Of course there is red velvet cake. Red velvet cake layered with cream, and topped with ermine icing and a chocolate rosette that makes it look like an edible fascinator. Like the Polana Serena, red velvet cakes have a long history. They date back to Victorian times, and interestingly enough are deeply entrenched in American Southern food, where, every June, people serve red velvet cake to commemorate the end of slavery. New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel generally takes credit for popularising the red velvet cake in the 1920s, and it may well have been served when the Polana opened in 1922.

This red velvet cake with a chocolate eventail (fan) is the highlight of the Polana Serena high tea. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

Designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, who also designed the Union Buildings in South Africa and many a gracious Cape wine estate, the Polana Serena was never going to be modest. Our Elegant Lady of Unashamed Extravagance was conceived by the city father of then Lourenço Marques in 1917 with the specific idea of being a place to impress. She cost £300,000 and was hailed as one of the best, most modern hotels in Africa, with no rival in any southern port.

The iconic Polana Serena, Maputo’s most famous luxury hotel, has turned 100 years old. (Photo: Supplied)

Leave your guilt and shame at the door. Walking into the Polana Serena is like entering a glittering palace. The vast reception with its high ceilings and marble columns, a grand sweep of stairs, the original rosewood and gilt elevator cage that still goes sedately up and down four floors. And then glass doors that roll out onto the generous porch overlooking the massive swimming pool and glorious view of the Indian Ocean beyond.

High tea is usually served on the terrace of the Polana Bar, the kind of place where the whirring ceiling fans reflect in the silver soup spoons. Today however, we head for the Aquarius Bar & Restaurant, a quieter spot with indoor and outdoor seating and more glorious ocean views. It’s one of those All Day Decadence places where you can do bubbles and sushi, high tea, coffee, dessert, not to mention fine wines, rare whiskeys and tropical cocktails.

Coffee and cream is served in elegant chinaware. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

We meet executive chef Martin Gituma who is relieved the hotel is returning to normal after being hard hit by lockdown and the pandemic. Business is picking up at all their restaurants, the Delagoa Restaurant for fine dining in the evenings, the Varanda Restaurant for breakfast and lunch, the Polana Bar for cocktails and Cognac.

High tea is served with a flourish in a three-tiered silver server all set about with silver pots, and beautiful bespoke Polana Serena crockery. Traditionally the savouries are at the bottom, then the tea and scones in the middle, and sweets on top.

There is a long tradition of great baking in Mozambique, like this delicious fruit tartlet. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

The red velvet affair takes centre stage here, accompanied by sumptuous fruit tartlets, and pasteis de nata, a traditional and sublimely delicious Portuguese custard tart dusted with cinnamon.

The next tier has bright bite-sized macaroons, and scones with jam and cream. The macaroon is made with meringue, sugar, and almond flour, has a crunchy exterior and a soft filling, typically ganache, buttercream or jam. The biscuit is said to have been introduced to France by the Italian chef of Queen Catherine de Medici during the Renaissance. The French call them macarons and they’re apparently the most Instagrammed food in that country. Ours are pink and green with a ganache centre.

Originally from India, the samoosa has been granted permanent culinary status in Mozambique. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

The savoury tier has sandwiches – salmon and dill, cream cheese and cucumber. And did I mention samoosas? One of the most delicious things Mozambique has done is to grant permanent culinary residence status to the samoosa, the ubiquitous one originally from India and now perfectly acceptable as part of high tea at the Polana Serena. Both tea and coffee are on offer, but we want bubbles. Proper bubbles. So proper, we are allowed to use the actual word. Champagne.

Salmon with capers and dill are the savoury signature of high tea. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

Cheers, then, to 100 years of the famous Polana Serena Hotel, who has seen a most lively last century of Mozambican history indeed, and is now owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development who gave her a fabulous $25-million facelift a decade ago. Cheers to our lady who has offered her beds to kings and queens, the rich and famous, politicians, presidents, prime ministers, spies, secret agents and generals.

The Grand Lady of Africa has been impressing visitors for a century. (Photo: Supplied)

During the World War II years, when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony and Portugal was neutral, the Polana Serena was the preferred haunt of spies and secret agents who indulged in good food and complex espionage and counterespionage deals, free of the constraints elsewhere on the continent. Spies from South Africa, England, America, Germany and Italy were so relaxed that apparently they exchanged courteous greetings when meeting in the corridors and bars.

Just before the war, in 1936, SA business tycoon I.W. Schlesinger bought the Polana for £400,000. He retained it throughout the war years, bequeathing it to his son John who owned it until 1963 when he sold it to the Mozambican government.

Afternoon tea and cake is a longstanding tradition at the Polana Serena poolside. (Photo: Supplied)

High tea at the Polana Serena was at its most indulgent peak in the 50s, when the hotel was the darling of high society and LM was famed for its continental atmosphere, café society and nightlife. The rich, famous and gorgeous sashayed their way to the daily colonial-style afternoon tea. For hotel residents, poolside tea and cake is still served every afternoon, where impossibly beautiful people nibble on an exquisite assemblage of gateaux. 

Our lady’s high tea services stopped during the revolution and by independence in 1975 she was run by the staff and used as a hostel for foreign workers. Supplies and spare parts were scarce and often staff would strip hardware from one floor to patch up a room on another. Yet even with worn sheets on the beds, used soap and newspaper squares as toilet paper in the bathrooms, she retained her elegance and still served the ever-popular peri-peri prawns.

Legend has it that Samora Machel, the charismatic first president of independent Mozambique, used to stroll between the marble pillars and under the sparkling chandeliers, in his green cap and army fatigues, greeting everyone from the cleaners to the concierge. And Machel always insisted the hotel workers ate when he did at state banquets.

Scones and cream with jam and some French inspired macaroons. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

We need more bubbles. The high tea is settling, the salty sea breezes are ruffling the tops of the palm trees. We imagine the dishes served here over the years from Oysters Rockefeller and Duchess potatoes to devilled eggs, prawn cocktails and canapés – and all the high teas with their scones, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, salmon croquettes, trifles, tortes and meringues. Cheers to all the chefs, peelers, dicers, slicers, choppers and washers who have fed and watered so many people over the last century. And cheers again to the Polana Serena for rising from the ashes and continuing to peddle pleasure. DM/TGIFood

High tea at the Polana Serena costs R300 per person. Booking is essential. See www.serenahotels.com/polana

Follow Bridget Hilton-Barber on Instagram @bridgethiltonbarber