Afternoon hightea at WooBar @ W Hotel

21 Ocean Way, Lobby Level, W Hotel @ Sentosa Cove, Singapore 098734

Tel: 6808 7288

Website: http://www.wsingaporesentosacove.com/en/forms/woobar

Having heard about the famous "bird cage" hightea (also known as "Drop the T") at Woobar @ W Hotel, curiosity finally got the better of me and I enlisted the Bro and SIL to head for afternoon tea there with me.

It was a semi-long drive in, but well worth it on this cooling, cloudy Sunday afternoon. What greeted us was a bright and well-spaced bar with swinging chairs, a lovely bar counter and smiling service crew.

Beautiful decor, a gorgeous poolview and cushy seats made up the other parts of the restaurant / lounge, and we had a window seat overlooking the swimming pool area.  I really love the classy gold and white theme of this lounge.

The table was being set and our orders were taken. Their hightea starts at 3pm, and goes for SGD$34.00 per pax; the sweet items (desserts) are non-refillable.

Each set comes with a beverage; the teas are proudly declared to be Dilmah's. The Bro had a Craighead tea, the SIL had a Cappuccino and I had a Brilliant Breakfast tea (essentially English Breakfast).

The elegant silver stand was brought over and they set up the famous "bird cage" three-tiered tray with lots of delectable-looking dessert items.  There were seven (7) different items in all, arranged neatly.for our picking; we were informed that the savoury items would be served separately.

The first tier consisted of Chocolate Tarts - crumbly crusts with luxuriant dark chocolate ganache and tiny coco-pops within the tart itself, to add an extra bite to this lovely pastry. I like how they use buttery crust and coco-pops for these tarts so that they would not be overwhelming with sweetness.

For the second tier,  there were Scones complete with marmalade and clotted cream. The scones had a lovely texture to it - just the right amount of hardness so that it was even slightly flakey; absolutely lovely, and gently sweet such that even with the pairing of the cream or marmalade, the scones were still tasty.

The final tier consisted of Strawberry Curd & Clotted Cream, Cream Puffs, Macarons, White Chocolates and Cupcakes.

I started with the Cream Puffs first, a patch of green sitting on the exterior,  and the inside is a pale green as well. It was light and sweet, with a flavor that was a cross between green tea and pandan - somewhat indiscernible but made for a lovely dainty bite nonetheless.

These orange Macarons clasped chocolate cream between them. While not cloyingly sweet like most macarons, the ones here were fairly average - just saccharine with no distinctive flavors about them.

Now what we have here were REAL Cupcakes. After scrapping off / consuming the beautiful swirls of pale pink cream (the cream were strewn with real rose petals), what one got was fluffy, soft orange-flavored cake sitting firmly within the tiny cup - how adorable.

Moving on, I also tried the Strawberry Trifle Shot - a thick layer of sweet cream with sweet strawberry tea jelly and a piece of real strawberry atop. Cream lovers might love this dessert alot, and I could not really taste the tea infusion on the strawberry curd at the bottom of the bottle.

I was glad the savoury items were being served at this point in time, even though there were only 4 savoury items in this hightea set.

This was the Chocolate Tart with Foie Gras Ganache, Port Wine and Gold Leaf.  While the Bro and SIL found this item to be odd-tasting, I loved it enough to requests for refills, simply because it consisted of all of my favorite things. The dark chocolate crust was crunchy, the rich flavor lending credence to the foie gras paste, a rich pastry that blended lusciousness and savoury flavor very well.

Next, the Tuna Tartare and Mutton, each one served prettily mounted by gold picks on tiny white square plates.

The Tuna Tartare was basically tuna marinated in mayonnaise (and other ingredients) , sandwiched between tiny buns. We were informed that they used to serve these in cones. The buns were soft and the creamy tartare was well-flanked and complemented.

The Minced Mutton Patties with caramelized onions were another story together - minced mutton heavily marinated and loaded with spices, giving it a palate-permeating and flavorful taste; a little on the spicy side, but the patties were tender and delicious.

Finally, the Deep Fried Yam, a crispy dish with a smooth, buttery interior simply relying on yam's natural sweetness to give it a palatable taste.

All in all, we enjoyed our "Drop the T" hightea session at Woobar as well as the beautiful settings, and being placed in good hands of the service crew.  The only drawback was that most of the items were not supposed to be refillable - honestly I wouldn't mind paying more for refillables, like hightea at other hotels / restaurants.

Special thanks to the SIL for her contribution of some of the photos in this entry.

Read about other hotel highteas hereinbelow:
(i)   Courtyard @ The Fullerton Hotel (here)
(ii)   Tea Lounge @ Regent Hotel (here)
(iii)  Rose Verandah @ Shangri-La Hotel (here)
(iv)  The Landing Point @ Fullerton Bay Hotel (here)
(v)   Lobby Court @ Swissotel the Stamford (here)
(vi)  L'espresso Cafe @ Goodwood Park Hotel (here)
(viii) Chihuly Lounge @ The Ritz Carlton (here)
(ix)  One Ninety @ Four Seasons Hotel (here)