Halia Restaurant

It all started with a command from the boss: "We're going on high tea. Go and look for places."

Except it wasn't so demanding and more of a friendly banter. So it was decided that a few of us girls will be having high tea on our half day off just before Vesak Day. Lovely!

After surfing a few websites and observing the disappointed looks on my colleagues' faces at the mention of the extravagant prices, I stumbled upon the CNN GO website which recommended Halia as one of the 5 top high tea places in Singapore. Best part - their $19 traditional English high tea set. Looks like we have our winner!

Looking for the place was a bit of an adventure on its own (adventure for me, :S faces from my fellow food hunters), but when we found it, I must say, it was worth the 10minute walk from the Cluny Rd entrance of the Botanical Gardens. The restaurant was right in the middle of the Ginger Gardens (Halia being Malay for ginger) and surrounded by lush greenery. Very calming and relaxing locale.

On to the food now! We ordered 2 sets of the said English high tea set - each came with a selection of sweets (brownie, strawberry tart, cheesecake and scone) prepared by the chef, a puff pastry (we had amazing chicken pie!), a smoked salmon and egg mayo bruschetta and a mango and tuna mayo bruschetta. The bruschetta was simply delicious - the baguette slice light and crispy, and the topping was perfectly seasoned. The scones were served with fresh cream, and apricot and ginger jam. Sounds strange at first, but the sweetness of the apricot and the tanginess of the ginger go really well together!

The tea set also came with a choice of their selected teas, Halia Infusion or coffee. We chose the Berry Infusion Tea and the rose tea, whose full name I have forgotten :P Both were refreshing, although the rose tea was more smell than flavour.

On top of that, the four of us also decided to order the Chilli Crab Spagetthini ($18++) and the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad ($17++) to share. I must add here that the Chilli Crab Spagetthini was a real surprise - robust in flavour, with the pasta done just right (I hate my pasta al dente, so it's great that the pasta here was cooked enough to not leave the hard, floury texture, but not too soft as well).

The boss also went for the Halia Infusion ($9++) as an add on. It was refreshing, but I thought the price may be a bit too high for a few pieces of dried ginger and honey? Or maybe I'm totally missing the point, and it's really all the ambience and feeling of drinking ginger tea surrounded by swaying greens that count? I'll leave it to you guys to decide ;)

All in all, a very pleasant experience!

Live band night... wonderful ambience...

Now for the food...

Black pepper soft shell crab and rack of roast lamb are nice.

That night's special, grilled big prawn for appetizer... yummy...

However, the chef's special dessert was so so... didn't really know what we're eating...

Overall we enjoyed the music and food.

Went to this restaurant for my wedding anniversary after reading the reviews. I must say it met my expectations. Ordered the black pepper soft shell crab as appetiser. It was good! Even my husband, who is not a fan of soft shell crab, was impressed by it. I had the steak while my husband had some special menu item(can't remember what it was.. think it was chicken and risotto). For desert we had the warm chocolate cake. Yums...

The service was good. Enjoyed myself that evening...

Although the walk to the restaurant garnered quite a few complaints from my husband cos of the mosquitoes that were attacking him...

Can't beat the location.  I have visited twice for dinner and three times for brunch.  Both food and service have been exceptional on all visits.  Highly recommend.

I went to Halia Restaurant for the first time for a pre-Christmas dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the experience there. The restaurant is located inside Botanic Gardens and it's a 10 minutes stroll from the carpark.

I had the rib-eye medium rare which was very tasty and tender. It wasn't served with any sauce, just the steak itself with a jacket potato and some vegetable side, so you can imagine how delicious the steak was because I finished every bit of it. I'm usually not a steak person because the meat is usually too well done and I get quite sick of chewing down one whole portion myself. Halia's portion was just nice too.

My friend had the Kingfish with japanese sesame rice and a glass of red wine. The fish came wrapped in paper which the server cut open for us, separate from the japanese rice which came on another plate. The fish was very springy and tasted refreshingly delicious. It's sort of like a very light yet tasty dish. I didn't try the japanese rice and the wine, though my friend commented that the wine was good.

To complete the meal, we shared a chocolate torte. It's like a combination of chocolate souffle on the outside and molten bitter chocolate fudge on the inside. The crust of the "chocolate souffle" is crisp, whereas the inside is fluffy and when you poke your fork in, the fudge will flow out. Very nice! Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and strawberries on the side.

I probably would recommend this place if you want to impress your date with a classy restaurant without burning too big a hole in your pocket. I found this restaurant very comfortable and relaxing to dine in - the whole calm and away from the bustle of the city setting in the Botanic Gardens, the politeness and friendliness (without being overly so to the point of intruding) of the servers and the fact that I can eat and chat with my friend over dinner without worrying about which cutlery I should be using for my starter/main course/dessert or if I'm appropriately dressed for the venue. By the way, I went in a casual dress and slippers and my friend, tshirt and berms. =D

I went to this restaurant on a lazy Saturday/Sunday night (Can't remember which day) about three months ago.

It was one of the better meals that I had since coming back to Singapore. The restaurant is set in the middle of Botanical Gardens, giving it a secluded romantic feel. The live band was playing soothing jazzy tunes to add to the atmosphere. It felt like I was out of Singapore and in some magical jungle like haven.

The cod I had there came in wrapped nicely in a piece of paper and was amazingly fresh and tasty. The wine and ambience helped to lull us into a mellow and relaxed mood.

An out-of-this-world setting, magical ambience, an air of seclusion coupled with good company and food. It is a night that I will not forget.