Eating out in Colombo, Sri Lanka (or "How to Eat Your Own Bodyweight in Seafood")

Colombo feels as though its a city on the cusp of change. For years it has had a reputation as somewhere that you don't stop for long before heading to one of the coasts and, similarly to the much maligned Bangkok, is as a grubby portal to the beaches. I loved Colombo despite the dirt and hustle and bustle. Various areas are in the process of regeneration but its fair to see there are plenty of places in the city that have already up and come and where you can have an excellent meal and a good night out.

Lagoon at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel is a glass box of a restaurant  with a terrace overlooking a small man made lagoon.  The premise is essentially that you visit the fishmonger's counter, pick your weapon and it can then be cooked one of a multitude of ways. Seer is a fish that you see lots on menus in Sri Lanka - its a member of the mackerel family but is much bigger and essentially more similar to tuna in terms of size of steak and meaty texture. 

We ordered an array of food cooked in different styles to share. Cuttlefish in white curry sauce (a delicate creamy sauce - the Sri Lankan version of a korma you might say) was particularly good, fried crab claw cakes had a ginger tang were one of my favourites too. 

Giant river prawns were covered in a spicy crumb and grilled before being drizzled in butter. 
King prawns were in a spiced tomato and onion garlic sauce and fair blew my head off.

It is very much a hotel restaurant and ensures there is something for everyone. You can have your seafood with sweet and sour sauce or breaded with ketchup if you prefer- we just tried to go for the more local options. 

At the other end of the price spectrum is Beach Wadiya.  A 10 minute tuk tuk drive out of town it lies on Marine Drive opposite KFC but is well worth the journey. Sitting right on the beach front with the waves lapping the shore you feel instantaneously a world away from the humid hustle and bustle of Colombo town. 

It has an unparalleled reputation and the walls are plastered in photos of the great and the good with manager Olwyn.  Despite being well into his seventies, he sits there day and night surveying his territory and its guests. Princess Anne is reported to have deemed it her favourite place in Sri Lanka and amongst her favourite restaurants ever.

This was by far and away my favourite place in Colombo and a must visit as far as I am concerned. A large plate of king prawns grilled with garlic is around £3. The cuttlefish come in at around the same price and are cooked to order from the fishcounter

I ate there twice and never left with a bill over about £12 for everything including beers. Watch out getting back to the mainroad for a tuk tuk home after all that beer though!

Curry Leaf at the HIlton turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I'm always a bit dubious of hotel restaurants especially ones that offer buffets. For a fixed price of 2750 rupees (£13) you get to select all the fish and seafood you like to be cooked to your preference and delivered to your table. Outside are various little streetfood stalls offering made to order portions of kottu, stringhoppers and roti. It was a briliant way to get a crash course into Sri Lankan cuisine before ordering the things I liked best at other restaurants during the trip.

One of the most popular places around is the fantastically named  "Ministry of Crab". Co-owned by two international Sri Lankan cricket players, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara (which makes them Gods in these parts where the first question any taxi driver asks you is "do you like cricket?") the price tags are designed to match. The smallest crab size starts at 3000 rupees (around £15) which is megabucks by Sri Lankan standards. Mainly for that reason I decided to give it a miss. It is located in the Dutch Courtyard though which is a renovated colonial area with shops and bars etc in it and the heartland of an up and coming modern Sri Lankan scene and worth a visit even if you don't eat at Ministry. 

I wish I had been able to spend more time in the city to explore its burgeoning street food scene but the rest of the country awaited me. Hopefully this whistlestop tour gives you a taste of Sri Lanka though.

Hikkaduwa, East Coast Sri Lanka

Hikkaduwa sits in the centre of the region worst hit by the Tsunami on boxing day back in 2004 (its hard to believe that it was already a decade ago). You might recall reports of a train that was swept off its tracks along with all its passengers, well that was here. In some ways it is a very restful place, sleepy at this time of year as most tourists are over on the West side of Sri Lanka. That's one of the great things about visiting Sri Lanka; there is always a part of the island that is in season. That restfulness also feels as though it has a sadness to it too though. Graves of various religions line the side of the road along the coast commemorating those taken by the same waves.  Fading photographs glued to telegraph poles and the sides of buildings. The shell of the fateful train sits unmoved from its last port of call.  Life gradually moves on though and whilst noone in the area will ever forget, new business have sprung up and the area is making a new name for itself pinning its hopes on a new dawn of tourists drawn to the teardrop isle of Sri Lanka. 

After the heat and bustle of Colombo I couldn't wait to leap out of the car and feel the sand between my toes and a sea breeze in my hair. Although a swim was exactly what I wanted the waves were choppy with a ratty red flag warning against the warm water's temptations. 

