Located at: 1 Galle Face, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 16 Mar, 2019

Price                   : LKR 3,900 (serves 02)

Availability         : Daily, 15:00 – 17:00

I was keen on, yet slightly apprehensive about, trying out Shangri-La’s high tea as Table One and Shang Palace hadn’t quite impressed so far. I’m glad to say that their high tea experience was a far better affair – possibly largely boosted by the ambience at Sapphyr Lounge. Airy with plenty of natural light pouring in and a great array of classical pieces being played live by an all-girl trio made for a warm yet refreshing and relaxing atmosphere. A great set-up for a business meeting or friendly catch-up. And despite the large seating area, it was more or less full at the time we visited.

They offer three choices of high tea – Classic Western Tea, Sri Lankan Tea and Afternoon High Tea. We went with the Afternoon High Tea option which comprised:

. Sandwiches

• Smoked salmon and horseradish cream on brown bread
• Plum tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto sandwich

. Savouries

• Mushroom puff
• Grilled crab cake with sweet chilli sauce
• Pink salmon and leek quiche
• Cheese stuffed chicken winglet

. Sweets

• Dark chocolate brownie
• English fruit trifle
• Pistachio and almond slice
• Semolina fudge toffee

. Scones – homemade vanilla scones with strawberry jam, cream cheese and lemon curd

. Tea or coffee

The stand looked great in terms of presentation. The sandwiches, although not big on flavour, tasted fresh and healthy, and the puff pastry of the mushroom puff was crisp to perfection. Personally, I think the crab cake was a bit over and therefore had lost some of the crab’s light flavour and I would have liked there to be no skin in the chicken winglet. The scones were good though, and I thought it smart of them to add a third choice of spread – lemon curd, which you don’t find at most other places.

Although my sweet favourites tend to be biased towards chocolate-related things, I thought the pistachio and almond slice was quite good – albeit quite rich too even for the small size that it was. I would have liked the brownie to be slightly fudgier, but the layer of chocolate cream on top did help. Wasn’t too keen on the semolina toffee though.

We opted for tea, which was definitely fresher and lighter than Hilton Colombo’s choice of tea. Unlike most places, they served it just before bringing in the food stand – which had me slightly worried that the tea might go cold by the time we were done eating. However, the tea was warm enough (by my standards) even at the end of all the munching, which worked well. After all, I guess ideally the sweet and savoury treats are meant to be enjoyed while sipping on your cup of afternoon tea. All in all, a good experience that I definitely wouldn’t mind repeating.

Yummy Rating: 4.5 / 5.0