq - not your average cafe, it's not just a pretty face (figuratively), but is also a place for art jamming! how interesting :)

upon entering the cafe, we were ushered to this cosy area with pretty victorian chairs. coupled with the greenery outside, we felt like we had been transported out of singapore into a little quaint hidey hole where we could just kick back and be oblivious to the buzz around us.

the food at arteastiq is pretty expensive. their afternoon tea set sounded so delectable, but it was $48 for two people! :O instead, we opted for the 'two good a meal' promotion, which was $7.90 with a purchase of a fruit/dessert tea. this set came with a side salad and a daily soup with croutons on the side, with our choice of panini or some other sandwich. the soup of the day was the mushroom soup. i like how the mushrooms were freshly ground, such that every mouthful had a wonderful texture to it. i felt ti was a tad too peppery though. the salad was good, and we opted for the tuscan crispy brioche panini chicken. it was delicious!!!! i dont really know where to start. okay the bread - it was delightfully flaky, it kind of had the texture and buttery taste of a croissant! i wonder how they did it. inside was a wonderful mash of smoked chicken, smooth philadelphia cream cheese puree with a hint of nutmeg, and this creaminess was balanced perfectly with the freshness of dried cranberries and alfalfa sprouts. delicious!

and the tea! there were so many to choose from, and they all sounded so nice, we had a hard time deciding on one! i suggested the lychee tea (i can't remember what was the price..$11.90 maybe?) and i absolutely adored it! i could have totally finished the whole pot myself haha. omgosh :D just look at it! dont you love the teapot?! it's soooooo pretty! and it was superb substance too! it came with sugar cubes on the side, but really, you dont need it. the first mouthful was a comforting mild taste of tea, but as it sloshes around, the sweetness of the lychee emerges and fills your mouth, leaving a beautiful lingering aftertaste. so so SO good :D it also came with a little piece of japanese mochi and a biscuit. yumyum!!

we also ordered the atlantic smoked salmon crispy wrap ($7.90), which i would best describe as an angmoh roti prata. haha it totally just reminded me of roti prata in terms of appearance and taste! lol. it was yummy as well, the freshness of the veggies helped to temper the oiliness of the wrap, and the salmon was fragrant :)

altogether a charming place for a meal :) my only gripe would be that it's kinda expensive considering the tiny portions. but the quality was great :) if you have any recommendations of such pretty tea places other than this and antoinette, please do suggest them to me! i would absolutely love to try it out :)

Arteastiq

Mandarin Gallery #04-14/15

Tel.: +65 6235 8370

Daily 11am-10pm

Brunetti

mm yummy i've been going around trying all these lovely brunch/hightea places recently. it's just sooo fun looking at desserts! :):) can drool over them anytime <3

interestingly, brunetti was introduced to me by one of my profs. it's pretty famous in melbourne and it came to singapore just last year! have been dying to try it since then, can't believe i actually waited half a year to finally get here! haha. it's described as a cafe, pasticceria (pastry shop), gelateria (i'm sure you can guess this - gelato store!), paninoteca (sandwich bar), panetteria (bakery) and cioccolateria (chocolate shop) all in one. OMG I WANNA GO TO ITALY FOR EXCHANGE ALREADY!

ah, just look at the rows and rows of desserts! it's absolutely irresistible :D brunett is tucked away in tanglin mall, and i think this could possibly be the first time i've ever stepped in here! :O haha i mean, there isnt really much reason for me to come here, it's not very accessible :/ but i realised there are quite a lot of hidden finds here! there were at least two other cute looking cafes here other than brunetti, which i would love to try out.

anyways, on to the food :D

we came for their brunch, although probably high tea would have been better! their brunch menu was fairly limited in my opinion (considering how we were spoilt for choice at antoinette) but still, it was not bad! :) this time i ordered by favourite Silician Eggs Benedict ($12.90). after skipping my eggs the last time, i couldnt give it up again, could i? ;) it was so delicious! i loved how the luscious hollandaise sauce wrapped the wobbly poached egg which exploded with the runny yolk when i pried it open. it flowed all over the crispy baguette with italian ham and cheese. mmmm :)

something unconventional i havent seen on other brunch menus would be the Italian Farmers Breakfast ($11.90) which was an interesting creamy polenta (a type of grain) with scrambled egg, sausage and truffles. it was a homely dish, but i felt that it could have been a little tastier. i couldnt really detect the flavour of the truffles :( but maybe it was because i took a really small mouthful.

