High Tea @ Jones the Grocer

We had a late meeting that ran past lunchtime and into 3pm, so since we were out and nearby we headed to Mandarin Gallery for lunch/high tea. Unfortunately the hostess at the place we wanted to try, Wild Honey, was an annoying cow who kept us waiting (not a good idea when we were famished), so we went to Jones the Grocer which was also crowded but had a surprisingly higher turnover of seats (despite a longer queue).

Since we were starving, we ordered a apple crumble to share while ordering our mains. The waitress told us that they would need to reheat the crumble so it would take some minutes, which I thought was ok, but shockingly the the apple crumble was still cold inside, and only warm on the outside. The plate was ironically hotter than the crumble *haha*. But we were too hungry to send it back for reheating.

We ordered sandwiches, and two starters, since we still had meetings afterwards so not sure if we would have to eat again.

Mine was roasted pork with figs and raisins. The pork was dry, and the crispy skin almost gave me toothache because it was so hard! =D

Bär's crabcakes went down a better treat even though it had a touch of alcohol. But much nicer than mine.

My favorite was the sandwich. Needless to say. I think maybe it was after this meal I went into my "home baked bread" craze =D.

The service at Mandarin Gallery branch is a touch better than the Dempsey Hill branch, but I still prefer the layout of Dempsey's because I can browse and buy stuff more readily, whereas it is more embarrassing to do so at the Mandarin Gallery because everyone is watching. I wanted to grab more Innocent Bystander Merlot but I didn't. However it is still good to know I have the option of buying it at the much more accessible Mandarin Gallery.