I was quivering in lust!
Yes that is the kind of anticipation I had built up in my head about the high tea at the Galle Face Hotel. People had spoken so highly of it. About the variety of choice. About the great taste and of course how reasonably priced it was. Somehow when I stepped into the terrace I felt disappointed.
It was like stepping in to a home coming of a wedding from a bygone era. There were old uncles and aunties and families packed into tables placed extremely close to one another munching away frantically desperately trying to stuff as much as they could into their mouth to get the highest return on the money they spent. Adding to the atmosphere an old man in a faded coat was thumping away at a silly organ. If not for some of the tourists I would have thought I had gone back to the 70s.
Yes there was great variety. In fact the entire terrace was filled lengthwise with tables full of food. If you were someone who valued quantity over quality then this would be paradise. Sadly the taste and the presentation of the food was below average and the service putrid. In fact one of my friends had to tell someone “if you were working for me I would have fired you”. She refused to add an extra chair to our table since it was not done that way and there was no other place to sit. According to JD who was also present the quality of the food was on par or lesser than what you would find at Perera and Sons. Certainly not the food what you would expect from a 5 star hotel. Fortunately for us even though everything did not turn out the way we expected the company was great and all of us had a great conversation. But the moment the sun began to set the grubby place I was seeing become to transform into something absolutely magical. But then we were politely told to leave as they had to arrange the venue for dinner. L
5 comments:
ah. finally someone who hates it as much as i did. the service was appalling. and the food, instead of what you would expect at high tea, was just chafing dishes full of mediocre pastries. and then to add insult to injury they ask you to leave so they can set down dinner. such a sham.
really ... whoa O_o
I went to Cin. Lakeside's one. Quite yummy, but the place isn't really cosy since it's smack in the middle of the lobby. :I
Oh I am a huge fan of The Galle Face Hotel High tea. As a Vegetarian the choice is there and I really like the vege sandwiches and pastries.
I thought you knew that it had gone downhill a long time ago?
A better option is to either order a single pot of tea on the Verandah (if you want the view and the fresh sea breeze) or go upstairs to the little tea shop and order a-la carte.
The best kept secret of the GFH is their cream bun, its on the high tea, but if you can order it separately (sometimes they do give it to you) it is perfect, almost as good as my mother's. They sometimes have marzipan which is also very good and unavailable elsewhere.
The tea room upstairs has some novelties like foot long eclairs which are quite nice if you like that sort of thing.
i've been there several times, and to be honest, loved it! :D i guess i'm not very discerning.
must try the foot long eclair jp is talking about.
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