Meandering along the beach I came across hardly another soul other than the occasional fisherman. That is until I reached a sign swinging in the breeze.

Shhhh! I'm going to tell you something but only if you can keep it to yourself, in fact its Top Secret. Top Secret only because that's the name of the restaurant. Under the sign a sea of hammocks and brightly coloured sun loungers entice you in. Wander inside and travellers of all nationalities are sat sipping cold beers, making full use of the wifi and nibbling on local delicacies. Our stumbling across Top Secret was a happy coincidence due to the deep rumbling sound, partly from my stomach and partly due to the darkening clouds rolling in across the horizon from the sea.  

Sure enough, no sooner than I had ordered a drink at the bar than the heavens opened sending a flurry of gap year students who had been sleeping off hangovers on the sand scurrying for cover into the shadowy depths of the bar. 

We grabbed a table in the restaurant and ordered plates of seafood and rice. My favourites were these squid rings in a piquant and peppery sauce. 

The drumming beat of rain on the roof began to slow in rhythm and finally subsided leaving us free to carry on our wander along the shoreline and walk off lunch, spotting a few bits of nature thrown by the waves onto the beach as we went. 

No swimming for us today though, the lifeguard's flags made sure of that. 

Colombo: Galle Face Green

I don't know about you but I am an expert people watcher. I get it from my mother. My brother calls it just plain nosey but I'd like to think I'm just super observant and good at taking in my surroundings. At least that's what I call it.  Galle Face Green in Colombo is an excellent place to sharpen those well-honed people watching skills and is a fascinating snapshot into leisure time in Sri Lanka.

Dusk begins to fall and the Green gets busier and busier as parents finish work and bring their children to the shore.  The skyline becomes dotted with kites dancing in the breeze as people weave in and out, dodging competing kite strings and chasing their aerial toys.

Whole families kick off their shoes and paddle in the foamy waves crashing onto the sand.

Even soggy monks get in on the action

Lovebird couples stroll along the waterfront or steal kisses hidden under umbrellas unfurled in the pretence of blocking out the sun.

Small green huts dotted along the promenade offer various types of street food usually involving prawns in every incarnation you can think of...

Street vendors call out offering all kinds of mystery goods...

Brightly coloured inflatables and windmills draw admiring glances from awestruck toddlers

Most of all though, it feels like a very happy carefree place to be.

If you're thirsty or just need some time away from the hustle and bustle head next door to the Galle Face Hotel for a pot of Ceylon tea or an early evening cocktail. First constructed in 1864 it has managed to retain a lot of its old world charm. It was under renovation when I visited (and will be until the end of 2014) but despite the builders you can still see hints of the beautiful colonial architecture.  If you sit in the garden there is a fair chance you will be visited by one of these inquisitive chaps….

London House - NOW CLOSED

After a couple of years of sticking to casual dining and gastropub openings and following a battering in the headlines about mass produced microwave style meals, Gordon Ramsay is back with a proper restaurant and I liked it very much. I wonder whether it is no coincidence that he has opened it practically on his own doorstep in Battersea. After all its a market he must know very well. The site on the corner of Battersea Square has been something of a curse for the last decade. Many moons ago it was All Bar One then it languished void for ages before Bentley's moved in and redesigned the interior. That didn't last long either leading to another long period of emptiness. Its a shame as its a great site overlooking the square and only a hop and a skip from the river but the problem is that it is huge inside.

Here's hoping for Mr Ramsay that this one has some staying power - lord knows he could do with a success after a few years of bad news. Then again, it should succeed, it follows a very obvious template in the form of nearby Chez Bruce, a restaurant that the staff confirmed Ramsay frequents and somewhere that he took his core team in advance of London House opening. If it aint broke don't fix it I guess. There is plenty of money in the area for a good quality classic restaurant and as its been full practically every night since opening without a big PR fanfare then it must be working. 

Bread and butter are a simple but effective yardstick of a good restaurant for me; attention to detail and all that. At London House warm soft brown bread comes served in a nifty little hessian mock flour sack with a hidden compartment of warm wheat to keep the bread warm. Butter is both salted and softened; full marks so far...

One of many parallels that you can draw between the Chez Bruce/La Trompette/Glasshouse etc stable of restaurants and London House establishes itself. They all follow the three course fixed price model (£35 in the evening and £28 at lunch) and offers a similar style of modern British cooking focused on local ingredients. Such a style is arguably more Phil/Bruce than it is Gordon. The strategy to emulate their template becomes clear when you see the resumes of Irish chef Anna Haugh Kelly (who worked at The Square) and restaurant manager Paul Halliwell who was formerly of both La Trompette and the Glasshouse in Kew. 

