A major revamp saw the demise of Greenhouse and the replacement with Colony, touted to be the place for champagne high tea. Champagne always brings a twinkle to the eye and lips, pair it with high tea it becomes a successful recipe for full house bookings.
Until today, I am a sucker for three tier high tea sets - the imagery of food appearing in three layers is still a very irresistible sight. I shall sum up my experience with three takeaways -
Limited three tier high tea sets
So this was advertised as a $49++ 3 tier Champagne High Tea session from 330 - 530pm. There was no mention of its limited quantities and we were met with a waiter who proceeded to fill our happy glasses with bubbly and then drop the bomb whilst filling it.
"I am afraid ladies that there are only 7-8 sets a day and pre-orders are required because the items are made freshly and have to be ordered in advance..." his voice trailed off with what ended as an upselling of their alternative high tea buffet. "Eat all you can", he offered.
One, the reservation was made a week ahead in advance. Couldn't the one over the line inform there was such a limitation?
Two, we were caught in an awkward situation of two and a quarter filled glasses of champagne, an apologetic waiter and three puzzled ladies. Do we proceed with ala carte or the buffet that sounded great? For the same price, I suppose having all I can eat makes more sense and value so that was the next best alternative.
Eat all you can wait
The catch came - yes it was eat all you can but what nobody ever said was if you had the patience to wait for the refills.
Let me walk you through the so-called spread -
Open faced sandwiches
Granted there were at least 5 types of 5 pieces each at the start and soon the delicious ones were all wiped out - prawn and roe to be exact. A good 30 minutes later and a platter of 5 pieces get refilled and a greedy soul wiped out 4, I drooled and savoured the precious second serving.
A kind waiter offered to take our sandwich orders after facing our glum faces and returned apologetically citing they ran out of it for the day. Thank you Ken for attempting to save the already disastrous high tea.
The big question is, are they all trained to be apologetic at every disappointment? And how many pieces do they actually accord for each high tea session?
By the end of it, I forcefully stomached 5 open faced sandwiches.
Chicken Pies and Cheese tartlets
Cold and terribly unappetizing, is a warmer too much to ask for?
Scones
Dry and missing out on the basic accompaniments of clotted cream and jam. Would fresh blue berries and strawberries work? MEH.
Fruitcakes, Nonya Kuehs and Kueh Lapis, An array of desserts and logcakes
Yes it looked comprehensive and the waiter had the cheek to upsell the idea of buying a logcake if we fancied - I made a pass on the stiff kueh lapis, attempted a masala spiced cup of mousse and insanely sweet macaron before I finally settled on the all time best seller Mango Mousse.
Hallelujah for that, it made some sense of the dessert spread.
Two slices to make sense of this buffet. Thank goodness not every one appreciated mango mousse like I did.
Icecream
Particular I am but even black sesame could not tempt me one bit.
Even this stack of chocolates had sample portions offered instead.
Drink all you want - Hoorah.
For a champagne high tea, the only refills that were constant were the champagne - well they came around twice for the record.
I am seriously not sure how much I have to eat to make sense of the price tag - well maybe downing an equivalent of a Moet would make me deliriously happy. For sure having a leisurely high tea or buffet is not about eating till my dollar paid is matched but having no refills is infuriating.
No refills for tea.
The verdict?
After 5 sandwiches and 2 slices of mango mousse, I called it a day. It was already approaching 530pm at a blink of an eye and the waiter was at our table with the bill. Did I also mention that even their carpark coupons are "limited" and reserved for hotel guests and those under the hotel membership?
It left me feeling completely aghast and before I get struck off as a cheapskate, for the record - the table that managed to nail one of the remaining 3 tier sets left without touching the scones nor macarons and polished off the first course of savoury pancakes, jamon ham and open faced sandwiches.
Oh hurray, a real christmas tree.
And festive adornments.
One place to steer clear, until they get how a proper high tea buffet works.
Colony
Ritz Carlton Singapore
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