The Knolls, Capella

A gf swung by yesterday for a couple of hours before going back to Australia and of course, i simply had to meet up with her, even if it meant that boy2 would be skipping his class in the afternoon.

We’ve not seen each other for almost a decade!

She was a close friend of mine when we were at Down Under. She was my shopping buddy, my coffee buddy, my diet buddy and my makan buddy (yeah, how ironic! diet and makan buddy at the same time! lol) too!

Because she shopped way too much during her Europe trip 3 weeks ago — that girl paid hundredssss of dollars for her overweight baggagesss! and that’s after leaving bagssssss behind! *faint* — she specifically instructed me not to bring me to shopping complexes anymore… for she knows that if i really do, she would BUY some more knowing very well that she cannot anymore. Muaahahahahaa..

But i was a good girl. :P

I tempt her no further.

So i whisked her to somewhere cozy and lovely to catch up and just chill out :)

I’ve read much about Capella.

It sounded  very pretty. I was very keen to check it out myself too. So Capella it was!

And boy, the hotel is something!

I felt… so peaceful when i was there.

It didn’t feel like a hotel at all. In fact, it could be easily mistaken as a museum! There was no crowd, we hardly saw other guests while we were there. It was really quiet. With its lush greenery, and picturesque sea views, what is there not to like about the place?

If the hotel was already almost human-free, can you imagine the restaurant??

The Knolls was almost deserted!

We saw only 1 other couple apart from the serving staff. Then, a few more joined in later, whom we believe to be journalists or food critiques.

May i also say the service was impeccable?

Smiles (real smiles, not fake!) were readily available. Over here, one doesn’t need to even say anything to catch the staff’s attention! All you need to do is to have an eye contact and they’ll magically appear at your side in a heartbeat. And then, there was one particular serving staff who went an extra mile to take photographs for us. When i say extra mile, i meant it literally.

eeeee, i so chubby now! i put on at least 3 kgs since 2 weeks ago. :( I was wearing my holy grail dress whenever i’m bigger than usual :P

See what i mean?

Besides taking photos for us in the restaurant, the friendly him suggested going out to take some more pictures! With such enthusiasm, how could we refuse? ^.^

See the top left photo?

The posture was proposed by the photographer-to-be! Grin. How cool is that?

I adore The Knolls. I cant say the same for many places, but this i can.

I especially like their tea bar-like counter. Excellent for Chinese tea appreciation with like-minded friends.

The food was not too bad either, but not wow.

While the scones could be better — but it is good enough for most i reckon, i’m super fussy with mine! :P –, i heart the clotted cream, fruit jam and fresh strawberries that came with it. With its pretty good food, impeccable service, reasonable price, gorgeous settings and lovely ambience, you can be very sure i’d be returning very soon!

Oh, did i mention the vast selection of teas?

There are about 40 different types of tea that you choose from the little black book that not only describes the tea in detail, it also stated the benefits for each and every tea! Awesome is it not? ^.^

Because the gf’s baggages were already overweight, she had no choice but handcarry some… which i insisted on peeping!

Last but definitely not the least, despite her about-to-burst-baggages, she managed to squeeze in my tea towels and table mats — something which i’ve been collecting ever since i started photographing my bakes. Unfortunately, Sg doesn’t have that many to choose from :( — which she picked from Australia, Austria, Germany, Paris and London!

I couldn’t stop oohing and aahing, i tell ya! I heart tea towels of all sorts! *wink*

What a lovely Friday.