papa ordered the wild mushroom omelette ($11.90) that came studded with mixed herbs, mushrooms and cheese, served with rustic toast and sausage. the egg was wonderfully creamy and i loved how the cheese added another dimension of flavour to it! the sausage was nice and springy too.

the italian pan eggs ($14.90) was such a cute dish! haha dont you think it looks adorable? ;) sunny side up eggs with bacon and tomatoes cooked in a cast iron skillet and garnished with fresh basil and black truffles xD yummy! the taste of the herbs was brought out delightfully, and we loved mopping up the egg with the garlic breadsticks that came on the side.

last breakfast dish were the roma buttermilk pancakes ($9.90). topped with bananas and strawberries and drizzled with honey - comfort food!!

i'm so silly. to think that i was so excited about trying brunetti's italian hot chocolate! but i didnt realise they had two types here!!! :( so instead i ordered the regular hot chocolate ($6.50) sigh sigh sigh :( such a waste! i really heard raving reviews about the italian hot chocolate, and brunetti is probably the only place in singapore where i could find it! well, this hot chocolate was alright, quite thick, but it wasnt the one i was looking for!!!

we were so full already after all our food and drinks, but the entire counter of desserts was beckoning to us and we absolutely could not leave without trying something! we spent the longest time oogling at the desserts trying to decide what to order. everything just looked so good.

first up, the Bacio ($8) was a dark chocolate and hazelnut bavaroise that looked absolutely gorgeous!!! dont you think it looks so simply classic? :) but i think because it looked so good, i felt that the taste didnt meet my expectations? it was interesting, but not really what i expected. there was a combination of textures in the slightly thick chewy exterior which encased a soft chocolatey mousse within.

i loved the simplicity of the new york cheesecake ($10) - can't go wrong with this! :)

and finally, italian gelato <33333 if i really go to italy for exchange, i am so gonna get fat on this :D it was sooo lovely. just look at my first photo for this post. it looked so delicious! :D :D :D because we wanted to try more than one flavour, we got the medium cup for $7.50 and got belgium chocolate and cookies :) it was smooth, creamy and so deliciously melt-in-your-mouth lovely :) if you can't decide on a dessert to get, skip the cakes and get the gelato. it was THE BEST.

Antoinette

Have you heard of Antoinette? If you have yet to try it, please go!!!! :D haha it’s super awesome! :D okay, maybe girls might be more inclined to it, but still, it’s a beautiful place to go for a day out. So guys, if you wanna bring a girl for a treat, she will LOVE this place, trust me. Just looking at it from the outside, you’ll be attracted by the quaint chicness of this place. It’s so prettily victorian!

Step into the café, and you’ll be mesmerized by the array of cakes, pastries and other sweet treats awaiting you. Every single piece is practically begging to you eat it! Haha xD just look at the pictures – can you resist it?! And the decoration and furnishings in the store are so synonymous and complete with its image, even right to the washrooms which are decorated so beautifully! You have to visit it to know.

We went there for brunch and were completely spoilt for choice. Mummy was so funny! She was like…”I think I’ll have either the French toast with caramelized banana or the French thick pancakes…or maybe the egg with shaved truffle!” haha as you can see, it was a really tough time deciding. WE ARE SO GONNA COME BACK AGAIN ;) Mummy finally decided on the French toast with caramelized banana ($10.50). it was beautifully done. The bread was thick and soft, infused with a buttery sweet flavour which wasn’t too overwhelming, and had bits of banana within it, together with banana toppings and nuts. And of course, a generous amount of maple syrup to finish it off perfectly.

Papa opted for the French pastries – the hazelnut Danish ($3.50) and almond croissant ($3.50). I didn’t try the hazelnut Danish but the almond croissant was SO DELICIOUS. Really, you have got to try it! I know I’m like raving over every single product haha but it’s really really goooooooood! The croissant was crisp yet fluffy, and the almonds lent a satisfying crunch to the pastry. The flavours blended together made a wonderful combination.

