San Francisco is 13,500 kilometres away from Singapore, but that didn’t stop The Wife’s dear friend DT from sending her a surprise birthday delivery.
It arrived in the form of a high tea tower from L’eclair Patisserie, lovingly hand delivered with a beautiful message. And even though the tower itself didn’t travel all the way from the US, the thoughtfulness definitely did.
The presentation of the high tea set was as impressive as it was classy. After lifting the matte black cone over the handle, we were greeted with three layers of pretty mini eclairs and savoury snacks.
When enjoying fancy high teas at fancy hotels, it’s always memorable when they serve their elaborately-decorated multi-layer trays filled with dainty and delicious bites.
While the home delivery version used plain white cardboard for the tower, it somehow still managed to recreate the anticipation, and subsequent satisfaction when everything is unveiled.
The package arrived in the late afternoon, and if we didn’t already have a large yusheng and vegetarian donburi due to arrive a few hours later, we would have happily devoured everything in one sitting.
Instead, The Wife chose a few pieces to sample, including the Mandarine au Chocolat and Strawberry Plum eclairs, topped with auspicious gold coin and ingot. Both tasted fantastic, and were not overly sweet.
The large (and very hard) sugar crystals on the strawberry eclair were a bit scary though, given our fragile middle-aged teeth, so we had to take each bite cautiously.
Given that L’eclair Patisseries specialises in eclairs, I wasn’t expecting much from the savoury scones and mini quiches. But they turned out to be surprisingly good, with strong but well-balanced flavours and pastry that had just the right level of crumbliness.
We grudgingly kept the rest of the pieces in the fridge that evening, but promptly re-heated and finished them the very next day.
Among the savouries, the Mini Chicken Bacon Pies were outstanding. Because, one, they had bacon inside, and bacon makes everything taste fantastic. And, two, the crust had a unique balance of sweet and saltiness, similar to the crust of really good Hong Kong-style egg custards.
The second item that I really enjoyed was the Parmesan Onion Crostini, with its sweet sweet onion and cheesy umami-ness. The Wife hates onions (except when they’re deep-fried) so I got to have both pieces. Win!
To compensate, I let her have most of the Mushroom Vol Au Vent, which was the item that she especially liked. In fact, all the savoury bites were quite good, and we’d gladly have them again.
Four eclairs were left, and while they were all good, two of them really stood out for their fresh and interesting flavours.
The Ispahan was a classic combination of rose and lychee, with bits of fleshy fruit studded throughout; and the Yuzu Calamansi, because, well, yuzu.
We took our time enjoying the remaining pieces, alternating between the sweet eclairs and the savoury snacks. I could tell that The Wife really enjoyed receiving the lovely surprise birthday gift. I, on the other hand, also enjoyed being the innocent bystander who got to share it with her.
It’s been many years since she’s met DT. In fact, and they were supposed to go for a girls’ trip to Seoul in the summer of 2020, together with another good friend, XL. Which, unfortunately, didn’t happen because of you-know-what.
Until the next time they get to meet again, it’s little things like this that keep a decades-long friendship going strong.
