Afternoon Tea at Anti:dote Bar @ Fairmont Singapore

Realised that my last visit to Anti:dote was way way back in 2016. Read more about the experience at that time, here. My friend Wendy, wanted to do afternoon tea, so this would be a timely revisit.

Reservation was made a week in advance via the hotel website and received a phone call the day after, to confirm the reservation. Wow, that was fast!

Was greeted at the entrance by the friendly staff and gotten my Safe Entry detected and vaccination status verified. My table was right at the back where there were already a few other tables occupied.

view from my seat

Wendy had arrived earlier and decided on her tea. "Sweet Innocence", she said. The menu stated it as an exceptional composition of black tea and green tea, combined with a fascinating mélange of fresh Japanese flower blossoms and ripe tropical mango.

Sweet Innocence Tea

And what was I having? Long black, apparently. Hahaaa, afternoon tea without tea. Hmmm.

Long black

Chose the $58++ set which was without any amuse bouche. Once order is placed, the famed afternoon tea drawer is brought out fairly quickly. Staff will briefly explain each of the tier and its items.

An Afternoon Indulgence @ Anti:dote

Sweets

Sandwiches

What shall we start first? For me, it would always be scones first. Would be nice if the scones were warm when served.

peekaboo

Madagascan Vanilla Scones

Lemon Butter Curd | Devonshire Clotted Cream | Strawberry Marmalade

The scone breaks open easily by hand with a single twist. And yes, I spread it with copious amount of curd, cream and jam. Wendy was aghast, and asked, "Are you sure?" Yes, I'm pretty sure that I want all the tasty flavours together! Keke.

It was nice but I do wished for different scone flavours to contrast? Perhaps, can bring back the parmesan scone?

eating it anyhow I like~

Next, let's go for something sweet. First sweets we tried was the tea-cake, which was essentially a small piece of financier with caramel sauce and adorned with popcorn. 

Popcorn Caramel | Sea Salt | Tea Cake

The pop-corn made an interesting visual but it was rather soggy and once we got past that, I thought I tasted toffee / caramel. Decided that I quite liked this one, minus the popcorn.

like eating soft toffee~

let's sip some tea/coffee before we continue

Next, one of the sandwiches. First one, was the squarish 'bread' of smoked salmon, ikura, homemade lox and green apple. Hmm, isn't lox the same as smoked salmon? 

Smoked Salmon | Ikura | Homemade Lox | Green Apple

hmmm

Unfortunately, I didn't like the square salmon item at all as it tasted rather flat with prominence of salty taste. However, Wendy liked it hence, am not sure if it was just this particular piece.

Next, I tried the macaron that has the Nespresso logo. So pretty, this macaron!

Philadephia Cheese Cake | Macarons

too much force?

Loved the macaron. The cream cheese was lovely and overall, not too sweet. The sweetness were all from the shell. Let's push this up to top 3 favourites.

There is also a Gin and Tonic Trolley Bartender Experience, and August 2021 collab is Fever Tree x  Monkey 47 Gin. I was naturally curious and requested for such an experience.

There are 3 types of Monkey 47 Gin available; Schwarzwald Dry Gin, Barrel Cut and Sloe Gin.

Monkey 47 Gin

One may inform the friendly bartender if you have any preferences for the drink. Thanks to Debbie, I got to try some tasting samples of Monkey 47 Gin, as I am noob in this area.

Original or barrel aged?

Interestingly, the '47' in Monkey 47 Gin indicates the number of botanicals that went into to gin, and its alcohol content is at 47%. Whoa!

The original is colourless and hits you straight up on first sip. Sharp, sweet citrus-sy, spicy all at once. The barrel aged and Sloe Gin versions are deeper in colour, and sweetest would be the Sloe Gin. There are heavier woody, peppery, berries and sweet notes in these two. 

Made my choice and happy with Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin, served in balloon glass with traditional garnish of grapefruit peel, served with Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic Water.

Monkey 47 Gin with Fever Tree Tonic Water @$23++

top it up with refreshingly flavourful tonic water

top view

Thanks to Debbie, I had a delicious drink. Refreshing and with adequate alcohol strength. And, paired this with stronger tasting savoury food such as Coronation Chicken tart.

Coronation Chicken

Tasted of curry, and goes well with the drink. The Vol Au Vent (puff pastry) was nicely flaky and not too thick. Feels healthy too, not oily.

Cucumber sandwich

The green jelly/jam like thingy at the top of the cucumber sandwich, had no taste and again, am not sure if it was meant to be like this?

front (yellow): Roasted Sweet Potato | Coconut Malibu Financier, Strawberry Pistachio Battenberg (cake)

I did enjoy the flavours from the bright yellow, happy looking roasted sweet potato coconut malibu financier. Goguma taste, not overly sweet with a hint of coconut. Yums! 

(left: green) Muscat Cream Choux Puff

The muscat cream choux puff tasted exactly as what it was. Of sweet grapes.

The item that had a heavy 'bread' like texture was the Organic Egg sandwich.

Organic Egg sandwich

eggy and bready

My favourite items from the Sandwich drawer are currently the Coronation Chicken and Old Winchester Cheese Hazelnut Oat Quiche. Forgot to take a photo of the quiche but it was tasty with a burst of soft cheese.

Capsules Coffee Bonbon (looks familiar hor?)

Favourite Top 3 from the Sweets tier are the Philadephia Cheese Cake Macaron, Nespresso Chocolate Hazelnut Sable and Roasted Sweet Potato Coconut Malibu Financier which is tied at third place with Popcorn Caramel Sea Salt Tea Cake.

Nespresso Chocolate | Hazulnut | Sable - elevated with gold flake

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience but the Sandwich/Savoury items could be further improved. 

Alas, we forgot to take our cookies from the drawer and it was whisked away never to be seen again when staff came to clear away the drawer. So sad!

Expect to spend ~$95 (with Gin and Tonic Trolley Bartender Experience), or ~$68 without additional drinks.

Anti:dote

Address: 80 Bras Basah Rd, Level 1, Fairmont, Singapore 189560

Website: https://www.fairmont-singapore.com/dining/antidote/

Contact: 6431 5315

Of Evening Cocktails @ Pacific Club Lounge Pan Pacific Singapore

Evening cocktails and canapés are served at the Pacific Club Lounge from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Was excited to check this out, and thus, here is the collection of the items enjoyed for the 2-nights stay.

daytime view from Level 38

night time view

Taittinger Brut Réserve,  canapes

The menu is different for alternate days, so one gets to try different canapes throughout their 2-nights stay. I did inform the staff to tone down on the quantity served since am only dining solo, but I think in general, they were still trying to keep me well-fed. Hahaaa!

Menu for Mondays and Thursdays

Marinated Mixed Olives, Beetroot Tzatziki, Comte’ Cheese with Crackers

a

Poached Prawns and Pineapple Chutney 

The menu indicated it as poached prawns and pineapple chutney but it looked and tasted like ngoh hiang though. Was amused and yet wondering if there's anything wrong with me...

At first the bright pink of the tzatziki looked suspicious. However, it tasted pretty refreshing with mild sweetness. Loved it with those thin as wafer super crunchy sesame crackers.

Beetroot Tzatziki and crackers

Grilled Chicken Sausage with Mustard and Cornichons 

The chicken sausages were of a texture that I enjoyed. Bouncy and soft.

For Day 2, I had skipped the Afternoon Tea in a bid to save some stomach space for the canapes and drinks.

Menu for Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays

Grilled Lemon Grass Chicken

Deep-fried Mushroom Spring Roll

Chickpea Hummus

no idea what this was but it was tasty with the jam

I think this had tuna in it

I felt the canapes and hot items served on Friday, fared better than the Thursday menu. The cheese served was the same though. For Day 2, I opted to try the cocktails, thus ordered the lychee martini and margarita. Boy, I didn't know that they'd make it this strong. Wow!

Lychee Martini

Margarita

Staff at Pan Pacific are generally sweet. I was given a birthday card with signatures from them and best wishes for the special occasion. Thank you !

thank you for making this special

Rubato - Italian Kitchen & Bar @ 12 Greenwood Ave

I remembered being here before, and I was right! But that was a long time ago with Cherlyn. Back then, she was my wine buddy. Now 2021, am here again with the wine gang on a Friday night.

back here, after 7 years

In 2021, still seated at alfresco area. Deja-vu. Reservation was definitely necessary on Friday evenings. The place was a tad chaotic, with a few people waiting at its door, for the hostess to be avail. Staff are friendly but they have pre-assigned tasks.

It was a short 15 minutes wait, before we were assigned a table. This is a place with sparkling or still, so sparkling it shall be.

Ferrarelle 750ml @$3.90++

World's US Finest Oysters @$57.60++

Let's start with fresh oysters, and can't say no to that! We got a dozen to share amongst the 5 of us. That worked out to be $4.80++ per piece. Plump, briny and creamy.

closer look

Terre Gaie Prosecco DOC @$66++

We had Prosecco with the fresh oysters. The house curated Prosecco bottle price is reasonable.

cheers!

Lovely start. Ivan recommended the "Gift from the Angels" (cold angel hair pasta with scallops and truffle oil) and when asked if would like to top it with uni (sea urchin), the answer was yes. We do atas that night.

Cold Angel Hair Pasta @$88++

It was really good. Perfect harmony and so tasty. Would we care for more? Why, yes! And, we ordered one more when Bernice arrived. Am opined to think that this is one of those things to eat before we die, if one could afford it.

Come to think of it, we started with seafood so let's move on to meat. We gonna have chicken and tenderloin to satisfy the meatatarian in us.

The chicken was nice and pleasant, and the sauce was a tad spicy. Not sure what's in there, but pretty good combo with the cauliflower.

Chicken alla Diavola @$28.60++

Tenderloin @$44.60++

The doneness of the steak was incorrect initially, and we informed the staff. Service recovery was fast, and a new plate was brought for us without a fuss.

Tenderloin - medium rare

Time flies when you're having fun, and soon, it was time for dessert. "How about some gelato or sorbet?"

chocolate and pistachio gelato, mango sorbet

My favourite was the pistachio gelato. But it melted too fast! Keke, no worries 'coz am gonna have an affagato all by myself. Yay!

Affogato with vanilla ice-cream @$9.90++

But that's not all, there's more! The chocolate fondant took quite a while to arrive, and we got a complimentary pistachio gelato. Wow, that's a nice gesture. It warmed our hearts.

Chocolate Fondant @$14.90++

"Do you think it'd flow?"

Lovely meet up with Elle, Hoong Ann, B and Ivan. Thank you Ivan for arranging the dinner! 

RUBATO - Italian Kitchen & Bar

Address: 12 Greenwood Ave, Singapore 289204

Website: https://www.rubato.com.sg/

Contact: 6252 3200

Business Hours:

Daily: 10am–2am