Today we braved the hordes of tourists in shorts and fanny packs admiring the gloomy glitz of Crown Casino (where there was a crowd-pulling Christmas extravaganzza show seemingly every 5 minutes, despite it being 2 days after Christmas) to try afternoon tea at the Conservatory restaurant (which is not really a conservatory, although it does have some big windows). Of course, it's not really an afternoon tea as such that they provide, it's a buffet tiffin, so there is a more substantial food offering than an ordinary afternoon tea, including various dim sums and similar hot finger foods, as well as sandwiches, salads, scones, lots of sweets (mostly chocoloate), fruit and ice cream, as well as a crepe station.
I thought the venue was nice enough, except for the awful Christmas music and the fact that all of the patrons were bunched up at one end of the room. The buffet was generous and the range of food was quite good, with the hot food and sauces being particularly good. The tea, imported from Germany ($6 for a small pot, which to me seemed rather pricey, but nothing compared to the $10.91 for a bottle of sparkling mineral water)
On the Scott Scale, I give it a 6.5 out of 10. The food itself was quite good, and the room was potentially quite pleasant (if they had not crammed all of the patrons on top of each other, leaving half of the room empty) but I did not think the service was quite as conscientious as it could have been, and I did think that it was very expensive at $38 a head (not including any beverages). That said, the food was good and the vast majority of people there - mostly large groups - all seemed to be enjoying themselves.
