Passiontree Velvet combines the English tea house, Parisian patisserie, and Belgian chocolatier to bring out the best of the three worlds. The atmosphere will be less obvious, as it is situated in an 'open-air' shopfront, unlike its older sister, having a building to itself. Nevertheless, its staff and the decor do their best to provide you a higher quality atmosphere. There are some classics from Passion Tree, with a fair few items unique to Velvet.
I ordered the Millefeuille and a selection of macarons on my first visit, and the Duchess Full High Tea and Parisian on my second.
The Millefeuille is a touch hard to break into, which is understandable, considering that it needs to retain its shape. The pastry is not flavoured much save for the dusting of icing sugar. The vanilla cream has the right amount of sweetness, and rounds of a lovely pastry. Don't worry too much about the crumbs falling onto the table - the serving plate will catch all of that.
The macarons have a bit of size consistency issues, but flavour makes up for it. The blackberry macaron retains the tartness of the berry, with the ginger macaron containing pieces of crystallised ginger and having a gingernut flavour. The aroma and flavour of passionfruit are well developed in its namesake macaron, and last but not least the strangest flavour of macaron to date, the basil macaron, doesn't taste too much like a plant, but the flavour is there (probably for the more adventurous of you out there).
Both the Duchess High Tea and Parisian feature different items from the menu: Ribbon sandwiches (Cucumber, Smoked salmon, Ham, and Egg & alfalfa), scone with jam and cream, and assorted pastries for the Duchess High Tea, and Madeleine, Tiramisu, Macaron tart and Chocolate choux (profiterole) for the Parisian. As I'm partial to desserts, they taste absolutely devine.
Living up to its name, the prices are obviously higher compared to Passion Tree, but it pays off because of the amount of love put into the foods. Extras such as cream and Ice-cream are available for the pastries at an additional charge, the same for drinks (mug size/extra shot/syrups).
All in all, Velvet is something you'd definitely want to experience not just by yourself but with friends as well. read more