Harbour Stop is a hidden gem – a 24 hour food joint in a beautiful, historical Fort building. The Gafoor building itself is amazing, a triangle shaped historical structure just next to the port. Inside is an airy, high-ceilinged space which serves a decent rice and curry, biriyani and nasi goreng. The food is not spectacular, but the location and ...
You’ve all probably heard about Taste of Colombo by now right? In case you haven’t it’s starting tomorrow & to get you excited they’ve organised (so many) fringe events - pretty intelligent cross marketing strategy. Viharamahadevi Park on Saturday will be the venue for a remote control car race, which should get you enthusiasts revved. To register go here – link The competition ...
The food at Han Gook Gwan is great – if you can get past the lingering smell of boiled meat and cabbage that haunts its halls. We’re not sure if this was just an occasional odor or a resident one, but it was enough to make us consider leaving. After thinking about it a bit, we decided to stay – ...
The Galle Face Hotel is one of Colombo’s oldest, best known hotels, established in 1864. Over the years it’s provided food and shelter to many a revered name: Yuri Gagarin, John D. Rockefeller, Prince Phillip and Richard Nixon, to name just a few. And Arthur C. Clarke even wrote the final chapters of ’3001 – The Final Odyssey’ here. So ...
A rice and curry buffet with with 20 curry options, some of the best views in the city and a super central location for Rs. 1000? Well that’s what Akasa Kade on the top floor of the Ceylinco House building in Fort offers every day of the week. Places that do offer a really good rice and curry spread are ...
Shopping for fruit and veg in Colombo is rarely a pleasure. You’re either fumbling through unopenable plastic bags at Keells or side-stepping dried puddles of crow poo at the market. The thing about vegetable shopping in Sri Lanka is that you’ll never find everything you want within a single venue. And as for enjoying the shopping experience, well, that’s unlikely. ...
Having been vegetarian for almost a year, I decided to break my veg-inity with a philly cheese steak from The Sandwich Factory. Back in the day, those Sandwich Factory subs were amazing. The meat was succulent, the veg fresh and carefully chosen to match each sub (not just a standard lettuce and tomato thrown in for all) and the flavours ...
This place does a decentish bath packet for around Rs. 170, although the price seems to go up or down by Rs. 10 depending on the guy’s mood. Samba rice, dahl, a couple of vegetables curries (gotakola, beetroot, snake-gourd, etc) and sometimes soya, wrapped up with your choice of chicken or fish. Fried chillis and papadam are also provided – ...
I’ve long been prejudiced against the Bayleaf. Overpriced with an over long menu, high-end aspirations and acutely mediocre food I’ve repeatedly declared this restaurant to be the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with Colombo dining. So when, following a show at the Lionel Wendt, someone (my parents) suggested an Italian meal at the nearby Bayleaf I moaned, cited various previous ...
Indi and Shru have been making an effort to convince me of the merits of Mc Rice. I’ve responded with stubborn scepticism. I don’t eat McDonalds (it’s not food snobbery, or maybe it is) but I’ll eat anything from the grimmest vaddai on the train to Trinco, to the offaly offerings served behind the butchers at Malay street. I’ve even ...
Mambo’s, the eponymous guest house of Hikkaduwa’s most enterprising beach boy – the dude that started it all, promisingly looks to be packed with most of Colombo tonight with the party moving on to Joint on Sunday. There’s quite a few beach raves over this long weekend, Monday being the actual full moon, therefore holiday for all. But if you’ve been ...
UPDATE: Maliban has sent us the following apology (not to us, but to everyone who was offended):Companies (including ours) all make mistakes and what really matters is how you own
We’ve written a couple of things about the new Lion Breweries bar, The Floor By O! (click here and here). However, we’ve visited the Floor twice since then and have a bit more to add. As you may have gathered from reading the site, we really, really like the O! bar at Dutch Hospital. Although it has its flaws ...
Whether you’re just visiting Colombo or you live here, the Cinnamon Grand Brunch is a must visit. This lavish Sunday luncheon has long been a tradition with many Colombo families who, after church or a Sunday lie in, drive over to spend their afternoon ensconced in the Taprobane restaurant amidst cascading chocolate fountains, silver platters of oysters and glistening legs ...
A first in pro karting history in Sri Lanka, Red Bull brings the International Kart Fight to Lankan shores. Racers from all over the country stand a chance to enter the World Finals in Italy by winning the competition. Qualifiers and Finals will be held against the iconic backdrop of Independence Square, ten entrants will be selected from each qualifier ...
Colombo’s seeing a lot of green initiatives lately – yay internet & environmental awareness! “Colombo Green Walk’ is one of them. A fringe event for Taste of Colombo 2012, the walk aims to ‘increase public awareness of the pressing environmental deterioration and its detrimental implications on our lives‘ along with securing funding to accomplish their goals: 1. Initiate a forest regeneration project 2.Publish ...
In the perennial debate on where to get the best Chinese in Colombo, I’ve always backed Flower Drum. My tongue oozes at the memories of huge bowls filled with pearly white rice, sloppy helpings of kankun and crispy hot butter cuttlefish – but most of all I think of those several accompanying teaspoons of the best condiment in the ...
