Rose Veranda @ Shangri-La

After so many months, or has it been over a year, I finally made it back to Rose Veranda at Shangri-La. I used to like it as it is pretty much a cozy place and the lunch/tea buffet lasts from 12 noon to 6pm during weekdays. So we could have a girly afternoon just gabbing away or bring a book and relax there.

But it underwent a renovation last year and so it spilt into 2 sessions which was not that conducive to a nice relaxing afternoon stay. So I was delighted to discover that it went back to the 12noon to 6pm single seating for weekdays, so off we went.

The very comfy cushiony armchairs, perfect for curling up with a book. It was big enough to put my bag next to me in the chair. There were red chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, new plateware and glasswares. The teapot was still the same, from Wedgwood. But almost everything else have changed, with new chairs and sofas and possibly new carpet too.

I am such a sandwich person. I loved the cheese and tomatoes sandwich. So light and refreshing. The Thai prawn cake (otah) was also very yummy that I had more of that. The Thai beef salad was not too bad and smoked salmon was decent too.

Buttered rice with beef rendang was good. The beef was tender and broke off easily when using the fork to flake bits off. The chicken was average. The salmon on skewer was surprisingly moist and came off the stick easily. The dumplings were stuffed with veggies, not too bad.

More sandwiches. The croissant was a surprise. It was stuffed with herb cream cheese which went well with the bread. Sushi from the Japanese counter, no more sashimi unlike last year. They were ok. I found the rice a bit hard and dry.

There was also a roast beef counter but I did not get to try it. There were also some dim sum selection, salad, cheese, crackers, miso soup and other small appetizers which I did not try.

The local DIY dish for the day - chicken noodle soup. Yellow mee with shredded lettuce, hard boiled egg, bean sprouts, cucumbers, shredded chicken, fried shallots and chili for garnish and flavor. This was not too bad. The soup was a bit salty but with the chili, it made it tastier.

On to the dessert counter. I had so much! The star was the chocolate praline. It was pure dark chocolate with a hint of sweetness with a cookie crispy crust. So so so good. The scone was light and fluffy, almost like the American biscuit. Heaven with the clotted cream (melting in the picture cos I used the bigger plate which was warm) and strawberry jam.

The jam could be better with real strawberries in there. The tiramisu was wet, soaked to the core with espresso and topped with mascapone cheese. Very nice if you like the wet type. I chose it specially for that, though there were other which were drier. The lemongrass and chocolate mousse was different, it took some getting used to because of the lemongrass.

Mini chocolate profiterole which was delightfully light. Cream puff topped with chocolate. Nice and I am not really a profiterole fan. I like the bite size portion.

Creme brulee was to die for with the glazed burnt sugar over the vanilla custard. Carrot cake was crumbly with delicious cream frosting. Black forest cake was rich with cherries. Very nice. The durian cake was not bad either. The slice with the raspberry was also durian with pandan? I thought it was strawberry shortcake but it was not.

There were more dessert in shooter glasses and chocolate fountain with fruits and bread and butter pudding which I didn't get to try.

After trying 3 different types of tea from a selection of 102 varieties, I ended the meal with a cappuccino. I liked how the sugar cubes were enclosed in wrapper. More hygienic though probably cost more in production and environment disposal.

Just the two of us that day. Eat and drink and read and chat. What more could a girl ask for :)