Tucked away in Bandar Sunway, Lancelot Tea-Guild stands out in a sea of rather grubby shops (the pristine white tea house is quaintly located in an area opposite car workshops). Founded by a group of tea-loving art directors with a background in interior design, Lancelot Tea-Guild was set up to offer accessible fine dining (no snooty waiters here) and tea at wallet-friendly prices.
It's a chic white space with subtle medieval touches (spot the stag heads, metal wings and framed vintage photos), and at the back there's a more private area with black walls, dimmer lighting, tufted couches and a medium-sized chandelier. The medieval theme is more pronounced here, with a shield and portraits of knights hung on the wall.
Aesthetically-pleasing interior aside, it's the extensive selection of English tea specialities by Whittard of Chelsea that gives depth to the tea house. Recommended teas are the 1886 Blend and Earl Grey, and popular ones like the Mango & Bergamot and the Gunpowder Green live up to the hype. Teas are brewed using the smart-looking Steampunk siphon brewing machine, a precise app-based apparatus (similar in appearance to the one at Three Little Birds in Desa ParkCity) takes care of extraction, temperature control and thermal stability, which means you get a near-perfect cup of tea. If it's too scorching a day for a hot drink, have a glass of Lancelot's cold brew tea infused in room-temperature water for six to 12 hours in the fridge.
Being an English-inspired tea house, Lancelot also has weekend high tea sessions so you can realise your dreams of the atas life. The weekend affair has cakes, éclairs, scones with jam and cream, water crackers, finger sandwiches and tea. Sunway and Subang folks, here's to not going all the way to KL just to slip into a tai tai's shoes for a day.
Food-wise, the elegant menu has main course entries like lamb ragout and salmon papillote, with sandwiches and salads for light bites. The tea house also has a selection of cakes that changes daily. On our visit, Lancelot's signature Earl Grey cake wasn't available, so we had the bamboo charcoal mille crêpe and Oreo cheese. A new menu with more inventive dishes (and scones with tea-flavoured ice cream!) is in the pipeline, so keep an eye out for their announcement.