Hello friends!

It’s a two-in-one post today because I went for the Paddington Bear-themed tea at Skai and of course, I had to read the book before I went.

Afternoon Tea Review

I first went to Skai in 2020 (apparently also for my birthday) and my friend and I enjoyed it so much that we figured the Paddington Bear tea would probably be of good quality. It’s a really nice themed tea; there’s a little display of a British telephone box in the hotel lobby, because they do have a few meet and greet sessions, and they also provide a bookmark to all guests. You can top up $10 to the afternoon tea for a jar of marmalade but we did not get that.

As you can see, the afternoon tea served is very hearty (plus they gave us an additional chocolate cake for my birthday). The staff took the time to explain the dishes, and they even served us the marmalade sandwiches from an upside down hat, but we focused a bit more on catching up today and I didn’t take detailed notes of the tea. If you’re curious, here is the menu.

Overall, the afternoon tea did not disappoint. The savouries were all pretty good, anything that’s a pastry was basically a standout (the chicken pie was very good, for example), and the only exception was the cheese and truffle gougeres, because the pastry was rather empty inside the all the filling was on the outside. I did think it would be nice to have the filling inside as well, but taste-wise, it was quite nice.

We were already quite stuffed by the time we got to the sweets, which is why we might have been a bit more critical. For example, the paddington bear macaron was very cute but I also found it very sweet. I also wasn’t very impressed by the Raspberry Battenberg Sponge – the sponge was very ordinary, though the chocolate bus was cute and the tartness of the raspberries added a nice contrast to all the sweets around. I much preferred the lemon tea meringue shortbread, as it was presented more like a lemon pie with a great shortbread crust, as well as the very rich royal hazelnut praline, which was shaped in the form of Paddington’s suitcase, with his initials on it. Although very rich and sweet, the crunch from the pralines added a nice contrast and it was such a decadent treat that the sweetness worked for it rather than against it.

The chocolate cake that they gave me as a birthday cake had a really lovely ganache, but the cake itself was a bit dry (similar to the Battenberg, now that I think about it).

For the drinks, we skipped the teas as we were already both quite familiar with TWG teas (what a contrast compared to the first time I had it at an afternoon tea in Okinawa, if you will indulge my sudden trip back memory lane) and went for the mocktail: Tea with Paddington. It’s quite a light, refreshing drink and comes with a very cute tag like the one Paddington was found with.

Book Review

This year seems to be a bit of a rediscovering children’s fiction year, since I finally read Winnie the Pooh, Moomin, and now Paddington Bear for the first time. And what I found was that I really enjoyed Paddington Bear. It’s a very fun and charming story and I loved the character of Paddington – so unfailingly polite but also with the ability to attract “something” that happens to him. Though short and easy to read, I never felt like the book talked down to children.

I consider this simpler than the Moomin books in terms of story, but more entertaining than Winnie the Pooh. In Winnie the Pooh, it felt like there wasn’t much going on (I’m sure fans will disagree with me, but that was my impression of the book). However, Paddington gets into all sorts of scrapes that I think will entertain both children and adults alike. In fact, while I wasn’t much inspired to continue reading Winnie the Pooh (unless I was choosing it to read to a child), I do think it would be fun to pick up more Paddington stories as a palate cleanser between books.

Overall, this was a really fun book and a really fun afternoon tea. Reading the book just before the tea helped me to get in the mood to appreciate all the small details and I think I enjoyed the tea all the more for it.