For once, I didn’t order an egg. I would have loved to, but…I decided to give the rest a chance cos they always complain that I order the eggs :P anyway, there wasn’t eggs benedict this time so I decided that it was alright to give it a miss. Zhen ordered the Classic Eggs Florentine ($14) though! It was yummy! I only tried a little, but I could see how delightfully runny the poached egg was, and paired with thick hollandaise sauce, wilted spinach and Serrano ham, made for a spectacular dish.

I had the 24-hours baguette with Serrano ham, emmental cheese and French butter ($14). Doesn’t it sound like an exquisite combination! :D the baguette was toasted to a crisp and the thin strips of ham went beautifully with the sharp flavour of the cheese. And don’t get me started on the French butter!!! Haha loved it!! And the cute container that it came in just made the experience even better ;)

Finally, yi ordered the savoury blinis (French thick pancakes) with smoked salmon, French butter, sour cream and salad ($15). The huge and thick pancakes were a delight! They were wonderfully done such that they were fluffy and wholesome, and simply delicious to eat! It also went nicely with all the other elements of the dish.

Our drink was the hot Viennese chocolate ($7.50). they have three kinds of hot chocolate there! Ours was sinfully thick and rich, bittersweet, and came with a lovely sauce of crème Chantilly which was light, airy and slightly sweet. A perfect complement to the chocolate.

Are you tempted? I definitely wanna come back for round #2. Maybe tea the next time! Yeahhhh :D

Antoinette

30 Penhas Road

Tel.: +65 6293 3121

Mon–Fri 11am – 10pm

Sat 10am – 11pm

Sun 10am – 10pm

Tea Cosy

tea cosy, ten thousand angels and a thousand tales is a three-in-one dining and retail concept store in plaza singapura which is really pretty!!!! (: (: i've been wanting to try this place for a really really long time. finally i had the chance to dine in this pretty place! it's not just the food that matters, the ambience here is what makes the difference (:

where else could you dine in the company of such adorable cherubs? xD

i've always thought english tea was just so wonderfully elegant and classy. don't you feel like the queen when you sip your tea from beautiful china and have the tiered tray with all the lovely little tarts and cakes on it? ;) tea cosy serves its supreme high tea daily from 2.30pm-6pm at the price of $19.95 for one person, or $29.95 for two. for each person, there is an option of seafood or non-seafood for savoury food, and for sweets, you can chose either english scones or cakes. since we ordered the set for two people, we had the chance to try everything xD oh and there is a choice of drinks too! english breakfast tea, premium coffee or island holiday lemonade.

funnily, the sweets came before the savoury food. the scones were warm, crusty and fragrant, soft inside and embedded with raisins. and it comes with whipped cream, butter and strawberry jam. utterly lovely (:

for the miniature cakes, we had a mango mousse cake, cheesecake and chocoloate brownie. the mango mousse cake was light and fluffy with a thin strip of mango. the cheesecake was nice and pretty light with a nice firm biscuit base. and i loved the chocolate brownie which was dense and well, chocolatey :D

the english breakfast tea came in an adorable tea set complete with sugar cubes and a mini jug of milk. sooooo cute!

the savoury food came on a delicate tiered tray. from the seafood menu there was a grilled prawn cocktail with a lovely chilled prawn atop a bed of coleslaw, a foie gras taster which i really liked, turkey ham crostini, smoked salmon crostini and parmesan toast. i loved the crostinis and toast! (: the crispy piece of french loaf with the topping was just absolutely delicious! (: the non-seafood option included the foie gras, ham crostini and parmesan toast, as well as, baked mushroom which was flavoured with some really interesting spices and stuffed with some little goodie, and a crispy duck crostini. haha the crispy duck reminded me of ikan bilis!

i also ordered a cup of tea cosy hot chocolate ($6.95). it was a nice thick velvety cup of chocolate, and guess what? topped with marshmallows! :D yummy! (:

also, we got a plate of aglio olio ($12.95) to share among us. al dente penne drenched in olive oil with a generous amount of garlic and mushrooms, and a sprinkling of chili flakes. absolutely delicious! (:

this is really an adorable place to have a meal in, with decent food. i loved the english tea, at about $15 a person if you order the set for 2 people, i think it gives a pretty good variety for you to chose from (:

Tea Cosy

Plaza Singapura #05-10

Tel.: +65 6341 9318

Sun-Thu: 11am-9.30pm

Fri-Sat: 11am-10.30pm