Colombars love buffets. Well, we love anyone that will give us as much food as we can eat.
Buffets are generally associated with hotels and that's mostly the case here in Colombo. While that may seem quite mainstream, the good news is that each of these places have something they do particularly well, with most of them priced between Rs. 2000 - Rs. 4000. So here's a quick round-up of some of Colombo's buffets and what they do best.
Please note these are listed in no particular order.
AYU at Mövenpick Colombo is easily one of our favourite new additions to Colombo's buffet scene. At just under Rs. 3000 for their lunch buffet, AYU manages to strike a balance between variety and quality. We'd go so far as to say that they offer the best Sri Lankan spread on this entire list, with their desserts, cheese and action stations right up there among the best as well. The interior is also tasteful with a blend between contemporary and classical design elements which make it perfect for both casual and businesss meals.
We've only been to Table One once, but our experience at the newly opened Shangri-La's buffet was excellent. While it does leave a dent on the wallet, what you get is well worth the price of admission with some of the best meats we've had at a Colombo buffet. While some of the locally inspired desserts leave something to be desired, pretty much everything else was on point. The one oddity here was that the buffet doesn't include any beverages, so drinks are a separate cost which we feel should be included at this price point. While we wouldn't exactly recommend the space for a business meal, the funky interior decor with the wooden motifs and swiveling chairs make it ideal for casual meetups and larger groups.
While this list is in no particular order, we feel that Taprobane's buffet is one of the best deals around. Their variety of salads and cold meats alone make this an excellent buffet, so don't be too surprised if you find yourself stuffed after just the starters. The mains also cover a number of cuisines and meats while managing to maintain a good level of consistency. Their desserts could use more variety but that's a very minor gripe.
Flow tends to fly under the radar when it comes to Colombo buffets but nearly all of our experiences there have been great. It's not the biggest spread out there but they tend to do justice most of their offerings. They're very much a jack of all trades but our favourite aspect of the buffet has to be their Indian and Chinese spreads. It's also centrally located and a really elegant space so we can easily recommend for a business meeting.
Hilton Colombo's recent facelift also saw the introduction of their new restaurant: Graze Kitchen, which was a much needed change-up from it's predecessor. At nearly Rs. 3400 for the lunch, this is the priciest buffet on the list. That being said, you do get your money's-worth with an impressive selection and some high value items. Graze offers a top notch selection of roasted meats along with the one of the most refined Japanese selections around serving up restaurant quality sushi and nigiri. The new look also changes the entire experience with the sleek open-plan area and rough stone walls really showing a lot of character.
The buffet at Governor's Restaurant is another one of our favourites, and probably the best choice for those with a sweet tooth. They've also got a great selection of salads, but the best part about their buffet is the desserts, which remains unmatched both in terms of variety and straight up tastiness. While we would have appreciated a few more mains, the ones we tried were all pretty good. At Rs. 1900, this is great value for money.
Compared to the other buffets on this list EAT at OZO offers a limited selection, since it is more of a business hotel. While they only serve a dinner buffet, their meat dishes are excellent and they're not afriad to experiment with unorthodox ingredients. We tried their pork roulade, beef kofta as well as the roast chicken during our visit, and each of the dishes were well seasoned, not overcooked and flavoursome.
The Harbour Court's lunch buffet finds itself in the higher tiers in terms of price, but thankfully it offers a varied spread and arguably the best seafood selection of the places we've tried. The rest of their stuff is also generally very good, so this is a solid option all around, though their central focus is towards seafood, which we're totally fine with.
While It doesn’t particularly specialise in a particular area, Latitude offers a well balanced spread. This one was a bit of a mixed bag with certain dishes really standing out and others not quite at the same standard. Their roasted pork loin was excellent with the meat cooked to perfection and the fat rendered beautifully. Conversely, they were clearly lacking variety in the carbs department.
