We wrote about high tea tradition in our recent post. Now, we took part in that tradition and enjoyed this noble afternoon time-out with our friend. I must admit this high tea is great for the soul and for the social life. Drinking delicious tea and enjoying a little snack with someone you like is perfect. Antidote high tea was one of nicest we have had, but is it also the tastiest?
Contents
There is no shame in taking time to pal around like they did in the past and not just quick chit-chat while checking the phone. For the occasion we choose the Fairmont’s Anti:dote restaurant, where they present the petit bites in the elegant drawer box.
Ambient
The restaurant itself is nicely decorated and the staff is extremely nice, which is to expect from the place like this. The dining room is a bit dark, so photography is more dark moody I guess. However, drinking afternoon tea here is a pleasant event, because of all the details and dimmed lighting.
The tea selection is great and we were happy to share individual choices. Ian chose Sweet Innocence, which is a combination of green and black tea with fresh mélange of Japanese flower blossoms and ripe tropical mango. The taste was amazing and the sweetness of mango didn’t override the other tastes as can happen with mango teas.
His selection was stronger compared to my Pink Flamingo Tea. Pink Flamingo Tea is actually TWG tea – the finest luxury tea brand in the world. It’s a green tea with crimson hibiscus blossoms, which are to blame for rose color and tarty but fruity overtones. Our friend was drinking Holiday in Paris, which is a mix of rare Yin Zhen and sweet vanilla. Nard and wildflowers decorate this cup with their crisp, floral flavor and leave an exciting, perfumed aftertaste.
Appetizer
For an appetizer, we got to choose from two egg and truffle inspired starters. The truffle with organic egg, cauliflower, and crispy foie gras had the clean flavors along the perfectly cooked egg. Truffles were nicely composed and didn’t overwhelm the egg yolk and foie gras. On the other side, the second appetizer was truffles with slow-cooked egg and chives.
That was a combination of warm egg yolk and cold cream. It was a great contrast, only the truffles were too weak. They could be more generous with them, but with poor harvesting season, we better get used to this movement… This dish had a grounding presentation on the rocks with disappointment in the shape of a plastic eggshell.
Antidote High Tea Review
After foreplay, our afternoon tea set came. The set is uniquely decorated in this big box with drawers and on top of it, a mirror with dessert stands. In the first drawer, there were traditional scones, plain and with blackberry. We had some fun with crumbling scones, it remains a mystery to us how to eat them politely. Very tasty companions to scones were the raspberry jam, Devonshire clotted cream, and their homemade lemon curd, which was very refreshing.
There were five types of sandwiches in the middle drawer. The first one was with smoked salmon and lemon cream cheese, salmon ikura roe and rye bread. This two bites sandwich was very delicious with a great selection of ingredients. Afterward, we had the duck rillette with mustard and chestnut snow. The duck wasn’t distinctive enough in this little canape.
However, it was an overall good idea. The third goodie was braised abalone (sea snail) with leek and potato in a home-made tart. The tart was crunchy, while the filling was moist with the abalone cooked perfectly. There was also a vegetarian version of canapes – heirloom tomato in pesto brioche.
Pretty decent brioche, only the taste wasn’t so fresh. They were a bit moisty and not crunchy enough. The last sandwich was home-made pork sausage in a puff pastry. This one was a little dry and didn’t really impress us.
Sweets
And at the end our favorite – dulcet! Some were pretty good, others were disappointing. However, we must admit it – all were looking damn good. Sweet potato coconut cone wasn’t special. A bit to dry and coconut wasn’t delectable at all. Also, berries macaron wasn’t really what we expected. The dough was O.K. but the filling was a bit dull and too dry.
Next in line were all tasty goodies. Blueberry with brandy cheesecake was a divine bite. Caramel tanzanite couverture was simply delicious. All of us liked the salty caramel.
The next dulcet was white Zephyr cocoa with green tea jelly on sable Breton. A very good dessert, not too sweet with a perfect balance between the rich taste of milk and cocoa butter and green tea. However, the Breton was great for texture and crunch effect! The next praline was with sesame on sable. Ian liked them, while I wasn’t convinced.
However, they weren’t bad at all, but there was a lack of intense flavor. The next sweet bite was exactly for my taste – Rose crème with grapefruit marmalade and velvet soil. Those were a nice show for the eyes and the mouth. The grand cru bonbon was the last one with good cacao finish and melting chocolate.
Conclusion
Our tummies were full and we kept the content of the last drawer for later. That were takeaway matcha and butter cookies to remind us of the lovely time at Anti:dote. After all, this beautiful set was a joy with more or less tasty bites, but all enjoyable. The truth is that the presentation has the wow factor and the taste gets less attention.
Although if you look at the bigger picture there are always compromises in the game. After all, Antidote high tea is a part of the high-end restaurant and we expected more palatable nibbles.
Antidote High Tea Review Card
- ATMOSPHERE – 9/109/10
- SERVICE – 9.6/109.6/10
- TEA SELECTION – 10/1010/10
- PRESENTATION – 10/1010/10
- BITES – 8.6/108.6/10
- VALUE – 7.2/107.2/10
Price and Location
Antidote afternoon tea is one of the most expensive here in Singapore. Afternoon tea will cost you about 42,5 USD per person. If you decide to try it, here is a link of location. Oouu, and don’t forget on smart casual dress code.
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