Small scale splendour at Uga Residence
In an age when chic hotels are multiplying fast, to stand out a new hotel must have something special. Uga Residence, in Park Street, has a history that will outshine any other Colombo hotel.
It was in the 18th century, when Kandy still had its king, and Colombo was still a little port city, that Sheikh Salebhoy Moosajee built a sprawling house in Slave Island.
It had halls, grand gardens, and stables large enough to accommodate horses of many visitors.
250 years later, the new Uga Residence retains, even amidst cutting-edge luxury, a feel of those early colonial times within the walls of No 20 Park Street.
Built within the basic structure of the Moosajee house, the boutique hotel has eleven suites including the 176sqm Residence Suite. Within as well as without the suites you find plenty of space. The atmosphere is secluded but extremely plush and cozy: the chintz, the gilt candle holders, the décor on walls, the wooden floors and the subdued lighting.
The restaurant here allows culinary adventures: haute cuisine or contemporary; indoor dining or al fresco.
In a word, it is a soothing and relaxing ‘escape’ from the humdrum of commerce and routine, situated right in the middle of the metropolis.
Changing what was called Uga Resorts to Uga Escapes in 2012 was a fitting act. For the four Uga properties- the Ulagalla Walawwa in Anuradhapura, the Jungle Beach Resort in Trincomalee, Uga Bay in Passikudah and now the Residence- provide essentially hideaways that pamper the ‘city-drained and travel-stained’.
Priyanjith Weerasooria, Managing Director of Uga Escapes, mentioned some of the small, thoughtful features of the hotel which include coffee machines and Uga’s own blends of tea in each room, and a library which, though tiny, is sumptuously appointed.
Another ‘Escape’ will, he said, be unveiled this year; this time in the stamping grounds of bear and leopard, in Yala.