I ordered the crab tortellini with seafood broth to see if it measured up to the Medlar classic

Completely different, they can't really be compared, as the broth is deeply savoury and flavoured and consommé clear; very well executed. The tortellini was filled with crab and scallop and soft as a pillow but a little over dominated by a pronounced lemon thyme flavour. 

Saintsbury Chardonnay was an excellent foil for the inordinately good chicken wings- a creamy malolactic richness fought back against the grease and spice of the wing coating.

Pork head croquettes matched with Gruner Veltliner from Schloss Gobelsurg were a less winning combination. A nose of distinct pear drops and rather too much acidity on the palate left the wine feeling distinctly unbalanced even despite the fatty croquettes and rich quail egg yolks.

Beef with braised shin potato gnocchi was perfection - well flavoured and seasoned meat, a deeply savoury sauce reduction and soft, springy gnocchi pan fried to a crisp. 

Venison with braised puy lentils was equally well executed. A perfectly rectangular, buttery soft fondant potato nestled in the corner of the dish. The problem with such well fashioned dishes is that they leave you wanting more. 

Perhaps the answer is that I'm just greedy (that wouldn't come as any great surprise to many) but the main course portions - and in particular the venison- were a little on the small side. I didn't leave hungry but I wasn't exactly stuffed. 


I have been increasingly keen on Lebanese red blends over the last few months so jumped on one I had never had before on the wine list. Lebanese Chateau Marsyas is more full bodied and powerful than other Bekaa Valley red blends like Musar and Ka with a heightened spiciness that worked well with all our dishes.  

Rum baba was soaked in Havana 7 year old dark rum and served with boozy steeped raisins. I have never knowingly said no to a rum baba. It might not be the most complex of dishes but by god are they good when made well and this one was. 

Chocolate tart served with jerusalem artichoke ice cream was as smooth and cloying as you might hope it to be but it was the Jerusalem artichoke ice cream that shone as the star of the dish and would definitely be copied in my kitchen if it wasn't for the fact that I bet it is a real fiddle to make. It's bad enough preparing an artichoke let alone then getting the intensity of flavour into an ice cream. I'm impressed. 

Nougatine was well made with a nice sharp coulis but not my cup of tea when either rum or chocolate are on offer. 

It was only on the way out that I noticed the bar. Its more of a lounge than a bar with a big open fire and fat welcoming sofas. The cocktail list is comprehensive and its definitely worth a visit regardless of whether you're dining.

I hope very much that London House will become a neighbourhood favourite on what has been a tricky site for over a decade. 

8/10

London House
7-9 Battersea Square, London. SW11
0207 5928545

Galvin Bistrot de Luxe

I have a very long list of places in London that I'm itching to visit and Galvin BdL was not on it. I have never had any particular aversion to it, its just not somewhere that had enough reasons to be alluring - no crazy innovation, no 'new place' buzz, slightly fiddly location from home/work, the list goes on. There must be hundreds of places in London in a similar boat; they had their moment in the press and were once an 'it' place and now they carry on with a local committed clientele punctuated by the odd TopTable deal. But that was before I tried their tarte tatin …  

I was there on an early dining package menu with a group of girlfriends (three courses and a glass of kir royale for £26) and my first pleasant surprise was that this isn't one of those places where those on a "deal" are treated as subordinate to the a la carte customers (I'm glaring at you L'Autre Pied). All the dishes are on their a la carte menu as well so these aren't "specials" using cheaper/ left over ingredients, you are getting the real McCoy. 

As soon as you enter there is no question whatsoever as to the nationality of the food on offer. Dark wooden floors and wall panelling punctuated by mirrors along with startched white table cloths and wooden bamboo back chairs are unmistakably Gallic. Service is of the old school French variety minus the sterotypical rudeness, in fact all the waiters are rather lovely. 

The food on offer cannot be described as unusual or imaginative. What it is, however, is traditional food cooked and presented well. Very well in fact. Most of our group kicked off with a plate of the thinnest most delicate slices of cured smoked salmon, edged with a dill-dominated herb pesto and topped with blinis and a  quenelle of fromage blanc.

I opted for ham hock terrine. One of those deceptively simple French dishes where one can look no different to the next but the flavour varies greatly. This one was well seasoned with a welcome crunch of texture from pistachio nuts.  Pickled baby onions and cornichons helped cut through any greasiness from the meat. No complaints here. 

The smoothest pomme puree you can find (replete with copious butter and cream no doubt!) was a rich foil to a caramelised crusted calve's liver with onions and Alsace bacon which I'm told was a complete winner although a very large portion for something so rich (but better too much than too little in my opinion).