Echo at Cinnamon Grand is well known for it's Italian cuisine. They also offer a unique antipasti buffet for Rs. 1850, which is basically salads, cold meats and starters. This is different from everything else since it mainly focuses on Italian cuisine. So if you're a fan of Italian or just want to try out a variety of Italian antipasti without filling up on carbs, this is a good bet.
Each of these buffets has an element which they tend to do better than the others, so hopefully this list will make the decision a bit easier. As always, if we've missed anything please do let us know in the comments section.
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beingdom
Galadari is da best
achini cooray
How about the cost.
CS
I beg to differ. I went there (Galadai Hotel) on 29-July-2016. They had a good selection but it was nothing exceptional. The Intentional buffet cost 2515.00 (24 SGD). Had 2 bull frogs for 3600.00 (34 SGD). My total came to 6115.00 LKR (About 55 AUD/ 57 SGD).
CS
+ The ambiance was not good. Not cozy. It was fully open with just tables very close to each other. Privacy was little.
Sharm
Dining Room at Cinnamon Lakeside. Tasty sushi, very tasty and varied mains and mind blowing desserts. Expensive though, about 2700 per head.
yasmin
Echo…lunch buffet is quite sad…
Taprobane … though pricy… still worth it
Isuru de
Lagoon Sea food buffet at Cinnamon Grand is somewhere around 2600. Served only on Sunday. If you have a craving for sea food this is a cheaper option you got
Joel
You should write about the buffets at restaurants like raja bojun & akasa kade etc where most people are interested when it comes to bufets
Mystica
The Dragon South Asian buffet priced at around 2600 - pricey but range offered very good. Oysters, mussels, prawns, crabs plus meats. Service excellent as well. Sunday's only Cinnamon Grand at Noodles.
charitha
Try Jaic Hilton execative buttet . i couldn't rember the exact price but it's worth for price. and supper service.
LASAWICK
Dining room @ Cinnamon Lakeside is not in the list. Their food is very tasty though they are not offering a huge spread.
CT
are these buffet rates for weekdays or weekends? as i checked out some hotels and they all seemed pricy.
agreed with comment how about raja bojun and similar places on a medium range budget
thanks
Maheshi
very helpful site hope you need some more improvement with some more dinning places.if you can feed contact to each its may very helpful to viewer
Ju
Can someone please update these prices? Would love to know what the current rates are, as we'll be visiting SL in a few weeks…
Nishi
Galadari is the best best
Nipuna Sesath
Harbour Court (Kingsbury) - 3,000 PP
Latitude (Taj Samudra) - 2,950 PP (except Fridays)
Minura
Cinnamon Lakeside Main Dining Room - LKR 3150/- net
Cinnamon Grand Main Dining Room (Taprobane) - LKR 3260/- net
(Mid June 2017)
Bandara
Hi,
nice article Bhagya. Small thing, are the prices are up to date of all these buffets you have mentioned???
Bhagya YAMU STAFF
Hi Bandara,
The prices have been updated as of the time of March 2018, but you can expect them to go up by about 10 - 15% over the next 6 months.
Dias
Do they use msg. Or chicken powder that had msg?
vinurasera
And the mandarin Colombo got lunch buffet for 1750
mike king
can u tell me the sunday buffet lunch at table one
Verangika
Habour Court lunch buffet at Kingsbury is 3500 nett and Table one lunch buffet at Shangrila is 3950 nett
dilekha
can u tell me the Friday dinner buffet at shangri la
Roshen Silva
UPDATE: Movenpick (Ayu) : Dinner Buffet : 3600 /- NETT ( 2018 OCT )
Pasan
Dinner buffet at Table One @ Shangri La is 3650/- PP - Nov 2018
Yus
As of last night, shangiri la is LKR 3800 + taxes. approx 4000 per head.
Gobi K
Appreciate yours effort in giving foodies a round up.
Wish to know more about each of these restaurant's spread of Vegetarian dishes?
Thanks
Nithya
UPDATE: Kingsbury Harbour Court Dinner Rs 3200 /- nett (FEB 2019)