Located at   : 2 Sir Chittampalam A Gardiner, Mawatha, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka

Visited on    : 21 Dec, 2019

Price              : LKR 3,588 nett (serves 02)

Availability   : 15:00 – 17:00, December 2019

What a visual treat the festive platter at Hilton Colombo is! While the scones, sandwiches and savouries are hidden away in the cute white chest of drawers, the colourful Christmas-themed sweets look absolutely picture-perfect on the top shelf as the platter is set out on the table. One is tempted to dive into them immediately, however we did manage to patiently get through the savouries first.

To start off, L.A.B. serves a round of pleasing iced coffee before bringing out the big guns.

The sandwiches comprised:

. Slow roast beef sandwich on ciabatta with pickles

. Honey glazed ham, apple with watercress and soft brioche

. Ribbon sandwich with sundried tomato, cream cheese and basil

. Chicken mayo and chestnut finger sandwich

The rather bright and attractive veggie ribbon sandwich was delicious, and quite possibly trumped the protein sandwiches in terms flavour. Also vying for the top spot was the beef sandwich, whose mustard mayo and pickles made it quite a treat on the palate.

The savoury drawer comprised:

. Smoked salmon and leek quiche

. Slow roasted chicken turkey pie with cranberry

. Prawn spring roll with sweet chilli sauce

. Mini lamb puff with winter vegetables

These were warm and enjoyable tool, my favourite possibly being the quiche. The pie tasted a bit like minced chicken and I did not get much of a cranberry flavour, but it was good enough as it was.

The scone drawer consisted of:

. Plan and raisin scones

. Clotted cream

. Strawberry jam

And finally, the prettiest of the lot – the sweets:

. Traditional Christmas cake

. Mini minced pie

. Santa hat frosting cupcake

. Christmas tree chocolate brownie

. Vanilla strawberry savarin

. Santa macaroon (more of a snowman macaroon, don’t you think?)

Well, Santa or snowman, the macaroon was delectable. Perfect in texture and certainly not as sweet as I anticipated it to be – which was great. Of course, as always, my favourite of the lot was the chocolate brownie. On the verge of rich, but pulled back at just the right amount, and oh-so-merrily-fudgy. Very good indeed!

We finished off with some hot tea – which they offer bottomless.

Overall, a rather happy high tea which satisfies both the palate, as well as the child in you!

Top marks to L.A.B. for the thought and effort that has been put into making their festive high tea platter an absolute delight this season.