The Drawing Room @ St. Regis

We popped down to St. Regis for tea, just tea, no food as we were stuffed from Hediard last Saturday. St Regis, under Starwood brand of hotels and resorts, is marketed as a 6-star hotel, in the same league (or higher) than Ritz Carlton Millenia in Singapore.

Each guest room will have a butler to serve the guests, plus the use of a Bentley (not sure if that is complimentary or at a fee) to drive them around. But I do know the rooms start at S$600 per night.

The soft launch was in end December/early January (can't remember now) and the official opening was in April. I am not sure about now, but when we were there, the menus were not ready yet. Yup, no menu for us to order at all. How could that be? Especially for a 6-star hotel. How did guests order since January?

The wait staff was apologetic when she informed us there was no menu as they were being printed then. Maybe there was a revision to the existing menu? But still, that was virtually unheard of. Then we thought maybe it was only for the menu for The Drawing Room (we didn't want to have the usual high tea spread so we were seated at the lobby area instead of the area next to the windows), so we asked for a look at the high tea spread menu, and that was not available too! When we asked how do other guests order, she said it was a verbal listing of what they have.

Good thing we were only having tea, imagine if they got really indecisive customers? It was helpful that she actually took out the tins of tea leaves available for us to select from. That was actually a very good idea as you can also get a sniff of the actual tea leaves instead of just reading a description on the menu. The drawback of not having a menu was that you have no idea of the price. So the best way would be to expect an exorbitant amount for your drink so you won't be too shocked when the bill arrived :p

I had iced tea while my friends had the hot tea of what, I had no idea. Can't remember now. But I do love the china. They looked so fine and delicate and pretty and elegant. In fact, I like it much better than the Wedgwood china served at Rose Veranda, Shangri-La. The almond shortbread cookies served went very well with the tea too. VL commented that was the same cookies served at Sheraton she had tea over there. Ooh, and I adored the sugar cubes. They were not exactly in cubes but squarish with a square hole in the center. It was something different.

Service was excellent, with the wait staff constantly topping up the cups with tea. Oh, they even offered us the papers and magazines to read while enjoying the tea. One thing to note was that if you like your tea to be boiling hot, you would need to indicate that when you order. The tea served was hot, but not boiling hot. There was a pianist playing popular music which could get loud. I didn't really like that as it was a bit loud for private conversations. I would much prefer if they play soft music or at least classical pieces if hotels or dining establishments wanted live music as background music. The music should not drown guests' conversations.

The cost was not too bad as I was mentally expecting around $20 for the drink. Lol. It was $12++ for the tea. I have no idea if that is the usual price in a hotel?

Maybe I will go to St. Regis to try the afternoon tea many months later when the teething problems have been settled. So far, I have not really heard good reviews of St. Regis. Event organizers were also left gnashing at their knuckles due to the poor support rendered from the staff.

Location:
St. Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road · Singapore 247911 · Singapore
Phone: (65) 6506 6888