At the 10 Scotts restaurant

Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore: Yesterday I had a couple of meetings at the 10 Scotts lounge, located at the lobby level, of this hotel which was formerly Scotts Lounge that has been completely revamped to 10 Scotts, an extraordinary home-like yet luxurious dining concept.

The lounge cafe is famous for its high tea which they serve from 12 to 5 pm. This restaurant is really very soothing and relaxing and the high tea is also very different from the traditional English 3-tier afternoon tea. Here, the high tea is a semi-buffet concept with a local twist.

High tea starts from 12 pm, so you could actually lunch if you wish to. There are endless types of tea listed on the menu but masala tea, one of my favourites, was missing. Samosas were very much a part of the menu. I was surprised to learn that the restaurant serves the famous Dammann Freres tea from France. Then there is the fragrant jasmine tea whose tea leaves are further flavoured with jasmine flower buds. There’s also coffee and fresh juices to choose from which makes the beverage selection complete.

Served along side the main dishes like chicken biriyani are papadum, chutneys, pickles, yogurt sauce and so on to make any Indian feel at home.

This restaurant, designed by Super Potato, brings to mind a residential-style lounge which exudes an aura of elegance and relaxation with its unique layout and collection of rooms, namely The Library, The Meeting Room, The Dining Room, The Living Room, The Collection Room, The Kitchen, The Verandah and The Terrace. The decor is chic, a mix of contemporary and classic, and a grand view of the waterfall at the centre of the lobby.

A fully facilitated business centre is located in this 10 Scotts lounge with wireless Internet access, a private meeting room and rental service for hiring personal laptops, computers as well as iPads.

There are almost all the popular varieties (sans origin) of coffee on the menu – Cafe Latte, Cappuccino, Caf Mocha (Mochachino), Americano, Espresso and Double Espresso, Caramel Macchiato and de-caffinated coffee. All such varieties in a tea lounge. One particular name on the menu that grabbed my attention was Kopi Luwak priced at 80 Singapore dollars after taxes for a cup. Well I had never come across a costlier version of coffee anywhere. Not even at the Ritz Paris or Waldorf Astoria in New York. Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee, is the costliest coffee in the world and is created mainly in Indonesia from beans of coffee berries (arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa) that are fed to Asian palm civets and collected from their faeces and processed. The taste can vary greatly but the prices are uniformly high. In India cafes are very common but the tea lounge culture is yet to make its mark. ess bee