Imagine English tea time - teacups, saucers, tea pot, white Lacey tablecloth, flower bouquet ahh the list goes on and on. I am also picturing myself clinking tea cups with Mad Hatter, side by side to the White Rabbit and friends in the Wonderland. Excuse my never ending amuse of this classic hehs
It has always been a dream of my mom to indulge tea the English way, don't get me wrong, she just like it prim and proper. My mother had it all planned to visit Cameron Highlands and have tea on our way back home when we headed to balik kampong in Kelantan.
Of course I couldn't turn down such offers (although at that point of time, I was really troubled, which I shall disclose why in another entry) at this place called the Smoke House, if I ever get the name right.
Stepping in the premise for the first time is remarkable. The place is amazeballs. The interior decoration is intricate but comforting and the greeneries surrounding the gardens warmly welcomed us as well as the friendly staffs, who made us feel like visiting friends rather than being in a peculiar place with strange English vibes. I believe this ambience has convinced many to give this place another visit each time.
We chose to be seated outdoor just to breath the afternoon air with chilly breeze from the cloudy whether. I let my parents decide the menu because scones is new in my dictionary, I didn't even know how it looks like. I'm more of a pisang goreng kind of person haha.
Waiting for the order wasn't so bad, I was preoccupied by staring at almost every angle of the garden. As you would have guessed, my mom was busy documenting all the views (and people i.e. yours truly and Abah) with her phone camera while Abah was still scrutinizing the menus, one by one.
When the orders arrived, they came in sets of 3. There were three separate tea pots (tho small) with three tea cups, saucers, milk in a jug anddd what fascinated me the most, a cute little tea strainer! I literally chuckled at the sight of this because even though my mom likes this kind of tea sets, I've never use a sieve when the tea is already served, except when I was in kampung on my father's side. Abah argued that this is the way to real tea time but my mom rebutted saying that people don't do it that way in common Malay households. I don't take side in this argument because my fascination didn't just stop there but the scones. I emulated what my mother did to her tea, and although I rarely pour milk into my tea, I did it anyway. It tasted just fine, maybe because I put too much, it was my first time, I didn't expect quick success. I liked the fact that the teas have different smells - mine is rose with lychee (if I'm not mistaken) depending on what you ordered from the menu.
After a sip or two, I worked my way to learn the art of eating scones from the ever graceful mama. You got to slice the scones into two without pushing the knife too hard because its inside is brittle and soft and cuts into two with ease. Then, you spread the cream and strawberry jam in the middle and put them back together with your hands and voila! Haha noobs alert. It tasted nothing like it looks, if that makes any sense. I was expecting it to taste like cookies or hard bread but it doesn't taste like that at all. After a few bites, I was tempted by the seduction of the cream and put more cream on, but it tasted better with less cream and more jam.
Uh uh my tea didn't just end there. After my try at the scones, I gave the smoked salmon sandwiches a go. They tasted yummy all the same! The best part is yet to come. While I was busy munching, the raindrops decided to fall harder. We declined the waiters' offer to move inside at first but then, the rain didn't seem to allow us to be outside so we ran inside. Fret not, our teacups and scones were carried indoors too with the help of the staffs. So we got to be at two different places with similar astonishing ambience and have tea once again (the staff refilled our teapots). We stayed around for a while, waiting the pour to slow down. My mom and I got to discover almost all parts of the house, with different decorations on different sections and took a lot of photos. This is place is so pretty I feel like staying a little longer.
Next time, my mom wants it to be a stay for a night or two, on me *gulp.
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