Fosters – An English Rose Café
277 Holland Avenue
Singapore
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Fosters first opened in Singapore 30+ years ago, specialising in English cuisine like steak and their famous Devonshire Tea. I met up with my fellow food blogging friend, Suze and her boyfriend.. both from Sydney, they were in SG for a holiday as well, coincidentally! We were after some high tea where we could sit around for a chat, and picked Fosters since apparently they’re famous for their scones.
Fosters is located in the trendy district of Holland Village, but is cosy and woody once you step in. It was quiet when we were there, since it was a weekday. Us girls opted for the Devonshire Cream Tea Set, of course. It came with “signature oven-hot scones, cake & tasty finger sandwiches accompanied with butter, homemade strawberry preserve & fresh cream with a choice of tea or coffee.” At $9.50 per head, it was a really reasonble price. It was almost 4x less than what I’d paid in Australia for The Tea Room. However, 4x less the price, and also much less quality. The food came placed on a plain white plate – a far cry from the beautiful, tiered, Royal Albert trays that I last had. The food was also pretty plain, not spectacular and refined. It was good, but just not fine-dining or perfect. If you factor in the price though, then it’s a pretty good deal 😉 Oh, the tea also just came in a teapot with a TEABAG! Not even fresh tea leaves or anything that you strain out yourself. But it’s a good place to go for a no-frills, cheap afternoon tea.. since it’s so cheap.
Suze’s boyfriend selected the Carpetbag Steak stuffed with fresh oysters instead, a bit strange considering we were eating at 3pm.. but at least it gave us a chance to try something different 😛 It was yum! I had some of the steak and it was juicy and really tender, plus it came with a fat baked potato topped with sour cream, bacon bits and chives. However, it also came with some steamed “dou miao” vegetables which is incredibly strange for an English cafe.
Fosters – An English Rose Café
The interior
The ‘newspaper’ menu
Devonshire Cream Tea Set
Carpetbag Steak stuffed with fresh oysters
(okay, I know it looks like a scary monster in the pic!)
Us!
The 2 foodaholics
hi beverly,
i visit your lj off and on and it never fails to make me salivate~ lol~
i’m living in devon now, and i can say that the scones there aren’t authentic. but i guess it’s the ambience that you are paying for.. 🙂
cheers~
Haha yeah, the scones always differ at various places, these looked more like cornbread muffins. The scones at The Tea Room i posted a few weeks ago were fairly authentic, which was great!
lol the oysters look so gross hahaha glad to finally meet you in person dude!
Me too, was so cool 🙂 see you in Sydney!
hi beverly,
i visit your lj off and on and it never fails to make me salivate~ lol~
i’m living in devon now, and i can say that the scones there aren’t authentic. but i guess it’s the ambience that you are paying for.. 🙂
cheers~
Haha yeah, the scones always differ at various places, these looked more like cornbread muffins. The scones at The Tea Room i posted a few weeks ago were fairly authentic, which was great!
lol the oysters look so gross hahaha glad to finally meet you in person dude!
Me too, was so cool 🙂 see you in Sydney!
That Carpetbag Steak does look delicious! And ya, also scary!
They serve great steaks there, it was about SG$30 which wasn’t *too* bad either!
Looking good in the photos Bev! Your hair looks a lot longer too.~
I love high tea. <33
Yeah it’s reaaaally long, going to cut it this week before the wedding. I can’t wait, i’m a bit sick of it!
You’re looking so slim in those photos!
Aww thanks! But I put on 0.5kg since I arrived in SG… boo 🙁
oh I absolutely LOVE the carpetbag steak there!!
It was luscious!
Oo and I got your invite, thank you 🙂
i love devonshire tea! Esp with freshly baked scones, topped with strawberry jam and cream. If you have the time, you can check out the English high tea at Goodwood park hotel too 🙂
Mm yeah, warm scones are the best. I’m such a high tea addict now, thanks for the rec!
That Carpetbag Steak does look delicious! And ya, also scary!
They serve great steaks there, it was about SG$30 which wasn’t *too* bad either!
Ooh, the steak looks quite nice. Although I’ll totally avoid the doumiao!
Ya, dou miao is REALLY STRANGE with a western steak hah!
Your Devonshire tea set looks delish. I liked how you conveyed your shock and disgust when you wrote, “TEABAG!”
Haha yeah, I’d have thought a real tea place would’ve served at least tea leaves or something
Tea
Heyyy! Just thought I’d say, in England we don’t tend to use tea leaves. It’s always tea bags!
hey lovely top! bright and cheery! had you posted bout it before??
Yeah I bought it from Marcs 🙂 It’s really thin and soft, I love it!
good for singger’s humid weather! 🙂
Looking good in the photos Bev! Your hair looks a lot longer too.~
I love high tea. <33
Yeah it’s reaaaally long, going to cut it this week before the wedding. I can’t wait, i’m a bit sick of it!
You’re looking so slim in those photos!
Aww thanks! But I put on 0.5kg since I arrived in SG… boo 🙁
oh I absolutely LOVE the carpetbag steak there!!
It was luscious!
Oo and I got your invite, thank you 🙂
i love devonshire tea! Esp with freshly baked scones, topped with strawberry jam and cream. If you have the time, you can check out the English high tea at Goodwood park hotel too 🙂
Mm yeah, warm scones are the best. I’m such a high tea addict now, thanks for the rec!
Ooh, the steak looks quite nice. Although I’ll totally avoid the doumiao!
Ya, dou miao is REALLY STRANGE with a western steak hah!
Your Devonshire tea set looks delish. I liked how you conveyed your shock and disgust when you wrote, “TEABAG!”
Haha yeah, I’d have thought a real tea place would’ve served at least tea leaves or something
Tea
Heyyy! Just thought I’d say, in England we don’t tend to use tea leaves. It’s always tea bags!
hey lovely top! bright and cheery! had you posted bout it before??
Yeah I bought it from Marcs 🙂 It’s really thin and soft, I love it!
good for singger’s humid weather! 🙂