Sapphire hotel aiming for four stars

by Shirajiv Sirimane

Sapphire Hotel, Colombo 5, owned and operated by the E. A. P. Edirisinghe Group of Companies celebrated 20 years last week. Classified as a three star property with 51 deluxe rooms and two suites the management is in the process of upgrading the hotel.

Chairperson of the Group Soma Edirisinghe said that they also opened a roof top swimming pool to provide extra comfort for their guests. In addition the hotel has also purchased the adjoining land for expansion.

The expansion would include an additional nine deluxe rooms, a car park, laundry, business centre and a gymnasium. Edirisinghe said that while concentrating on their wedding market they are now also hoping to cater to the city business clientele.

"The next stage would be to construct an auditorium for 125 persons," she said. She said that their aim is to upgrade the hotel to a four star status. "We already have all the requirements and are aiming at the four star classification by end of the year," she said.

The management also owns Lavinia Breeze, a restaurant in Mount Lavinia. "This is to provide our foreign guests the luxury of enjoying the sea and having a meal under the stars," she said.

Sapphire one of the oldest existing city hotels has also been fully furnished to meet the present day needs. "We have been reutilizing the profits of the hotel and have not obtained bank credit to finance the refurbishment," she said.

"The leisure industry is growing rapidly and we know that this is the right time to invest," she said.

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Grand Hotel blooms best in Nuwara Eliya

Grand Hotel continued to maintain the leadership in the field of horticulture during the April season in Nuwara Eliya. This year the exhibition was opened by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister of Small Industries & Infrastructure, C.B. Ratnayake and the Mayor of Nuwara Eliya, Chandanalal Karunaratne.

The hotel garden achieved a total of 53 awards at the flower show this year. The horticulture exhibition started five decades ago under the patronage of the Mayor of Nuwara Eliya.

The awards won at the flower show were -

Best Collection of Roses, Best Garden Commercial "Large", Best Lawn Commercial "Large".

Out of 57 entries for the "cut flower" competition, the hotel bagged 50 prizes. There are 155 bedrooms comprising three presidential suites and four junior suites. There are four restaurants of one of which is an authentic Indian restaurant and a fine dining restaurant serving continental food. The rooms on the left overlook the Golf course and the other rooms face the hotel gardens.

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Indian food festival at Airport Garden

The North and South Indian Food Promotion presented by the Taj Airport Garden, brings a combination of these two diverse states rich in its own culinary cuisine and a collection of the finest Star Class cuisine, which makes it irresistible as a culinary art that has come a long way, blended and evolved with care.

With many dishes famous or its taste, finesse and variety influenced by finely ground and filtered condiments, raw ground onion and garlic, nutmeg, cinnamon, saffron etc. and for the style with which the food is served.

Along with the resident Indian Chef Puran Chandra, who is an expert in North Indian and Lucknow cuisine, two visiting Chefs, Stalin Karthekeyan and Aron Bhoopal, from the Taj Coromandel, Chennai, experts in the preparation of South Indian Food, are to show their culinary skills.

The South Indian Food Promotion begins from June 06 to 12, followed by the North Indian Food Promotion from June 13 to 19.

These Indian Cuisine promotions served Chef style, is an expression of the human effort in the preparation of the fare, would receive nothing by praise by family and friends.