A few days ago, I dragged my somewhat skeptical mother to D Good Cafe at Takashimaya, Ngee Ann City. We ate at the Holland Village branch a while back and she was not impressed with the quality. But since I told her there was a fairly cheap afternoon tea set, she agreed to give it a go.

I really like the decor and ambiance of both branches! This Takashimaya branch is inspired by England, so there are signs that mimic tube signs.

We got to sit inside, near the chalk drawing! Very impressive and I love the verse that they have up!

This is the menu:

$38 for two ($44.75 after GST and service taxes) is pretty cheap. The only cheaper option I know (in Orchard) is the Marks & Spencer one, which is around $30 for two.

We each got a pot of tea, which came in a “double decker” set. Since there were two of us, my mom got the England-themed set and I got the Singapore-themed set.

My tea was the Creme Brulee Black Tea ($10 if you order a la carte). In the menu, it’s described as “a creamy brulee styled dessert tea with hints of almonds, vanilla and caramel blended together with a high-grade Orange Pekoe.“

I was a bit hesitant in choosing this because I normally prefer fruit-based teas but I heard a lot of good things about this. Thankfully, I absolutely loved this! It smells a lot like the French Cake tea from Mslena and tastes pretty similar too (the only thing was that this had a stronger caramel taste). It was sweet without being overbearing and the flavourings balanced the tea perfectly.

My mom chose the Citrus Blend Green Tea ($8.50 if you order a la carte), which is described as “green tea blended with lemon balm and citrus fruits – pomelo, lime, orange and grapefruit. It’s a refreshing drink to enjoy!”

I only took a sip but it smelt and tasted like citrus. It’s a very clean tea that isn’t sour and for some reason, it has a slight medicinal aftertaste to me (perhaps it’s because of the lemon balm?). My mom loved this, but between you and me, I preferred my Creme Brulee Black Tea.

And this was our tea set! It might not look like much, but I was really full by the end of the meal.

For the savouries, there were:

Truffle scented egg mayonnaise sandwich – I thought these were rather ordinary, definitely would not have known there was truffle anything if the menu didn’t say! My mom preferred the M&S sandwiches.

Smoked Duck Bruschetta – I loved this because the blend of salty (from the duck) and sweet (from the mango) worked together perfectly. My favourite of the savouries.

Prosciutto, Grapes & Arugula on Baguette – looks cute, tastes good.

Bacon, Gruyere Cheese & Onion Jam on Toast – Probably my second favourite savoury because the ham was really good and everything worked together well.

For the scones, there were plain and cranberry scones. They were served warm and were very dense, though on the dry side. My mom really enjoyed these and I found that they went well with the tea.

For the jams, we got butter, cream cheese, housemade matcha jam, and strawberry jam. I’m probably old-fashioned but I really wished that there was clotted cream! The cream cheese just didn’t cut it. The matcha jam was interesting and very intensely flavoured. It goes pretty well with the plain scones but not with the cranberry.

The last tier were the desserts! There were:

Tofu Cheesecake – It was not my or mom’s favourite. Not terrible, but not the best.

Earl-Lavender Cream Puff – I loved the tea-flavoured cream (which tasted more like earl grey than earl-lavender) in this! Definitely my favourite dessert.

Chocolate-Orange Praline Cake – Rich and chocolatey, with the orange adding a nice balance to the chocolate.

Fruit Tart – The crust here was excellent! The crust alone made this my second-favourite dessert.

All in all, this was a really great and value-for-money afternoon tea. There’s a wide-range of savouries and desserts, and it tasted great. If you’re a mileslife user, be warned that you can’t use mileslife to pay for the afternoon tea. And if, like us, you’re not a fan of the tofu cheesecake, well, my mom asked and the staff said that you can request for it to be changed(;