TWG Tea Salon & Boutique, Plaza Senayan

One of the places that comes up in my mind for a comfortable and relaxing tea ritual would be TWG Tea Salon & Boutique, which is located in Plaza Senayan. TWG, stands for The Wellness Group, was first established in our neighbor country, Singapore, in celebration of the island’s great history as a trading post for teas, spices, and fine epicurean products. Before the Indonesian’s branch was opened, for long I have been a loyal patron of their outlets in Singapore, enjoying their infamous TWG Tea Macarons the most, which for me, are considered one of the best macarons I have ever had in Asian countries to date.

TWG outlets are dominated by yellow and golden colors, which never fails to impress me with their rich and luxurious atmospheres. Decorated with various colorful TWG tea cans and impressive collections of tea sets, it’s difficult not to hold your breath when you enter the place. However, we were not allowed to take any photos of the interior and room, so I suggest if you have never been there, just go and enjoy the true classic beauty of the outlets.

This time, we went there for breakfast (or early lunch) and these are what we ordered!

This set comes with a pot of TWG tea, freshly squeezed fruit juice, choice of 1 croissant or chocolate croissant (or 2 scones or 2 muffins served with TWG Tea Jelly and whipped cream), and Farmhouse eggs poached with asparagus, pure white Alba truffle oil and sprinkled with Gyokuro Samurai tea leaves. The set might seem a bit pricey, but it comes with A LOT of stuffs! First, the main dish, honestly, I have never really liked poached eggs, so yeah. The toast was nice, the asparagus was crunchy and the vegetable salad was refreshing. However, the whole dish was just too bland and blah for my taste. 

We chose the single croissant, a chocolate one, and things got better from then on. The croissant was SOOOO GOOD that I almost dropped tears, no kidding! It was fresh, warm, rich of buttery fragrance, it was literally crispy outside, soft and moist inside. It somehow reminded me of the delicious croissant I used to eat during my childhood. The nostalgic feeling I have when eating a particular food is just priceless!

The TWG Tea Jelly and whipped cream were fabulous, too. The jelly was rich in flavor, soft like jam, but solid like jelly, it’s hard to describe, seriously. But they are just LOVE!! 😀

For the juice, they only had 2 options that day: orange or watermelon, and we picked orange because we wanted to play it safe. It wasn’t disappointing at all because it was indeed freshly squeezed orange, not typical instant or mixed “orange juice” which are served lately in many restaurants. 

We chose Grand Wedding Tea for the TWG Tea selection, a combination of black tea and exotic fruits, which apparently is the bestseller tea in TWG here. It came in luxurious golden tea pot and when poured, the tea color was very beautiful. It tasted like a strong black tea with distinctive aroma and taste of the fruits, and I totally understood why it is considered a bestseller. It was a heart-warming tea with cute, soft fragrance that will melt someone’s worries right away.

Oven-baked layers of pasta with beef ragout, mozzarella cheese and our signature homemade tomato and basil sauce infused with Moroccan Mint Tea. The lasagna was very beautiful in presentation, it was so balanced in colors and looked very tempting. It was good, indeed, with well-baked lasagna layers combined with generous beef ragout stuffings, although I found the beef was probably overcooked until a bit dry. I enjoyed the dish although I wished I could hint the tea infusion even only a bit.

A sweet combination of green tea and peach, this was my order and I couldn’t be happier! The aromatic peach totally dominated the calming green tea and those were simply a great pair. Highly recommended for a kick to start your day or a calmer to unwind after a busy day!

A visit to TWG without ordering their infamous macarons is just ridiculous, so let me share you one of the best macarons EVER. The macarons are infused with their signature teas, so nothing to worry about the taste! We ordered Napoleon Tea & Caramel and Camelot Tea & Praline. My favorite was the Praline one because it was almond taste, and Mr. K liked the caramel one. I really love how crunchy yet soft their macarons are. You don’t even have to worry that they will crumble when you bite, because the macarons have soft centre yet crunchy when bitten! Simply said, no words can describe them so why don’t you try them yourselves? 

Delicate flaky pastry filled with stewed apples served with a scoop of homemade Singapore Breakfast Tea ice cream and topped with an unctuous caramel coulis infused with Pomme Prestige Tea. This dessert is one of the most recommended one when you visit any TWG outlets because it is just too good to miss! The pastry was delicate yet chewy, a very good combination with the apples which are sweet with little hint of sourness. The ice cream was one kind to die for, just perfect. During my visit to the TWG outlet in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, I was told that they used the original Normandy apples, but I am not sure about here, though, because the apples tasted different with the ones I had in Singapore. Nevertheless, this dessert is very, very recommended!

What interesting about the TWG Tea Salon & Boutique is their extensive lists of tea (hence the name), and also their ability to combine tea into the dishes, cakes and desserts. In other words, all you experience here have somewhat related to tea, and I think it’s very brilliant concept. No matter how many times I visit their outlets, it never fails to amaze me to see their massive selections of tea and there are always more and more new variants to try!

However, if it’s your first time visiting, I recommend this place for afternoon tea, or just having tea and desserts, because those are what they are famous for. Good luck and hope you have same good experiences (or even better!) in TWG Tea Salon & Boutique!