Tea with the Queen of Hearts in a secret location for an afternoon filled with the funny antics of the Mad Hatter, Alice and the other eccentric characters from Wonderland. It’s no wonder my little tea time companion, Naomi, was all excited the day before for the junior version of Andsoforth’s Tea Time in Wonderland kids show.
Andsoforth is a pop-up restaurant that fuses dining with an immersive theatrical experience and has held various shows that each revolve around a theme or story. This season’s focus is around the tale of Alice in Wonderland and we had the opportunity to attend a special children’s session that was created with the young ones in mind.
We had to dress according to the instructions that were texted to us before the event and travel to a location we had never been to before for the party. Perhaps because I wasn’t too adept at understanding the instructions, we ventured up a few wrong entrances in an industrial area before found the right one. After we declared the secret password to confirm that we were guests, we were whisked away to join the party.
Naomi was tickled to no end by the first item on the menu we were served, a fruity slushy that was topped with fruit loops, a combination that she had never seen before, and the giggles continued when we were served soup in a dainty porcelain tea cup, poured out from a teapot no less. It was a very gutsy decision to use breakable china, but thankfully, there were no accidents and everything else was served on rather hardy dinnerware.
The décor played a big part of the entire experience and you could tell that even the smallest details had been taken into consideration. The first area we walked into was the Queen of Hearts bar that was painted all red, the colour of hearts, with stuffed animals hung on the wall. The main room where we had our meal had scenes from Wonderland painted in bright colours on its walls, while our tablecloths were covered in glitter, with wooden pieces as our serving plates.
The food was kid-friendly, think fried chicken bites and creamy pasta, but the kids hardly paid much attention to the food, given the antics of the Wonderland characters that served and entertained us. The Mad Hatter was understandably mad, and took the lead in organising games for the children, while the frog and fish went around talking to the children with ‘ribbit’ and ‘whoop whoop’ sounds.
The best part, I was told by Naomi, was getting to explore the areas behind the doors that surrounded our dining area. She was invited to a storytelling session by the Caterpillar and later found the Hatter’s hat making workshop when exploring the area.
The two hours flew by and there were no signs of any kid getting bored given the flurry of activities that had been organised. We went not knowing what to expect and we were not disappointed. We thoroughly enjoyed our Wonderland experience, and were a bit sad as our time came to an end as all the characters united for a final song.
We didn’t have time for lunch beforehand, so it was great that we were served a full course meal, including desserts. Not so much for our companions who had eaten prior to the party as they thought they were only having tea. So do come hungry as the menu items are ones that most kids will take to and be prepared to take part and have lots of fun.
Andsoforth has finished their run of Tea Time in Wonderland, but will still be holding Dinner in Wonderland shows in March. If you would still like to bring your children for the show, do write in here to indicate that you would like to bring a young guest along. Tickets for Dinner in Wonderland start from S$98 per person and more information can be found here.
