Tea time at TWG Tea Salon & Boutique

This one flew under my radar; I didn't know that the TWG at Greenbelt 5 had already opened (yes, since November 2012). I only learned about it some two Sundays ago when we chanced upon it on our way to dinner somewhere. Well, we ended up having dinner there instead.

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The TWG store at GB5 has a dining section with a few tables where apart from tea, of course, they serve pastries, sandwiches, and even full meals. There was a wait list, so it took a while before we were seated. While waiting, we looked around the store, knowing very little about tea. I'm primarily a coffee person but I also take tea, with English Breakfast and Earl Grey as my go-to choices. I was just fascinated by the sheer number of artisanal tea varieties there at TWG, all kept in their signature yellow tins and stacked up on floor-to-ceiling shelves.

Various packages in tin cans, in boxes, those that came with tea sets, are sold here, as well as fancy teapots and teacups, macaroons and other pastries. I managed to snap a few photos from my phone before Manang Guard told me that taking pictures was not allowed (Too late, Manang!).

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These tea packages don't come cheap.

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Walls of artisanal tea.

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The dining section. Not much room to move around.

We tried their caramel tea and it didn't disappoint. The caramel infusion was perfectly executed and it just smelled so good. Sugar, and not honey, is the sweetener of choice here. I only learned later that honey doesn't sit well with some blends as it adversely affects the taste of the tea, which probably explains why our M&S English Breakfast at home had a sour taste when we used this certain organic honey that we had.

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Love at first smell. And taste. The caramel tea was great.

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Sugar crystals over honey.

Because it was dinner that we had in mind, we sampled two of their main course offerings. I had their Chicken en Brochette (Php 475), which was basically chicken kebab with capsicum and pineapple served with rice and drizzled with a Timeless Tea-infused sauce. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding either.

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Chicken en Brochette.

My Bibe ordered their Roast Apricot Cod (Php 650), a roasted cod fillet served with a Matcha Tea-infused potato purée (think: green-colored mashed potato) and a drizzle of Apricot Tea-infused sauce. This was a disappointment. Both of us couldn't taste any apricot at all. Wrong choice. I think it's best to stick to pastries next time.

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Roast Apricot Cod.

Thankfully that disastrous cod dish was easily forgotten when we tried two of their tea ice cream flavors: Alfonso (black tea and mango) and Napoleon (black tea, macadamia and caramel), each at Php 190 (or was it Php 120?). Both were really, really good!

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After all our tea was gone, the ice cream was our redeeming grace from that disappointing main course.

Next time I'd like to try one of their afternoon tea time set menus, much like the one at Bizu, only fancier.

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The TWG Tea Salon & Boutique is located at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5 in Makati City. It's near Massimo Dutti and Furla.

Comments

  1. Note taken about the cod - thanx. I can't wait to go here when I visit pinas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you're welcome. i saw your countdown on your blog :)

      Delete
    2. lol. vacation for me is a BIG event. :)

      Delete
  2. Cool, the food looks amazing! Would you like to follow each other?
    http://colorloud.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think ice cream tea lang papasok sa budget ko.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would love to have my cup of tea over there!!
    Best Regards
    Miss Margaret Cruzemark
    http://margaretcruzemark.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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