ArTEAstiq

A lunch meeting with a fellow colleague who is also a foodie can come with unexpected pleasures!  That is what happened during a short business lunch in Singapore.  Arteastiq, like its carefully spelt name suggests, tries to meld art and tea drinking into a seamless experience for those who have a taste for both.

Arteastiq first tasted success when they introduced the unique concept of an Art Jamming studio tea cafe in their Orchard Street location.  The restaurant we visited is their newer one, which combines the art studio and tea concept with a more traditional Chinese menu in Mellenia Walk.



The place was busy when we walked in for lunch.  We had a reservation so we got seated pretty fast.  The restaurant has an interesting decor.  Metallic birdcages on the ceiling and then semi-circular seating design in red and white wood gave it a nice, arty ambiance; the studio with its line of easels waiting for the artist in us added to the interesting ambiance.

We quickly ordered a variety of interesting items from their long menu along with the iced lychee tea.  Their tea menu is an elaborate one too, with several traditional, hot and cold varieties.  Given the hot and humid weather, I limited my options to the iced variety.



The 'Chongqing' speciality fish slices with preserved vegetables in Superior stock was a revelation.  The sichuan peppers added a tangy sharpness to the fiery taste.  The fish was delightfully soft and flavorful too, making this one a clear winner in my mind.



The wasabi sauce coated prawns were fantastic too! Each piece was crunchy in the mouth, and the sharpness of the wasabi was complemented perfectly by the light batter-fried prawn inside.



The chicken dim-sum was fairly good too but not particularly memorable.  The portions were large and we were getting rather full at this time, but the dishes were still coming in!



The final one was the pork ribs in a thick sweet and tangy sauce.  Again, another great dish but we were too full to appreciate it completely.



Overall, this was an interesting experience and one that I can recommend to anyone in the vicinity of Millenia Walk Singapore.  I am sure it can be more fun if you combine it with turns in their art studio.  Being lunch hour during a weekday, the studio was empty on this day.