High Tea
We went with the Rose (Rs. 1000), which is essentially the most popular and the easily accessible option out of the three. Neatly presented on a three-tier tea stand, the goodies they offer here are pretty simple – scones on the bottom, savories in the middle, and sweets on top, alongside a piping hot jug of tea/ coffee (you can order both if you want). This whole package is sharable by two and inclusive of taxes and service charges, which makes it the perfect option, if you're too broke to go to a high-end restaurant to get your high tea fantasies satisfied.
In the bottom tier, you get two types of scones – plain and pumpkin, with a generous serving of clotted cream and strawberry jam on the side. Light in texture and dusted with a thin layer of icing sugar, the plain scones were delicately crumbled into buttery shards as we bit into them. The pumpkin scones were quite good too. It's basically a plain scone, with a few pumpkin seeds on top, replacing the icing sugar layer. Paired with a slathering of some excellently prepared clotted cream and strawberry jam both of these scones made for a moreish treat.
Now to the middle tier – savories. This one had two types of mini sandwiches – tuna and cheese and tomato.
Fluffy, airy and light, these buns were flavorsome and the fillings were satisfying as well. We especially liked the tuna one, which had a delicious tuna stuffing that boasted a nice peppery flavor, while the tartness of the tomato slice worked its magic.
Apologies for this horrible photo – we tried, but the lighting is pretty bad here.
Like we mentioned before, the first tier is dedicated for sweets, and you get four types of them – fancy fruit tart, chocolate cake, Labookellie tea cake and the green tea choux. If there's anything that we'd like them to improve on, it's this. These sweet items were alright I guess, but none of them did able to bedazzle our tastebuds.
If I had to pick a favorite out of this lot, I'd go with the chocolate cake which had a decadent layer of dark chocolate frosting on top. It actually made up for the flavors in its base, or lack thereof. The green tea choux (the green colored item on the back) was too sweet for our liking, while the Labookelle tea cake was weirdly bland in terms of flavor. It was topped off with a very sticky layer of icing, while the base was quite dry.
With bits of star fruit, pineapple, strawberry and apricot, the fruit tart was a good combination of sweet and sour flavors.
The tea they offer here is from Damro's very own tea estate – Labookellie.
Ambience & Service
It's a very cozy and comfortable cafe with plenty of seating, enough to accommodate around 40 customers at a time. Each table is beautifully decorated with fresh pink rose flower vase, aligning to their name – The Rose Lounge.
We were served by two waiters, which both of them were quite friendly, efficient and helpful. They're still new to the high tea scene, so probably they won't be able to name each and every item on the tea stand at once. But they're learning, so if you have any questions about food, they'll be happy to answer.
Conclusion
At Rs. 1000, this high tea deal at The Marino Beach Hotel is pretty solid. Aside from the minor issues we found in their sweets section, then rest went down decently well. Try them out if you're around.