Mandarin Oriental: MO Bar High Tea review

Above Image Source: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Singapore

MO Bar: A lovely chill-out place

MO Bar is located in Mandarin Oriental hotel, in the Marina Bay area in Singapore.

A great location to hang out – spacious seatings, welcoming sofas, and dim lighting – this place sets the stage for high-tea with an impressive first impression.

At the front counter, a chef prepares the Afternoon Tea sets.

Afternoon Tea patrons could also help themselves to a lovely chocolate board and some sweets. You can have as much chocolate/sweets as you like, but it is recommended to leave some room for the actual tea itself.

The place itself, while technically known as the MO “Bar” – passes off well as some kind of high-end tea parlour.

Image source: Portfolio Magazine

Afternoon Tea: Details

The Afternoon Tea set (non-refillable) costs SGD 48++ per person. However, bring some company and two people can dine at SGD 88++

The Afternoon Tea includes a coffee and a choice of tea.

However, for the extra oomph, there’s an option to have the Afternoon Tea set with cocktail (SGD 65++ per person) or a glass of “R” de Ruinart champagne (SGD 68++ per person)

That day, as there was four of us, and none wanted any alcohol – we simply got two sets for SGD 88++ each.

Bonus: HSBC credit card holders get a 15% discount.

 Click on the images below to check out the menu.

Food: Starters, Small Bites, Desserts, Scones

First up came the Campari Granite, a refreshing mix of shaved clemintine ice and cardamom jelly. A light and slightly bitter-sweet start to the meal.

Halfway through the Campari Granite, the waitress delivered the Afternoon Tea sets for four.

One word: Wow.

Really, WOW.

And dig in we did.

Above (see image), we had the Tandoori Turkey Roll with cucumber and mint chutney (left), and a Beetroot tart with crispy pancetta fillings and a topping with gorgonzola cheese dolce (right).

The Tandoori Turkey Roll was savory – not spicy at all. But the winner was the Beetroot tart – something about the inner fillings and the beetroot crisp with the tart shell and the cheese… all came together in a sharp burst of flavours. So. Very. Good.

Impressed, we eagerly tried the Smoked Salmon and Oscietra Caviar (left), laid out on a blini (russian pancake). Exquisite and fishy, it definitely has the hint of luxury dining. Not to be outdone, the Foie gras torchon (middle), topped with a wine jelly layer and resting on gingerbread, was gratifyingly rich. The Champagne ham and honey mustard sandwich (right) wasn’t bad – it was in fact a pretty tasty ham sandwich. However, compared to the other two items… it just felt like it wasn’t of the same caliber. 

Next up, was our very cute and very decorated array of desserts.

Mont Blanc: Chestnut apricot paste, with pain de genes and cinnamon cream. Yums.

Coco Exotic: Coconut Mousse, with exotic coulis and coconut dacquoise. 

I only understood ‘coconut mousse’ and ‘exotic’ i swear – BUT this was my favourite item. Creamy and nutty on the outside, and sweet on the inside (it resembled mango), the flavour combination was just delightful. However, i am a huge coconut fan – one of the diners who wasn’t crazy about coconut didn’t enjoy it as much and offered this to me.

Red Fruit Pistachio Choux: Red fruit compote, madagascar vanilla custard, pistacho soft ganache

If you love pistachio, you will love this – wrapped up in a crunchy cream puff texture – the green cream filling had the texture of whipped cream, but it tasted like pistachio. 

Black Forest buche de noel: Chocolate genoese, dark cherry manjari, chocolate cremeux

One great thing about this high tea – is the variety in dessert presentation. Among the four of us, each person had their own favourite dessert piece, with little overlap in preference. It felt like MO Bar had designed the Afternoon Tea to cater to a wide range of preferences – there is SOMETHING that each person can find and enjoy. 

Vanilla scones (lighter) and Cinnamon Walnut Scones (darker)

Of course, scones. No high tea is ever complete without them. Served with strawberry jam, marmalade, and cream – these were a hit with my two year old child, who kept asking for more strawberry jam and cream toppings (A mad combo for a sugar high, but that’s another story).

By then, we were stuffed – and yet still found the stomach space to munch on more pastries, the flakey kind:

Chestnut and Mushroom roll with red onion jam

Final Words, HSBC credit card discount

Overall, it was a leisurely kind of Tea-time. A great place to spend a quiet afternoon and relax. The only thing is, the food items were not refillable. The standard is comparable to the Afternoon Tea at Brasserie Les Saveurs at St Regis Singapore – and that place also has elaborate desserts and elegant sandwiches.

If you desire a high tea with refillable items, a great alternative could be the High Tea Buffet at Shangri La’s Rose Veranda, or L’Espresso at Goodwood Park Hotel, or the English afternoon tea at Marriott Hotlel’s lobby lounge.

Table, after most of the food got vanquished. Teapot, remaining scones (that we packed home), and yes, that’s my YSL toy loulou bag in velvet 🙂

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