High Tea at Becasse Cafe @ Dempsey Hill

10 Dempsey Road #01-21 Dempsey Hill, Singapore 247700

Tel: 6479 8119

Website: None supplied

Becasse is a high-end artisan bakery and European restaurant nestled in the heart of Dempsey Hill, and is under the subsidiary of none other than Jones The Grocer.

The entire setting was simply gorgeous - vintage, French, classy - with the whole black-and-white, tiled themes. Upon stepping in, one feels as though time has stopped, and we are trapped in the retro days of good, old-fashioned bakeries .

Alfresco is also lovely to dine in - a close to nature, garden feel.  We chose the great indoors so we could see the bakery chefs hard at work, and enjoy the hospitable service.

My eyes and attention were lured to the pastries sections of course - look at the wide selection of different types of bread, each looking more pleasing than the other. Oh, and the array of unique-flavored cakes and tarts, all looking so pretty and colorful in unabashed manner! Had I not already knew what I wanted, I would have had a really tough time making a choice between these equally adorable pastries.

As it were, *Katherine and I both ordered a pot of English Breakfast Tea to go along with our Traditional High Tea Sets (SGD$20.00).

Then they started coming over with these pretty black and white plates, and placing two stout, solid black blocks on our table, like pillars.

Next, the High Tea items were delicately set on top of the black blocks, resting ever so delicately flaunting its display of pastries proudly. The service crew explained each item on the long glass plank to us briefly.

I started with the Scones served with berry jam and creme fraiche. The scone was crunchy and solid in its crusty texture, and not too sweet. Paired with a piece of dried apricot and cream / jam on the side, this tiny piece of pastry maintained its buttery deliciousness without being too sweet.

Then I had the tiny pot of creamy Pot of Hazelnut Cappuccino - it was like a coffee cream dream - smooth, velvety rich, resplendent strongly of cappuccino's aroma and flavor. It was like eating a thick cup of solid cappucino, complete with froth and rich cocoa shavings. I loved this.

I decided to alternate between sweet and savoury items, so that I would not get sick of the items easily. My next choice was the mini Croque-Monsieur - flaky, fluffy and crispy, a good nibblier enhanced with the indiscernible filling (ham or pate??)

Then I switched back to the sweets - this tiny Banana Tart with salted peanuts was lovely. The banana flavor was strong and salted peanuts complemented it well.

Next, I tried the Prawn Salad on Lettuce - delicious, succulent and juicy in texture and flavor. This was my favorite savoury item on the entire Hightea platter. My only complaint was that it could have been bigger, lol.

Macarons were next - I took the yellow one since it was at my side. I expected the yellow one to taste somewhat zesty like lemon, but disappointingly it did not. The texture was hard, we felt like we were eating those retro sandwich cream cookies - but at least *Katherine's one had a sweet bandung flavor to it.  Mine was ..... enigmatic to the last bite.

The rotating savoury item next was the Crab Brioche which was deliciously, luscious and somewhat crispy in form, but overall it was absolutely sumptuous.

Finally, I attacked the Chocolate Feutille - a touch of velvety richness, silky smoothness and cottony softness all luxuriously layered with chocolate. I enjoyed this though it was a tad sweet and sticky in my opinion.

Not to fret, all manner of sweetness can be soothed by another pot of hot Sencha Green Tea (SGD$5.50). Their tea was good- whether English Breakfast or green tea, the aroma was strong.

We also shared their signature Salted Caramel Macaron Milkshake (SGD$8.00) - simply because it looks so inviting and pretty from all the photos I have glimpsed. It left us a little downcast because the only "salted" parts were probably the cheese popcorn tossed in, as well as the blue macaron as seen. The milkshake itself was very milky / vanilla in flavor; we were glad we shared one instead of ordering one each.

Overall, ambience , food and service deserve another visit, if only just to try more items out.