Bloggers Outing: Royal Copenhagen

There's a mounting backlog of food entries for me to clear but I thought it would be nice to start off the new week with the latest Food Bloggers' Sweet Treat Saturday at Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge. The initial plan was to head to TWG at Ion Orchard for tea and cakes but I got out of the queue immediately after being told that they have a "no photography" policy (I must add that the staff were very polite about it and we even shook hands over the matter). Royal Copenhagen is a pretty nice place and we had a great time not just fussing over our desserts but also getting to know one another better. Here's the "guest list" for the day:

Justin from J2K3Blogs
Kaelyn from My Food Sirens
Harris from The Simplest Aphrodisiac
Phoebe and Chloe from The Food Chapter
Daniel and Lay Sian from Memoirs of Food


As always, we let the food be our models for the day as we passed them around and arranged them as best as we could for that one perfect shot. It was the very first time that I was using my Canon EOS 500D, and I must say that I need much, much more practice with it! So I'm going to upload just a handful of food pictures this time round but do stay tuned for future posts once I get my act together with the DSLR camera. Till then, read on for the food reviews!


Assiette of Citrus: 4/5
The assiette of citrus (picture above, bottom left) is a house signature item of Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge but we all agreed only two thirds of it is worth such a credential. The lightly citrus-flavoured butter cake was terribly dry and plain, and would need (extra) helpings of the pleasantly sourish sorbet to make it edible. The citrus tart meanwhile was delicious, it had the mix of sweet and sour that I enjoyed very much.

The Mudslide Royale: 3/5
I have high expectations for my chocolate because I love them so. This one is just a bit too thick and rich for my liking, so much so that it's hard to tell what exactly I'm tasting. I don't exactly like raisins, this cake has it, so it's partly personal dislike too.

Banana Bread: 2.75/5
Whoops, what is this?? It looks like a slice of pound cake and eventhough it wasn't dry, it still was quite bland for many of us. We couldn't bring ourselves to finish this, not even with seven of us.

Orange Cake: 3.75/5
This was pretty simple, but the flavouring is quite good. Somehow, when I was munching away at it, I thought this would be best for kids - that familiar orange taste - adequately sweet without being over-powering.

Cranberry Almond Cake: 4.25/5
I liked this almond-inspired cake more than its meringue-cream counterpart. It tastes better with each bite, mixing the sweet cranberry with the distinct almond taste.

Traditional Scones: 3.5/5
The scones are another one of the house signature items but this was something that I didn't see much to rave about. It's what it says it is, just scones with no extra oomph or aah, but at least it went fine with the serving of jam or cream cheese; thought the ones from Pan Pacific's Atrium Deli were better.

Almond Meringue Cream Butter Cake: 3.5/5
The almond meringue cream butter cake had the balance of soft and crisp with the meringue layers amidst the tart-like crust. On taste, it was just alright and didn't manage to impress us. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the cranberry almond cake much more.

Upside Down Pineapple Carrot Cake: 4.25/5
The carrot cake was the favourite of the day, and we liked it for its texture, its sweetness (thanks to the top slice of pineapple), and its even moisture. A strong contender for Cedele's carrot cake surely, even if they might be a wee bit different.


Danish Butter Cake: 4.75/5
I actually like the Danish butter cake the most, though I'm not exactly sure if the others hold it in that high regard as me - see, taste is subjective! I like it a lot because of it's buttery and "eggy" custard middle that is a joy to eat really. For that, I'll include a picture of it right here :)

Service
Very good.

Price
$11.90 for the assiette of citrus,
$7.90 for the scones,
$5.50 for each slice of (displayed) cakes

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
Orchard Takashimaya Singapore Department Store, Level 2.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.