[Colombo, Sri Lanka] English afternoon tea at the Verandah, Galle Face Hotel

Galle Face Hotel (Est. 1864) oozes history and class, and one of its most charming dining options has to be the English afternoon tea which is served at its lovely verandah, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Like the other grand old hotel which offered English afternoon tea, Mount Lavinia, one can opt for iced coffee (served in a stemmed glass) as a choice of beverage.

A choice of pastries, sandwiches and savouries were laid out in buffet tables. Not my preferred concept of an afternoon tea, with all the movement and noise as diners make their way to & fro the buffet. I much preferred Mount Lavinia’s, where the food was brought to the diners by white-gloved, niftily-dressed wait-staff.

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And as always happens when we’re at a buffet, we ended up eating more than we had intended. :anguished:

One of the more interesting things to see at the Verandah is the daily lowering of the Sri Lankan national flag each evening, a ceremony accompanied by a bagpiper. It was almost like the sun hadn’t set on the British Raj.

But the sights were unforgettable.

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Thanks for posting this. I’m sure the buffet concept is disruptive, but I would love it. The sandwiches are my favorite part of tea, and I never get enough! The desserts, on the other hand, I can do without, so this setup would be perfect for me.

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We are pretty alike - I often just picked the sandwiches & savouries, and leave the sweets behind untouched in an afternoon tea set, so a buffet would actually be less “wasteful” in our case.

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