High tea at Maniumpathy, a beautiful sophisticated luxurious boutique hotel in the Heart of Colombo.

The name Maniumpathy is a tribute to the town of Manipay, the origins of the first owners. Manipay was a thriving and wealthy locality of Jaffna. By the standards of present day Colombo, it might be regarded as the Colombo 07 of Jaffna during the nineteenth century. It was known as the paradise of Jaffna, with its verdant green paddy fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. It hard working people were a kindred society, who exhibited the traits of tolerance, and mutual respect. They were well educated and learned in various arts such as dancing, music and painting.
(source:Maniumpathy official website)

The first impression of the hotel was that there is a lot of greenery in every nook of the property, which I absolutely fell in love with at first sight,and once I entered the hotel, the whole rich classy ambience of this stately heritage house flattered my soul with its soothing Jaffna cultural music and we were welcomed with the most wonderful care by all the members of staff and ensured that we adhered to all the safety precautions as instructed by the health experts and guided our way to our reserved table.

We sat on a comfortable couch by the pool and since we had already made the reservation for the high tea a day prior it was ready by the time we arrived and they greeted us with a fresh shot of "mandarin and passion" along with the three tier platter, another tray consisting of scones and the mousse and normal black coffee in a coffee pot with milk.
(Reservations strictly have to be made prior to 24 hours to ensure the quality of the food as it is specially made for high tea)
The platter looked so good and every element served looked so fresh and appealing.
They served the following items per person for a reasonable price of Rs.2200 per person.
-You can choose either tea or coffee to go with the whole thing.-

Welcome drink
Mandarin & Passion
A shot of fresh concentrated juice with no added sugar.

Savories
Asparagus & blue cheese tart : This tart is a perfect appetiser, the elusive combination of asparagus and blue cheese shining on top of the perfectly crunchy buttery puff pastry cup was one of my favourites that day although I'm quite put off by the blue cheese flavor.

Creamy seafood puff : A sinfully rich white creamy filling with small shrimp bits in flaky layers of puff pastry.
I loved it too much that it felt pretty small bite sized in my mouth!!

Sandwiches
Smoked salmon & cream cheese on multigrain roll : It is all the great flavors that make this such a satisfying element to nibble on filled with incredible flavors, the mild tangy cheesiness of cream cheese and the richness of the smoked salmon, salty capers in between a soft freshly made multi grain bun.

Cucumber & lettuce : Nothing to complain about this, it is your everyday cucumber and lettuce sandwich with lots of cheese making it any veggies dream coming true.

It seems that cucumber sandwiches are always on any high tea menu so I did my own little research about it and here is what I found on the web - These little sandwiches have earned its right for being refreshing, decadent nibbles that goes perfectly with tea, something that the British have known for a generations.

Cucumbers are believed to have originated in India, and they were even mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8). Sometime during the 1300s, cucumbers made their way to Britain, and at some point during the Victorian era, someone thought to put them into a sandwich and served it at tea time. Cucumber sandwiches were the domain of the wealthy.
What made the cucumber sandwich a "high class" food? After all, the true English cucumber sandwich is pretty simple. Thin slices of bread, buttered, topped with thin slices of cucumber, a squirt of lemon juice, and a dash of salt, with the crusts removed and cut into little triangles.

Ham & cheddar cheese : Soft thin bread slices buttered and filled with thin slices of ham and lots of gooey melted cheese.

Sweets
Cinnamon roll : Mediocre buttery cinnamon rolls topped with a super delicious sugar frosting.

Raspberry & Chocolate macaroon

Espresso mousse : I love chocolate. I love coffee so this was the richest dessert of the day.
With the flavors of coffee and chocolate blended perfectly.

Cakes
Chocolate fudge cake : Honestly it tasted more like a dark chocolate biscuit pudding to me but hey it was delicious and no regrets!

Peanut butter cheesecake : Smooth and creamy cheesecake with peanut buttery taste and bits of peanuts in every bite garnished with another layer of smooth peanut butter on top.
It had melted by the time we finished our job with photos so the crust was a bit soggy.

scones
Classic scones with clotted cream and winter jam

In conclusion : My final thoughts of this place was that it is an "oasis" in a hectic city with every comfort that you crave for.
Maniumpathy does an excellent take on classic high tea!!
The food was good, the staff was very attentive and the atmosphere was very very luxurious so what more to ask for ?