Irish Afternoon Tea Town Restaurant The Fullerton Hotel Singapore every Saturday & Sunday in March 2020

My first visit to the Fullerton Building, named for the first governor of the Straits Settlements, was to deliver my hand-written tax return to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore in the 1990s. In 1997, Sino Land (associated with Far East Organisation} acquired the Fullerton Building and spent close to SGD300 million converting it into a hotel and building the two-storey commercial complex One Fullerton opposite Fullerton Road. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore in its renewed marble, hardwood and brass grandeur was officially opened by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 1 January 2001.

After several Latin and African dance nights in the Post Bar, a number of events on the rooftop of the Waterboat House, Oktoberfests in the East Garden, various balls in the ballrooms and cocktails in the rooftop Lighthouse, the Fullerton Hotel had become an old friend and I had returned to the Town Restaurant for afternoon tea.

For three weekends until the end of March in association with charity The Ireland Funds and the Sense of Ireland the Town Restaurant is offering a variation on their popular high tea – the Irish Afternoon Tea in honour of St Patrick.

We were welcomed at the entrance of the restaurant by the effusive Cherry and Hope and were waited on by Irman, Weilun and Mei who remained attentive throughout our stay, but never intrusive. They led us to a table in the subtly Art Deco restaurant which affords views of the entrance fountains and the Singapore River – tables are also available outside on the riverside walk.  First to arrive were the traditional warm plain and raisin scones with raspberry jam and clotted cream.

I paired these with my favourite Vanilla Bourbon tea while my dining companion chose the more subtle Pai Mu Tan. The three-tiered tray was presented next with its savoury and dessert levels. Making our way through the delicious savoury level was a Sisyphean task as the staff continuously brought a refresh tray for us to select refill items – the mini shepherd’s pie with truffle mashed potato is hard to resist, not to mention the boxty (Irish potato cake) with smoked salmon and the Irish lamb and barley stew mini vol-au-vent.

These were complemented by prawn cocktail and avocado tart with Marie Rose sauce, soda bread with grilled cheese and pesto, corned beef sandwiches with mustard mayonnaise and pickle, open faced soda bread sandwiches with crab salad and dill cucumber sandwiches with Boursin cheese.

The dessert tiers were lovely – mercifully without refills which would have proved too much of a temptation. My favourites were the creamy texture of the Irish apple cake and the melt-in-the-mouth Baileys chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup. We also sampled the traditional Irish Barmbrack – “barm” is the froth leftover after fermenting beer or ale, which is mixed with sultanas and spice to make a heavy, fruity bread. Shamrock cupcakes, Irish coffee cakes and chocolate stout cakes rounded out the tiers.

Paired to the afternoon tea are two Irish cocktails – a creamy Bailey’s vanilla martini (Bailey’s Irish Cream, vanilla vodka and vanilla syrup) and a refreshing Irish apple sour (Jameson Irish whiskey, apple sour liquor and green apple purée).

A bonus with the afternoon tea is a free one-year membership to the Fullerton Club which provides discounts on restaurant bills, stays and in-house spa treatments, ensuring that we will indeed be back!