TWG (Takashimaya)

We couldn't get a reservation at our desired restaurant on new year's eve, so we decided to make it an impromptu day.

We were walking around town and saw the restaurant window view outside Taka, it looked quite promising so we decided to give it a try.

The exterior of the restaurant looked really nice, very old school I would say. I really like the ambience of the whole place. It gave a very cosy vibe, perfect for chilling out with girlfriends, sipping tea and exchanging gossip.

 The whole place was very well-lit but not harsh. They actually don't allow photography but I secretly snapped a few shots.

It was surprisingly empty when we went in, especially for New Year's Eve. But then again, it's dinner time and people wouldn't normally have dinner at a tea place right.

Only a few tables were occupied that night, and we even managed to snag a window seat.

The view from our seats.

The service was quite prompt that night, since it was relatively empty. We were given 3 menus, one for proper food, one containing an endless list of tea names, and another one describing each tea.

I would have preferred if they put the description of the tea below the tea name itself, so that it will be much easier to refer to. We had trouble matching the tea names to the ones in the description, nd in the end we just gave up and asked for recommendations.

We had the 1836 Black Tea, which was supposedly one of their popular teas, and another tea whose name I forgot. The tea were served in cute pots and poured into these shallow but cute cups. It was really fragrant and light, but I'm not really a tea person so I can't tell you if its good or not. Each pot starts from $11 (w/o GST and service charge) and is good for about 4 cups, which were shallow la.

I ordered the Seared Matcha Salmon ($26). The portion is quite small for the price I feel, the vegetables were not that nice honestly, quite bland. The salmon was okay, acceptable but nothing to rave about.

 K had the Chicken En Brochette (also $26). It didn't look too appetizing compared to mine. The portion was again, really small, but it tasted better. There were only a few chunks of chicken (with pineapple) so imo it wasn't enough to go with the rice. The rice was okay but what I liked was the sauce for the chicken. Creamy but not sickeningly so.

 We also had the Chocolate Fondant for dessert. I would say their desserts are loads better compared to the main course, so again, it's better to come here to chill, but not to fill up your stomachs.

The chocolate cake was very good. Sinfully rich and chocolatey, not sure what flavour the ice cream was though. Tasted a bit like red bean but I assume its some tea ice cream la.

I also heard the macarons and the Lasagne are good so you can also try them. The macarons are priced at $2 each.

On the whole, I would say that TWG is worth coming to for the atmosphere, very quiet and cosy. :)