Cafe Review: Tea at Marmalade Pantry

Marmalade Pantry has been around for a while but i've never been much of a fan. It usually is the second choice after PS cafe or any other newer brunch/tea places. I don't have much of an impression of their food after my first experience (and we all know what that means) so i usually wouldn't recommend or head to MP for my meals. However, i've heard much about their afternoon tea and i finally made time for it some time back. 

Afternoon High Tea is served from 3 to pm daily. At $20 each, with a minimum of 2 sets per order, you will be served a pot of Gryphon tea, a selection of egg and cress, beef & horseradish and green land shrimp finger sandwiches, buttermilk scones, and a cupcake. It was supposed to be a tai tai moment for me and my colleagues and we fully intended to saunter in and plonk our pretty little asses down to tea without having to queue. To our horror, they don't take reservations for tea! Thankfully D found a way to get around that problem and all was well. Then came problem no. 2, at 3pm, they told us that they are only left with a set of tea for 2. SERIOUSLY? I don't know how they ran out so quickly but thank our lucky stars we got the last tier! 

The highlight of tea is always the scones and Marmalade does these little buttermilk ones. At first glance, i knew it to be dry. The texture is closer to that of a cookie in terms of moisture and firmness (in a bad way). It was bland and untasty. I wouldn't even call this a scone. Needless to say i wasn't very satisfied with them.

That said, the clotted cream was not too shady. At least they didn't use whipped cream as a substitute and could tell the difference between whipped and clotted (read about which cafe tried to hoodwink me here). The scones only became slightly more bearable after being coated with a slab of cream. Still didn't mask my disappointment though. Love the strawberries stewed in sugar syrup (most likely) and the biscotti was a delight- crumbly, nutty with pistachio and sweetened by some dried fruits. Yums.

Sandwiches were decent. Nicely toasted and slightly buttery bread. It's not particularly memorable so i guess it's just mediocre.

I've never had cupcakes at Marmalade prior to this visit and boy i have missed out on so much. This is probably one of the nicest cupcakes in SG though i've had better ones in Saigon (read about it here). The red velvet was very intense and moist. You could tell them by the colour at the centre of the cupcake. It should be a deep and even crimson red. Nice cream cheese frosting that complements the velvet well. The chocolate one wasn't that nice though. The frosting was dry and so was the batter. Doesn't have a rich chocolate taste as well.

Would i go back for tea at Marmalade? Maybe. But only for the cupcake.

Marmalade Pantry

2 Orchard Turn #03-22

ION Orchard

Tel: +65 6734 2700

Mon–Fri: 11.30am – 9.30pm
Sat: 10am – 9.30pm
Sun: 10am – 4pm

Marmalade Pantry at the Stables
55 Fairways Drive

Tel: +65 6467 9328

Tue to Fri: 3pm – 11pm
Sat to Sun: 10am – 11pm