Pollen

It's Waiching's birthday and I decided to help her celebrate with a high tea session at Pollen in Gardens By The Bay. As the restaurant is located in the Flower Dome, we get a complimentary buggy service from the arrival hall right to the doorstep. 

The restaurant spans over two floors and we had our afternoon tea experience on the terrace floor.

A different ambience from our usual hotel or restaurant setting. We got to dine amidst the blooming florals with the majestic Marina Bay Sands as the backdrop.

Even though the sky is overcast, the falling rain drops against the glass panels is certainly a sight to behold.

Browsing through the selection of teas

Happy Jane

Would you like some tea? Red roses tea for me as I enjoy floral teas since its lighter on the palate.

This tea makes me glee

So good, let me have another sip

And our high tea set arrived! Also a break from the usual tiered stands, Pollen's high tea is separated into individual dishes of savories, sweets and scones.

The staff also kindly explained to us each item and recommended the way should eat them. 

Start with the savories then the sweets, and have the scones in the middle.

Picture first!

Some tea to cleanse the palate before starting

Savories 

Cured salmon tart with beetroot yoghurt 

Braised chicken and avocado sourdough sandwich 

24 hours short ribs on rosemary cheese cookie 

Squid ink arancini with pea puree 

Hummus dip with dukkah spices and toast

My favorite is the salmon tart as the beetroot yoghurt helps bring out the full flavor of the smoked salmon. I also enjoyed the crispy toast and hummus dip. The squid ink arancini is interesting as not many high teas wills serve fried rice balls.

Sweets

Chocolate and macadamia brownies 

Banana tea cake with mascarpone chantilly 

Petit choux with Madagascar vanilla custard 

Lemon swiss roll 

Macaron

Fruit scones with crème fraiche and jam 

As recommended by the staff, the petit choux with Madagascar vanilla custard is exceptionally good! 

Soft puff and the sweet vanilla custard is finger licking good! If only they have that for takeaway, I will surely buy it! The banana tea cake is another of my favorite as I always have a soft spot for banana cake and the mascarpone made it even better! 

Overall, the sweets are all amazing except that the macaron is a bit too sweet. Pollen is also generous with their fruit scones as the portion is huge! Could only finish half of it even though its nice! 

Natural sweetness in the tea after eating the macaron.

Happy Birthday Waiching! 

So sweet of Pollen to prepare this surprise as I indicated that its her birthday upon making the reservation. 

For just $38++ per person, we had an enjoyable high tea experience at Pollen and even get free access to Garden Dome! The staff were polite and knowledgeable, Pollen also pay attention to details such as having stands for us to put our bags, shawls in case we feel cold from the cooling temperature in the dome. So worth it and I would totally come back!