I’ve been wanting to review Basilico for the longest time but I feel that my photos are quite inadequate. I hate taking photos of buffets as I feel like I’m getting in the way of others. Also, many places use heating lamps so my photos don’t turn out well since the whole photo comes out glowing yellow/orange. However, after visiting The Tea Lounge for their high tea buffet, I felt that I really should review The Regent since it houses two incredible buffets – the Italian Buffet at Basilico and the High Tea buffet at Tea Lounge.
Tea Lounge has been on my to-go list since I was 21 as it was one of the places I was considering to have my birthday celebration with my family. Eventually, I chose another place as my parents aren’t really into high tea style buffets. However, since then I’ve resisted making a visit due to the high price. Poor uni students can’t really afford it :p But I finally made it here thanks to my dear boyfriend who tried to surprise me for my birthday but I spoiled the surprise by asking too much, oops!
After experiencing it, I finally understand why it is priced the way it is. It’s very exclusive. The area isn’t very big so there aren’t that many customers there at one time. Also, the spread is quite large for a high tea buffet. It’s actually quite sufficient even for lunch! The high-tea buffet comes with free-flow serving of Freshly Brewed Coffee or ‘T’ Fine Tea Selection or Hot/Cold Chocolate. You get a choice of 2 different drinks during your session.
The Savouries:
Mains included Roasted Wagyu Rump with Yorkshire Pudding, Roasted Seasonal Vegetables, Orange-Glazed Roasted Whole Duck and Norwegian Salmon Confit in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Herbs. It’s too bad I’m not really a fan of beef but the salmon more than made up for it. I have no idea how they cooked it but it was so tender and delicious. Also, I was quite excited to try the Yorkshire pudding as it’s quite rare in Singapore and I’ve seen it in many blog posts or recipes from overseas! It was soft and fluffy and went great with the sauce for the Wagyu.
Out of all the pastries, I only tried the ham quiche as I don’t think I could stomach eating the rest. However, the quiche was really good!
Usually, at buffets which are not specialized in Japanese food (and actually even many Japanese buffets), the quality of the sushi isn’t all that great. It’s obvious that the restaurant is just trying to stuff you will rice and they do a really slipshod job when making the sushi. They also tend to use cheaper items like cucumber, egg and canned tuna. Thankfully, this was not the case for the sushi here. The sushi is well-made and they don’t skimp on the ingredients with fresh raw fish, avocado, baby octopus and so on.
For those who can’t get enough of local Singaporean food, there were also local items like Chicken Satay with Condiments, Lobster (yay!) in Chilli Crab Sauce and Singapore Laksa.
Now on to The Sweets!
High tea is perfect for me since I love desserts and small portions so I can try more things! People are always surprised when I start taking desserts right away. Chill guys, I’m just enjoying my meal in an unconventional order :p I guess we weren’t the only ones that felt Tea Lounge is a great place to celebrate special occasions since 3 other tables were there for birthday celebrations as well.
Unfortunately, the macarons were somewhat inconsistent. Some had a perfect crisp shell with a chewy inside like the vanilla macaron I took right at the start. Others, didn’t fare too well and were too dry. Another disappointment was the waffles L. They were way way too dense. I prefer my waffles with a crispy exterior and a light and fluffy interior. Also, they were also prepared in advance as you can see from the photo instead of being made-to-order. With the limited number of seats, I think it would not have been too difficult to make the waffles a la minute.
The highlights for me were the scones, hazelnut crunchy, lemon meringue, vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet. I loved the scones which were light, crumbly and buttery. The scones come in plain or chocolate chip and you can help yourself to a variety of spreads like clotted cream, lemon curd, marmalade and raspberry jam.
Clockwise from top left: Vanilla ice cream with caramel and lemon sorbet, cheng teng, mascarpone financier, toblerone cheesecake, hazelnut crunchy
The hazelnut crunchy is like a mini hazelnut feuilletine cake which is one my of favourite kinds of cake. Feuilletine are brittle crispy flakes with caramelized, praline flavours which makes for an interesting crunch to contrast the softer textures in a cake. I like the version that Bakerzin makes called ‘Sweet Pleasure’ but if anyone has any suggestions or where else I can find delicious cakes with hazelnut feuilletine, please do recommend!
Overall, I had a great experience at Tea Lounge and I highly recommend it!
The Regent Tea Lounge
Weekend High Tea Buffet
1 Cuscaden Road, Singapore 249715
Phone Booking: +65 6725 3245/ +65 6725 3246
Saturday and Sunday
Two Seatings: 12pm – 2.30pm and 3pm – 5.30pm
$58++ per person as of Feb 2015
hellofromXX 