Rider's Cafe

Hello (:

We're currently in the thick of marking cos it's exam season so we're really busy! I really can't wait for all these to end though! Every year we go through the same, tedious cycle and every year we just keep pushing to the end just so we can take a marking hiatus for two months before it all begins again! Such is the rhythm of my life (:

Will just feature two photos taken recently when I took two kids out for a much-needed catch-up/ talk/ chat. What's a chat session without food right! (:

I think Riders is a pleasant place to go on a weekday afternoon because it's generally quiet and you don't have to strain your ears to hear what your friend/ companion has said. We also felt very comfortable in that setting and we could talk without abandon. Am looking forward to more glorious days like that (:

Till then, I shall mark on!

High Tea and Regent's Tea Lounge

I think I'm already in a holiday mood though technically there's still one more long day to get through before I can really cut myself some slack and take a few full days off work to rest and recuperate. I know that I'm supposed to be doing other things but I can't help but gravitate towards things that are not work-related, which explains this post (:

I might have mentioned this before but my eating hours can be quite off and our trip to the Tea Lounge for high tea recently was a consequence of my bad time management in the morning, which is just as well because we managed to eat a lot during our "high tea" and truly enjoyed our time together (:

I really can't wait for the Sept Hols to arrive - more sleep, more feasting and more time to do anything and everything! (:

Cassia at Capella

Hello! (:

2015 has been busy but good so far (: The first day back at school was unexpectedly long but we managed it somehow. I think it's very important to have friends at the work place (as much as some say that it's not easy being friends with colleagues) because they really help to make things so much better/ more bearable. I am thankful for the people at work because they are generally nice and we just do what needs to be done so that we can all get on with life =P

Yesterday, we decided to go a little further to Capella for afternoon tea partly because we know that such an experience would become rarer as we move further into 2015! We went to Cassia for their weekend colonial afternoon tea, which costs $39.90++/pax. Frankly speaking, we were quite surprised that we managed to secure a table because we had called merely hours before arriving! Nevertheless, we are thankful to have gotten a chance to try their high tea (:

Our food was generally okay, though I feel that every single item was pretty average, so don't expect to have fantastic food. However, it's a great place to meet up with friends though because all the other patrons were generally considerate and kept their voices low, so the atmosphere was pretty relaxed and welcoming. I can see why people are able to sit there for hours just slowly talking and nibbling on their food (:

Yup that's all for now! Shall enjoy the last day of the weekend before we dive head first into a very busy but fun week 1! (:

Happy Sunday! (:

L'espresso

I really love the food served at L'espresso's high tea buffets, and I love it that I always feel happy and at ease when I dine there.

 

To more happy days and more happifying food (:

The Tea Lounge @Regent Hotel

Hello (:

I woke up extremely early today to send a couple I know to the airport and on the way back, I started to crave Ya Kun's Kaya Toast but since it was way too early and none of Ya Kun's outlets are opened (save for the one, ironically, at the airport), I went to Bukit Timah Market for some toast and carrot cake (: It was nice eating some local fare for breakfast because I realised that I usually eat bread from bakeries for breakfast during term time.. and I didn't realise that I actually quite enjoy eating local breakfast food till I went to the market today. So it was quite a nice surprise (: Perhaps I'll try to go to the market once or twice more this holidays before I'm back to my bread-for-breakfast routine when school starts.

Speaking of local food, I think I don't really have a "local palette" because I don't particularly miss eating Singaporean food when I'm abroad, maybe because, like a close friend pointed out, I seldom eat local food when I go out nor do I actively make it a point to eat it. I'm fine with not having a local palette cos it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy.. it just means that I don't particularly like it or love it. Am fine with or without it (:

Anyway, enough of talking about local food. Shall move onto the main topic of this post - English High Tea.

I have always known that I prefer English High Tea to other types of High Tea. In fact, one of our very first meals after our return from Japan is a weekend high tea buffet at The Tea Lounge at Regent Hotel (: Since it was near Christmas when we visited The Tea Lounge, there was a huge inedible Christmas centre piece in the middle of the Tea Lounge, the pianist at the piano played Christmas songs, and there was a Christmassy mood all around (: It was a nice welcome back to Reality and I enjoyed the couple of hours spent there, just indulging in good food and good chatter (: The only downside was that they decided to replace their famous Chilli Crab with Fried Mantous with Christmassy food like turkey and ham so we didn't get to eat our share of mantous dipped in chilli crab sauce that day! But it's alright, we're most likely to go back anyway so we'll have that another time.

Okay enough of blabbering. Time for photos! (:

 

 

 

I'll be posting photos of our other High Tea session at Goodwood Park Hotel (another favourite of mine!) soon (:

Happy Friday and enjoy the last weekend of 2013! (:

Lobby Lounge High Tea Buffet

Hello! (:

We're down to the last week of school and frankly I can't wait for this coming week to end so that I can start tying things up and preparing for next year before taking a break in December!

We've been wanting to go for a decent high tea for a long time but it's really difficult to get a table at the popular high tea places if you call the day before or the day of the visit because most of the time, they're fully booked out! =( The problem with me is that I don't really fancy making reservations a week or two in advance because I can't be sure that I won't have last minute plans so I need to get around this problem or I'll not be able to have my good high tea any time soon!

Thankfully, Matty managed to find a relatively nice place for high tea last weekend - Lobby Lounge at Orchard Pan Pacific Hotel. Their weekend high tea costs $38++/pax so it's relatively affordable compared to other weekend high tea buffets. What was lovely about this place is the ambience and comfortable setting - you really feel like you can sit there for hours talking! (: The downsides are that there are limited staff and they aren't very attentive so you might have to wait a while before they get to you, and that the food selection is neither large nor is the food fantastic but both are average so it's alright (:

I'll just post some photos we took that day and you can make out the food on your own ;)

We could choose to have coffee or tea first and then switch to the other beverage if we got tired of drinking the first beverage that we ordered. I thought that was a nice touch because some other high tea places only allow you to choose one type of beverage. 

 

Oh we could order any of these'main course' items on the menu but we only chose to have the laksa and the char kway teow cos we weren't attracted to the other two. Like the rest of the dishes, these two were average in terms of taste.

On the whole, I wouldn't recommend going to Lobby Lounge for high quality buffet food but if food is your secondary concern and you want a nice place to chill, relax and chat, then this would be a good place to visit (:

Alright have a good weekend everyone! (: