A typically English tradition, afternoon tea is one of my favourite ways to catch up with friends. What is there not to love? Tea, cake and time with loved ones – throw in beautiful scenery that is Singapore’s famous flower dome and suddenly your experiencing a brand new afternoon tea experience.
Singapore is a city of innovation and beauty, and Pollen used this theme to create a truly unique Afternoon Tea, an infusion of East and West giving me a twist of flavours I wouldn’t normally associate with the regular Afternoon tea I was used to… And it worked.
Firstly, tea was served. We each ordered traditional Black tea (English breakfast – something we were missing from home at the time!), although the menu did offer a small but enticing selection of other blends. To me, afternoon tea isn’t quite right without an English Breakfast… But that’s just me. The tea was excellent, however we were not warned that the tea wasn’t brewed yet and so some of us poured too quickly, resulting in a very milky mix – good thing I don’t enjoy a strong brew!
The menu was impressive, especially since we had one guest with a severe nut allergy. This was taken very seriously and a beautiful selection was made for her without nuts.
The savoury dishes included (for us non nut allergy folk), crispy rye bread with hummus dip, chicken salad sandwiches, salmon tartlet and my personal highlight, Squid ink fried balls!
These were truly the highlight to the entire selection for me, although my teeth did suffer a black tinge after ward.
On the sweet side of things, the selection was very well done. Brownies, macrons and a mix of cakes (including a delightful lemon roll). For me, the macrons were the winner here, although they were all good – I’d say they were all slightly dry.
Afternoon tea would never be complete without scones, cream and jam and here is where Pollen shone. Never think it is just the British who make good scones, because Pollen’s scones were to die for! Crumbly, rich and light with an excellent portion of jam and cream. (Do you put cream on first, or the jam? Big debate… Let me know in the comments below!)
With our bellies full, we sat back and relaxed amongst the flowers and sipping tea. Pollen really did put on not just a good spread, but a good show with their staff being extremely helpful and timely.
Our only suggestion would be a bigger table (all those tea pots took up a lot of space…), and if you are interested in going to book online first via their website, which is both easy to do and will save you any disappointment if they are too busy on the day.
All in all, a beautiful day and highly recommended.
I give Pollen 4/5 Crumbs!
