TWG Tea at ION Orchard — Restaurant in Singapore

Edited from 1 to 5 stars:

TWG reached out to us and apologised for the experience and made us an offer to make up for the poor experience. We appreciated the care they have for their customers in handling this situation professionally. The reason I'm changing this to 5 stars however is also because of the subsequent outstanding experience we had, both taste and service wise when we ate at TWG in Raffles City. TWG is back on our list of favourite lunch and dinner places in Singapore. Thank you

We’ve been fans of TWG tea and outlets for years and have spent many thousands $$$ with them having introduced TWG to family and friends. TWG products are usually on our list of Singapore gifts when we visit our family abroad. With that in mind, we had the most unpleasant service experience when my wife and I ate dinner at the ION outlet last Saturday:

My wife only ordered a main course and I ordered a starter. Both came at the same time (they didn’t ask us if we had any preference) and my main never came. My wife had long finished her main when I asked for my main and it seemed like they had forgotten about it (waited another 10 minutes). I ordered cod fish and got another fish served. When bringing this to the waiter’s attention there was a lukewarm apology clearly without intent to rectify the error. I then offered to eat it anyway to avoid any wastage and waiting any longer. We ordered loose teas for taking home worth almost 200$. The waiter took our order, then came back with the wrong tea - bag size combination. Again, said it’s okay and simply asked them to add more tea of the one they prepared too little a bag for. This might have been a smart way to get us to spend more… To top off the whole rather unexpected experience, the waiter at the end said ‘See you guys!’ to my wife and me as if we were his pals…

Call these 1st world problems - but we’ve gotten used to expect a high service standard from TWG or any outlet where a dinner costs 100.- per person or more. The food has always been excellent. Service at the Marina Bay Sends is always excellent. Unfortunately that’s not the case for service at ION Orchard and we will think hard whether we want to go back to TWG, and certainly will not patronise their ION outlet anymore.

These things are best fed back to management but last time I sent a message to TWG (an online tea order had some issues), we never heard back. Looks like they’re not able to maintain a persistent quality throughout. A...

SUMMARY expect about $40-50/person Research teas yourself before arriving as the number of choices can be bewildering Food was quite good. Ask for butter after receiving the buns Staff is friendly and polite

FOOD We ordered the spaghetti with mushrooms, along with the red curry dish. You do get rice included in the curry dish, and as a starter they also give you two warm buns (not pictured). When they do arrive with the food, ask the waiters for the butter for the buns. The buttered buns were so good, that it almost qualifies as the best part of the meal. The curry was good too, however the curry was a bit too thin to my liking. The spaghetti was quite heavy however it had a very savoury taste - we would not hesitate to order these dishes again.

DRINKS As always with TWG the problem is the number of tea options. I feel like the staff can be a bit more proactive at helping the guests choose, as there are literally 100s of different teas. The tea we ended up choosing (pu-er from I believe Yunnan province) was decent and had a taste similar to .. think of the best version you have ever tasted of earl grey. It did have the middle tongue bitterness which was quite satisfactory.

SERVICE The staff was very polite however as I mentioned under drinks they should have been more proactive at helping to choose the tea selection. Food arrived within reasonable time and the food was warm and well prepared - makes for a great Instagram shot.

AMBIENCE Considering that this is in the middle of a mall, the ambience is surprisingly good. I actually have no problem giving thumbs up for the way the layout has been set up by management. The bar/cashier area is clearly inspired by cocktail bars, which I think adds a lot of personality...

Note: This is a non-halal restaurant. For muslim diners do check with the staff on the ingredients used. The staff is more than happy to advise.

This is our first time dining here. A home grown boutique F&B that specialises is artisanal tea. Nice, classy ambience but you don’t need a suit and tie or glam dress to enjoy the experience.

The wait staff who attended to us was polite and took the initiative to recommend me in detail, the suitable tea to go with my salad. I got the white tea, floral and not overwhelmingly rich which went nicely with my rich Smoked Salmon and Poached shrimp salad. I seriously love the salad! Interesting and delicious infused tea dressing and the portion was generous too.

My mum had their lunch set: “Tuna loin crusted with Persian spices, served with a coriander and Padrón pepper coulis, accompanied by eggplant and Indian Night Tea infused bulgur” + “Colombia Morning Mist Tea” + “Earl Grey Fortune infused chocolate mousse topped with a hazelnut tuile and a scoop of mandarin sorbet, served with yuzu foam”

The main dish was really good and the crust was packed with flavour. The tuna was perfectly cooked. The bulgur ties everything together perfectly.

The dessert was luxurious. The masterstroke was that yuzu foam as it balanced the richness of the chocolate mousse. I get it the sorbet added freshness and cleanse your palate after devouring the sumptuous rich main.

Will definitely return to try their...