We were still under the impression of our last high tea in the sophisticated place Anti:dote when we were already looking for our next afternoon pampering. This time, I choose a surprise for Ian – Arteastiq High Tea. This place was a bit artistically inspired and they even had a small art workshop where you can learn new painting skills. Ambient was ok, but we saw some much nicer ambients in shopping malls.
Contents
The staff was polite but also unprofessional. For example, the waiter didn’t present any of the food, so we were on our own. O.K., this high tea was a little bit cheaper than the previous one, so it comes with the price I guess. Anyway, I need to admit, the teas were perfect.
Tea Selection
Ian’s was green tea with goji berries and it was marvelous. Fruity flavor of goji with tart Japanese green tea was the perfect combination. Mine was a Pu-er tea. Pu-er tea is actually fermented green tea, produced in Yunnan province in China. It was earthy, a bit bitter but still floral at the end. A mellow taste with woody notes was combined in the aftertaste. Great tea for a rainy afternoon like it was that day.
Savory
The food was also very tasty. A few things were even better than in Anti:dote. We got Vol au vent with mushroom capers pate for Savouries. This small hollow case of puff pastry was delicious with well balsamic pate. Our second bite was foie gras terrine on toast with Yuzu marmalade and pistachios. Yuzu is a sort of citrus, mostly known in Japan and Korea.
This fruit is believed to be a cross between a mandarin and a papeda fruit, a subgenus of the genus citrus which includes the kaffir lime, if not, in its turn, a cross between the lime and the citron. This marmalade pairs nicely with foie gras, because the acidity and sweetness is a great companion with a bitter salty taste of foie grass.
Smoked salmon with cream cheese mousse and fried shallots was our next sandwich. This one was classic. The only imperfection was too much salmon for bread small like that. The last salty snack was tortilla with smoked duck breast, rocket salad, and horseradish mayo. Tasty and moisty canape, where the duck was soft and smoked just right.
Sweets @ Arteastiq High Tea
The dulcet is our thing. We need to admit it, those sweets weren’t just a treat for the eyes, but the taste was excellent. Actually, macarons were much better than those in Anti:dote and they almost remembered us on those ones in Paris. We also got a double raspberry choux pastry, which was delicious, but not even close to their chocolate truffles with a nut. This one was soft and rich with chocolate.
Not too much buttery, but that real cacao taste. The chocolate cone with banana custard wasn’t so special. Looks like it was a difficult task to make me happy with those cones. Anyway, the overall assessment for this high tea would be very good, but I really missed scones. In my eyes, they are essential at high tea.
Conclusion
In that drawing workshop, Ian wasn’t very impressed. It was like drawing some preschool pictures and nothing more. We do believe they have some more serious workshops with some art guests, but they didn’t take place at the time we were there. However, our main thing here – afternoon tea wasn’t that bad. The tea selection was nice and quality of tea as well.
Some savories performed well when others didn’t impress. The highlight of this high tea were sweets, with only one downvote. There were no scones and somehow afternoon tea can’t be complete without them. We must admit this was a great deal for such a rainy day.
Arteastiq High Tea Review Card
- ATMOSPHERE – 6.2/106.2/10
- SERVICE – 5.6/105.6/10
- TEA SELECTION – 8.9/108.9/10
- PRESENTATION – 7.0/107.0/10
- BITES – 7.8/107.8/10
- VALUE – 8/108/10
Price and location of Arteastiq
This afternoon tea set for two persons will cost you about 40 USD, which is a great price for Singapore. If you decide to try this Arteastiq high tea set, you can visit them at many locations. Here is a link to a location we visited.