This was a nice experience! I loved the selection of food and tea available, and the service was top-notch. It's a great place to go if you've never experienced a tea hour before and it's not too expensive like other places. Very kid friendly, but I do recommend 7 and up as it is a very small and quiet shop. Each person gets their own individual tea pot! (PICTURED: Sandwich flavors- Curry Chicken, Cucumber, Turkey and Fig, Smoked Salmon. Tea- Butterfly Pea Flower)
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$20–30
Food: 4
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Recommended dishes
Preset Tea Sandwiches
Tea in a Box option was delicious and delightful, convenient for us to enjoy in the comfort of our Airbnb. Hard to choose a favorite between savory and sweet components, all were great and we tried a range of the sandwiches: smoked salmon, turkey and brie, meatfloss, curry chicken. Booking was easy over email and Leena was quick to confirm. Hope to return one day for Afternoon Tea on site.
Service
Take out
Meal type
Lunch
Price per person
$20–30
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love supporting small Asian businesses, and I grew up going to British-style afternoon teas. What better thing than to put the two together?! I can honestly say the Malaysian-style tea at Malaya was the best afternoon tea I ever had. The meat floss, curry chicken, and bak kwa sandwiches were delicious with authentic Southeast Asian flavours, and the pandan desserts and British scones weren't too sweet. I left very satisfied. 10/10 recommend this place to anyone wanting a special tea service for an event or just because.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Lunch
Price per person
$30–50
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Sandwich Curry Chicken
Absolutely lovely experience! I’ve been to many tea houses and this one was unique and especially the service was attentive and quick.
They specialize in Malaysian style but also have the traditional tea treats. We enjoyed the chicken curry sandwich, salmon. Favorite tea was the caramel infused as well as the peach mango.
Loved that we got to choose a tea each person as some houses only a few to share with the table!
The place didn’t seem to have private rooms that we saw but our group of 5 sat next to the window and felt it was private enough while still part of the wider party. Will be back!
Came here on a recent Sunday morning and had the set menu that came with two sandwich choices. Our group of three ordered the Kaya toast, curry chicken, pork jerky, and bitter marmalade. The sandwiches were tasty, but were not fancy by any stretch of the imagination. The pork jerky was the kind from Costco so that was a bit disappointing. I must say that their scones were some of the best I've had, but the clotted cream did not hold up its end.
The teas we selected were all quite good, especially my ginger with lemon drops. All in all, it was a fun experience but probably won't go back.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$30–50
Food: 3
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 4
My 2nd visit. A wonderful experience as I remembered. I love the cozy vibe. The service is nice. Food is good quality and with the right portion. The location is in a quiet neighborhood in Alameda, and you can take a walk afterwards. It was worth the drive from the South Bay ❤️
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Brunch
Price per person
$30–50
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Preset Tea Sandwiches
My friend wanted to have Malaysian tea at Malaya for her birthday, but there weren’t any reservations available online. Luckily the owner Leena responded promptly to my email and booked an outdoor table for us. She warned us that it’ll be a bit chilly so we wore thick coats; they provided one small heat lamp for one side of the table and offered blankets too, but we didn’t use the blankets. My favorites were the meat floss with basil spread sandwich and the Malaysian pull tea. Each sandwich flavor comes with 4 slices. The Malaysian tea was strong and sweet. We also enjoyed the apple cider tea and no. 24 tea with passionfruit and mango, and requested almond milk and sugar for our tea. Our server recommended the flowering tea too, but that one had an unpleasant flavor so they were nice to let us switch it out for their Malaya English breakfast blend (they were out of the Malaya signature golden monkey tea that I wanted to try). For my friend’s birthday they surprised us with an ice cream mochi with a candle and two Pocky sticks. This was the first time we actually got full from afternoon tea. Their scones were good too and we barely finished the desserts. We were thinking it’s good that they are waiting until the end to bring us our pull tea, but realized they forgot the tea since they brought us the bill and charged us for the tea, so they brought the tea over. The three of us shared one tea to try which was perfect since we were full. I’d get one for myself next time; the Malaysian pull tea is available on weekends only. It’s a small space with one bathroom, so it can feel tight and cramped inside. I liked the outdoor table. The only issue was we felt rushed to leave; at first another staff member came over to tell us that we can have the table as long as we wanted because there’s no reservation after ours, but then he suddenly came over to tell us we had to leave in 10 minutes because another party needed our table.
Gf review! I’ll say the nice things first. Malaya Tea Room is a nice high tea experience. Each time I go I call and ask if they can do gf and they say YES. It’s relatively inexpensive compared to other high tea places in the bay. They have flavors for both picky and adventurous eaters, and their desserts change seasonally. What I like about them is that the desserts are usually gluten free; mango sago, ondeh ondeh, macarons, and chocolates. My parents got some of the items (not the macaron), in addition to a small slice of cake (they are not gf)— they also received scones and potato canapés and fruit, none of which I received. They SOMETIMES have gluten free bread for the sandwiches, plus gf crackers. They have a summer item (this cost extra— not included) of Air Batu Campur which is shaved ice with toppings: red bean, sweet corn, pandan jelly, grass jelly, rose syrup, coconut palm sugar, and evaporated milk. It’s gf and refreshing! Overall the staff seems aware and knowledgeable about what gf is. Staff is very friendly. Service is good.
Here are the critiques: My one chief complaint is that I didn’t get any fruit but my parents did— since when is fruit glutinous??? This, in addition to not having gf scones or canapés (even though the price of the meal includes the scone and canapés whether or not you receive it). They offered neither to replace fruit nor scone and canapés with another gf sandwich flavor, or an gf extra dessert. So the lack of fruit and scone with no replacement makes it $35 for two sandwiches, three small (SMALL) desserts, and tea. It was good but just disappointing that they did not want to substitute either. You can check out the other pictures posted here to see the difference of how much food regular diners get here vs what I got.
Did not get glutened.
If you want a gluten free tea, you MUST call and tell them beforehand when you make the reservation so that they can buy gf bread, as they don’t keep it stocked.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Other
Price per person
$30–50
Food: 4
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Coconut Jam
I've never gone to a place for afternoon tea before so this was a really cute experience. The place had a lot of character and the employees were nice. The fusion of British and Malay options and flavors was pretty cool! I'm not sure how much on average afternoon tea is so it did feel pricey. They had outdoor seating with blankets and heaters which I really appreciated and the food was decent. I would say it's definitely for special occasions and something to experience at least once.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Lunch
Price per person
$30–50
A lovely experience. Brought my 6 year old granddaughter and my daughter-in-law for high tea. It was a treat especially for my granddaughter. And my daughter-in-law is a tea drinker. We dressed up for the occasion and it was a big hit with my granddaughter. The menu selections were tasty and we decided to bring some home for the men.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
