1885 – named after the year that The Eastern & Oriental (The E&O) Hotel was established, is a classic colonial-style fine dining restaurant, located along the corridor linking the Heritage Wing to the ballroom and the newer Victory Annexe…

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That particular corridor is pretty much East-meets-West with strong European accents with Shanghai furniture, Oriental laquer cabinets, carved Chinese screens from Beijing..

1885 is an award winning restaurant, and stepping foot inside the restaurant, one can almost imagine dining among the colonials and planters in the late 1800’s…

The restaurant is definitely oozed traditional colonial charm – from the curved doorways to the elegantly panelled walls, stylish chandeliers, heavy draperies framing tall windows that looked out to the lawn and the Straits of Melaka, the starched white table linen and silver cutlery..

There was a wide choice of teas to choose from including a few specialities I’d never heard before such as Morgentau, Vanilla Roibosh, Greenleaf, Raspberry Royal, Pure Camomile, Assam Mokalbari, Tarry Lapsang and Irish Whiskey Cream, and I ordered the Morgentau which was a tea creation with delicate fruity flavours and petals for myself and the Soft Peach tea which comes with the delicate, soft taste of peaches blended with vanilla for my daughter…

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My daughter and I revelled in the moment when the waitress brought out the silver two-tier tray filled with savoury finger sandwiches, from smoked beef brisket sandwiches on Village Bread, Smoked Salmon rolls with fresh smoked salmon slices, parsley butter on a Poppy Seed roll, cheese and tomatoes roll, Marinated Tuna Flakes on Whole Meal Loaf, Cucumber Cream Cheese and Sour Cream on Marble Toast Bread, Egg Mayonnaise mini Croissants and Marinated Chicken Vol-au-Vents with bits of alfalfa on top..

What is an afternoon tea without scones.. we got a couple of buttery plain and and a pair of raisin scones that came with 1885’s specially made clotted cream and some strawberry jam are served on a fine-boned china plate, and it was really good.. Unrefined me almost mistook the clotted cream for cream cheese…hahaha….

For the cakes, desserts pastries, I got a lovely plate of err… what I think is little glasses of panna cotta with strawberry sauce, chocolate walnut brownies, cheese cake, macaroons and ahh… mini fruit tarts… all which were just plain delightful with the tea…

Yes, I really enjoyed the Traditional English Afternoon Tea at the 1885 restaurant, and after having had some similar English Afternoon Tea in KL, I seriously think this is great value for money.. as it ONLY cost you RM65.30 nett per person for this amazing experience in such a posh, luxurious and historical venue.

Heck, I paid the same amount for just a small pot of tea .. yup, just a SMALL pot of tea at the Summer Palace in Beijing when I was there…

The 1885 Restaurant’s operating hours are from

2.00 pm – 10.30 pm (Daily)

But tea is served between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm daily

Address – Eastern and Oriental Hotel, 10 Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 Penang, Malaysia

Tel – +6 04 222 2000 ext 3170

Email – luxury@eohotels.com

www.eohotels.com