The festive season is upon us and brings with it all the food and merry things we’ve been looking forward to all year round. Christmas, with its brighter than ever décor and festive cheer, is a sign that it’s the end of a year and while celebrations may be on the low this time – the Christmas spirit and the enthusiasm remains resonant as ever. 

Welcoming the season, Shangri-La Colombo is geared up for a festive and safe celebration this Christmas inviting guests to create memories with close family and friends in a small and intimate manner. While guests are spoilt for choice with the array of celebrations available at every restaurant in the hotel, one of our favourite offerings this year is their Festive Afternoon Tea at the Sapphyr Lounge. The Festive Afternoon Tea offers a curated selection of Christmas favourites in a four-tier platter for one and ticks all our boxes to be considered a great offer; here’s why. 

Ambience 
The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘an enchanting festive season’. Following a festive colour palette of red and gold, the hotel lobby has been transformed to reflect its decided theme with a grandiose decorated tree and scattered decorative stands of holly berries and wreaths. It’s a sight that instantly puts one in the Christmas spirit.  “With all that has been going on, we wanted to express warmth, happiness and togetherness this year and the elements of red and gold reflect these sentiments” shared a representative of the hotel. 

The Sapphyr Lounge, directly accessible from the lobby and privy to the festive decorations, has been carefully arranged to comply with safety regulations with tables set a good distance away from one another. We find our seats at a comfortable lounge sofa near the ceiling to floor glass windows, while live classical music sets the background for our afternoon tea with the setlist interchanging comfortably between Christmas scores and classic melodies. 

The Festive Afternoon Tea Platter 
The Festive Afternoon Tea platter for one offers 14 sweet and savoury items with a choice of hot tea or coffee with Christmas cookies or the option to opt for a glass of sparkling wine for an additional price. The platter offered a commendable variety and we broke it down into savoury and sweet to examine each item. 

The Savoury 

Personally, our favourite. 8 savoury items in 2 tiers. The first tier included a Mini Crab Slider on Charcoal Bun, Christmas Turkey Mini Pie, Roast Duck Cigar and a Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Crostata. The Roast Duck Cigar with caramelized orange zest and sesame ash was theatrical (true to its name, it does resemble a cigar!) and divine. The crisp pastry, tender duck and the zesty orange caramelization was a wonderful marriage of flavours.  The Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Crostata was equally delicious. The Turkey Mini Pie came in its own individual pot with a creamy roux and chunks of turkey and button mushrooms. It was a bit flat in terms of flavour and we did struggle to get the pastry out of the pot intact (we did not succeed). The Mini Crab Slider, however, was packed with juicy crab meat and was an enjoyable treat. 

The second tier included items that mix a bit of the savoury with the sweet in order to help you seamlessly transition into the sweet items with a Smoked Salmon and Charcoal Blinis, Brie Cheese on Fruit Bread, Roast Chicken Sandwich and a Foie Gras Macaron Burger. The Smoked Salmon cubes were gently tucked into a charcoal blini (a small savoury pancake) with dil cream cheese and caviar. The rest of the items all contained an element of sweetness. The Roast Chicken Sandwich included cranberry jelly while the Brie Cheese on Fruit Bread was served with a dried apricot and fig chutney. The strongest in terms of sweetness was the Foie Gras Macaron Burger which we recommend you have for last as it will make the transition into sweet from savoury easy on the palate. 

The Sweet 
The team at Shangri La has gone all out for the sweets and most of them looked too good to eat! A staple of any good high tea, the Spiced Gingerbread Scones was offered with raspberry jam, Chantilly (whipped) cream and lemon curd. The raspberry jam and Chantilly cream are a popular combination but it was the lemon curd that had us reaching out for the second scone. 

The sweet items included a Bitter Chocolate Truffle with mulled wine jelly shaped and coloured in the form of a Christmas tree and well as a Mini Pistachio Praline Yule Log which was light and refreshing. The runners - up of the desserts were the Candied Orange Cheesecake and the Snowman Profiterole with a spiced ivory chocolate filing. The snowman profiterole was so endearing, it took a few debated minutes for us to eat it! The uncontested winner, however, was the Brandy and Chestnut Mont Blanc which was a soft cake with a very spongy and moist genoise topped with brandy and roasted chestnut cream. We cleaned it right off the plate and would have happily gone for seconds. 

Overall 
The Festive Afternoon Tea at Shangri-La was divine. We personally thought the platter for one is definitely more than what a single person can consume but that made the platter value for money and if you play your cards right, skip lunch and come straight for tea – you can surely indulge in all of it. The Afternoon Tea ticked all our boxes, we loved the ambience with the live music and the festive décor and we thought the food was delicious (save for one or two items that fell short) and found the whole offer worth the price. 

Safety
The Shangri-La Cares initiative ensures that all guests are subject to enhanced hygiene protocols.  There are temperature checks and self-check-in QR codes at the entrance along with sanitizer and all staff and hotel personnel wear masks and gloves at all times. One of our favourite initiatives by the hotel was the mask pockets they offer at each table for guests to place their masks in a contactless and secure manner while dining. 

*. The Festive Afternoon Tea is priced at Rs. 1950++ per person, inclusive of hot beverages and one 50% savings voucher from Shehan’s jewellery. Guests can add a glass of sparkling wine at an additional Rs. 1,000++. The Festive Afternoon Tea will be available till the 25th of December from 3 – 6pm.

*. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Celebrations will also be taking place at the hotel’s all day dining restaurant Central, the Capital Bar & Grill and Shang Palace as well as New Year’s Eve Dinner at the Capital Bar & Grill and Central and New Year’s Day Brunch at the Central Restaurant.  For information and reservations, please contact +94 11 7 888 288 or [email protected]
 

Pictures by Pradeep Dilrukshana