Lobby Lounge, Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur

An air-stewardess friend of mine used that line often...as a joke. I wanted to be an air-stewardess when many of my classmates dropped out of college to pursue their high-flying dreams. I decided against it as I have zero patience for difficult passengers.

"Coffee or tea?" asked the waitress, snapping me out of my day-dreaming mode. We were at the Lobby Lounge, Shangri-la Hotel for their afternoon tea. "Coffee for me, tea for him," I replied. She nodded with a smile, and returned with our orders 10 minutes later.

We had the Signature Classic Afternoon Tea (RM45, inclusive of coffee or tea), a three-tiered tray of poached lobster in saffron roll, egg cucumber brioche, smoked Atlantic salmon with cream cheese in dill soft roll, strawberry napoleon, coffee éclairs, plain and raisin scones, chestnut mountain, banana cake, macaroon, fruit tarts, vanilla mousse and a few other delights.

These little treats were good, with my favourites being the raisin scones (delightful with generous lashings of clotted cream), smoked Atlantic salmon with cream cheese in dill soft roll and poached lobster in saffron roll.

We ate, talked and laughed over good tea and beautiful melodies by a harpist. It was definitely one of the best afternoon teas I've had in a long time.