Located at: Sheraton Colombo, 265 Galle Road, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 02nd March, 2024

Following the news of their soft opening at the end of December, we were keen to check out what Sheraton Colombo has to offer. And so, when their socials mentioned a high tea platter being served at their lobby lounge, Colpetty Lounge, we knew that this would be the perfect start to getting to know establishment.

Let’s begin with the hotel itself. While the lobby size and bustling location of the hotel might give you the impression of a lean luxury hotel, the interior and ambience of the place are nothing short of plush five-star. Tastefully done, the ground floor is a wonderful blend of cosy comfort and luxury.

Priced at LKR 6,000 nett per platter for two, the High Tea experience began with a glass each of iced coffee. It was a welcome refresher on a hot day, and was laced with a bit of spice – cinnamon is my guess.

The platter itself comprised of nine savoury items and five sweet items:

• Mini smoked salmon slider
• Mini vegetable tartine
• California roll sushi
• Cheese and tomato sandwich
• Vegetable spring roll
• Fish cutlet
• Polos (jackfruit) cutlet
• Prawn and dhal wadey
• Prawn wonton

(accompanied by tomato ketchup and sweet chilli sauce)

• Opera cake
• Lavender macaron
• Mini fruit tartlet
• Cookie
• Mini chocolate doughnut

While generally smaller in terms of item size (read that as, how filling the platter is) in comparison with, say, Hilton’s platter, there was nothing to fault in terms of taste with Colpetty Lounge’s offerings. The entire platter tasted great, overall.

Simple as it was, the triple-decker cheese and tomato sandwich was really good, held together with a creamy mayo between pillowy slices of bread. The sushi roll was excellent – moist, and the perfect balance between a touch sweet, savoury and tangy. The wonton, too, was really good, with the prawn being beautifully seasoned.

Not only did the polos cutlet add a local touch to the platter (not to mention the increasing popularity of jackfruit in vegan/vegetarian cuisine), but it was also quite delicious. In fact, I might have preferred this one over the fish cutlet. The same goes for the prawn and dhal wadey. While the texture of wadey can sometimes be a bit too hard or lumpy, this one was pretty good – a slightly premium version of the street food favourite.

The opera cake and macaron, in my opinion, vied for top spot among the sweets. The luscious cake, with its soft spongy layers, coffee cream and chocolate ganache, was thoroughly enjoyable. The texture of the macaron was on point, well complemented by the nuttiness of the meringue and the soft paste-y cream that held the halves together. I also liked the chocolate glaze on the doughnut – a nice, smooth milk chocolate.

Bottomless tea or coffee was on offer to go with the platter, and we opted for tea. It was brought nice and hot, and it was good to see that the liquor was not over-brewed.

Let me end with a bit of food for thought. Perhaps Sheraton might want to consider adding scones with clotted cream and jam to the platter – something that’s not be missed in a traditional afternoon tea platter. Also, the hospitality and service that we experienced on our first visit was top-notch – I hope that the friendly staff continue to keep this up.

Yummy rating: 4.0 / 5.0