Thursday, April 12, 2012

Afternoon Tea Buffet @ Pavilions Lounge, Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur

The Life of a Tai-Tai...

"Tai tai" is the term used to describe ladies of leisure and usually afternoon tea is an activity associated with "tai-tai's". Well, I'm not exactly a tai-tai but I do enjoy indulging in afternoon tea and enjoying what it's like to be a tai-tai once in a while.

So, one afternoon I was joined by Veron (Quay Po Cooks) and Mei Yee (iamthewitch) at Sheraton Imperial for their afternoon tea buffet. Both Mei Yee and I have read several glowing reviews about the afternoon tea so we decided to try it since we both can utilise our Starwood cards . Unfortunately, from the minute we sat down, it all went pear shaped.

Firstly, we arrived and was surprised to see a small table set up with  less than 15 items of desserts/cakes and this was what they called an afternoon tea buffet. We wanted to catch up, so we thought ok, a small selection is okay as long as they're decent.

Before we came, I called to tell them that we had 2 Starwood cards and wanted to use them to get the 50% discount (there was 4 of us so 2 persons on each card). The girl said that it wouldn't be a problem. However, when we told them at Pavilions Lounge that we wanted to use 2 cards, they insisted that we couldn't and we would have to sit at separate tables. It's really silly as the place was practically empty and they could have easily just opened 2 bills and let us sit together since the cards were under different accounts. Finally, we asked to speak to the manager and they reluctantly let us sit together. I thought that they handled the situation really badly.
The afternoon tea buffet


Back to the afternoon tea selections. The scones were hard and the cakes were dry. The donuts were decent and the raspberry tart was quite nice. The chocolate balls were also quite good. We asked what flavour the macaron was, and they had to get the pastry chef out, and when we asked him what flavour it was he said "macaron" LOL. In the end, we managed to find out that it was banana flavour. The texture of the macaron was a little too crunchy. Quite a disappointing selection.


Raspberry tarts


Scones - too dry

To go with the scones

Donuts


Biscuits which are too dry


Cakes - well, at least they replenish them often


Cupcakes and fruit skewers


Chocolates - these were quite good


Banana macarons


At least they serve good quality tea here.. TWG. And the steel pot they used keep the tea warm for a long time.




Veron kindly brought some of her kumquat macarons for us to try and this was the highlight (food-wise) of the afternoon for us! Thanks Veron.


Though the food and service was bad (it was hard to get their attention for a tea refill and I had to walk up to get our bills), the place itself has quite a nice (quiet) ambiance and great for catching up with your friends. I have to thank the two lovely ladies who were great company and we sure had a good chat and laugh together.


Pavilions Lounge

Veron, Baby Sumo and Mei Yee


Verdict: Will probably not return here, unless they improve on their service and food quality and selection.

Full set of photos available to view here.

The afternoon tea buffet is available Mondays to Fridays from 2pm-6pm.

Parking: RM8 flat rate.

Price: RM38++ per person, but we got 50% discount with Starwood card.

Location: Pavilions Lounge, Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03 -2717 9900

GPS Coordinates: 3.158813, 101.700203

24 comments:

  1. Aww shucks! You should've read my review. I didn't praise the food any bit at all; but I focused more on talking about the really good tea.

    I didn't think it the food spread was very good at all, but the service as you described is TERRIBLE.

    Strange, as service at Celestial Court has been very good. Pavilions Lounge needs to inherit a few tips from Celestial Court.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember reading yr post and thought that you really enjoyed it.

      Am planning to try their other restaurants soon, so hoping they will be better.

      Delete
  2. luckily ur mood didn't ruined by the food & service hor.. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was a bit frustrated la, but luckily the company was great so soon forgotten ;)

      Delete
  3. ooo, banana macaron actually sounds like a fun flavor. i don't think i've tried that before! :D p.s. hopefully the sheraton management reads this post! =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They actually saw this and have emailed me. I really do hope that they can improve as the ambiance is actually pretty nice.

      Delete
  4. Ya some places have silly rules like that. Insist that if you wanna use the voucher/coupon, you have to have separate tables.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The thing is I called beforehand to double check, and they said it's OK la.

      Delete
  5. Poor service and it's quiet! UNCALLED FOR!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I want a Tai Tai life too!! ^_^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe when u got off day next? Jom afternoon tea next time ;)

      Delete
  7. Sheraton is quite a reputable hotel globally & I'm surprised that they were so inflexible in handling such a simple thing! Looks like a big deal for them! Too bad that the customers won't go back there again!

    I recall that besides Quay Po's macarons, she said that the donuts actually tasted the best! I would have thought should be the cute cute raspberries tarts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea we were pretty shocked too since I called beforehand and they said it was ok to use 2 cards. Furthermore the 2 cards are from 2 separate accounts.

      I actually like the raspberry tarts very much, maybe cos I love raspberries!

      Delete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. so delicois... look taste look like art of food www.redlomo.com :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately some look nice but dont taste so nice ;P

      Delete
  10. I also want to be a tai-tai for a day. When I take leave we go "tai-tai" together ok? :P

    *I would have been in a mega foul mood if I got that type of service. -_-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe sure! Let me know la when you're free. ;)

      Delete
  11. I would like to try the banana macarons, but I don't think I will pay RM80 for such poor selection of food.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually it's only RM38++ per person, the selection definitely wasn't worth it. But seeing as we got 50% discount, it was a nice enough place to hang out with our friends.

      Delete
  12. Hee, 'tai-tai' - I can only dream. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe maybe not everyday, but you can enjoy the "tai-tai" life once in a while ;)

      Delete
  13. Tai Tai! I wouldn't mind the life of a tai tai, chatting over yummies and a good up of tea or tea with the girlfriends. But heck I don't think I can do that everyday. I'll probably end up like a round tennis ball! and along the way be bored to tears.

    ReplyDelete

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