I've never quite managed to get to grips with liver so went for the vegetarian option; Norfolk asparagus with a poached Burford egg on a bed of polenta.  The polenta was unfortunately seemingly completely unseasoned and needed a good dose of pepper as well as some salt, despite the parmesan shavings. The asparagus was a thing of perfection though, the woody, chewy bits peeled away and asparagus cooked to soft but not floppy topped with a soft orange yolked egg popped open to ooze over the asparagus.

The wine list was decent with plenty of options at all price points and we plumped for a perfectly quaffable Picpoul de Pinet at £26. 

GBdL are justly very proud of their tarte tatin, the apples a dark, rich brown with caramel topped off with a sweet, crispy, pastry base (no soggy bottoms here). It was definitely one to rival the best that I have eaten.

It wasn't all perfect (see polenta above) but in general it was a well executed bistro menu. Main courses are in the mid twenties a la carte and desserts £6.50- £8.50 so its the upper end of mid range for a bistro. I suspect that there is an element of resting on their laurels though. Many of the accolades on their website and the certificates lining the corridors leading to the toilet are several years old.  There are also a good deal more french bistro/brasserie type venues that have sprung up since many of the original reviews of GBdL (Zedel, Chavot, Little Social to name but a few). That said, if you want good, traditional French brasserie food done well in the Baker Street area then you can do much worse. 

7/10 (but I'm basing that on my early dining priced package)

Bistro Galvin de Luxe
66 Baker St, London W1U 7DJ
020 7935 4007

Dabbous

I am pretty sure that unless you have been hiding under a gastronomic stone for the last couple of years you will have heard of Dabbous. Opened in early 2012 to immediate critical acclaim, chef Ollie Dabbous' first restaurant became virtually instantaneously unbookable.  I sent an email back in May 2013 enquiring as to when I could book a table and received a prompt, polite but firm response notifying me that every table for 2013 was booked but I could lodge an enquiry from September for 2014. Yes, you did read that right; because they don't operate a 30 or 60 day policy like many places they were booked up for the entirety of 2013. Madness. This sort of hype can be dangerous and catching. After all, surely if its still this full two years after opening it must be amazing, no?

The critical acclaim was added to in 2013 when Dabbous was awarded its first Michelin star. That said, its like no other Michelin location I know of in London. Walls have the now ubiquitous crumbling concrete and plaster, the dining room ressembles the stark, metal gridded set of the recent Donmar staging of Coriolanus, I half expected a naked Tom Hiddlestone to be winched down on a chain between courses (it didn't happen unfortunately). Tables in the restaurant are packed close together risking bruising from sharp furniture leaving me wondering whether I would summarise Dabbous as painfully hip or painful hips...

Oskar's Bar downstairs has an extensive cocktail menu and offers a limited menu. When we arrived it was pretty empty so would be a good way to get a taste of Dabbous without the almost interminable wait for a table. Speaking of tables, after finishing two very well made cocktails we went upstairs with increasingly grumbly tummies, so far so good. 

We had been hoping to have a matching wine flight with the menu but couldn't find one in the list and the sommelier didn't mention or suggest one despite our prevarication trying to find one wine to match all the dishes, it was only at dessert time that we found it nestled away on the inside back cover which was a bit of a shame.

We settled on an ever reliable JJ Prum Riesling on the basis that its medium dry so works with a wider range of dishes (it was particularly fab with the coddled egg). The wine list is reasonably extensive without being too crazy off the wall. 

The first course arrived swiftly. Fat, dark green English asparagus spears served with virgin rapeseed oil mayonnaise and crumbled hazelnuts. It was very tasty undoubtedly. It did, however, seem to me that whilst its great to have wonderful ingredients showcased through simple plating and service, there is an argument that it is just asparagus and mayonnaise. Its not exactly highly technical. 

A bowl of avocado, basil and almonds in a chilled osmanthus broth followed. Certainly imaginative and clever in the marriage of flavours and very pretty tasting due to the osmanthus, I can't help but think that I might have liked it to be warm. 

Vulturous, circling serving staff tried to swoop repeatedly on our broth bowls (three in less than two minutes) leading us to sit with our spoons aloft in mid air purely to create a hiatus in an otherwise brisk gallop of a meal. The table next to us asked to slow down, the thumping beat of the music creating a slightly frenetic pace for both service and consumption that was not terribly relaxing.

Just as I wondered if I was staring down the barrel of a tasting menu to rival the "emperor's new clothes" of Restaurant Story along came the coddled egg with smoked butter.  A thing of such beauty & perfection comes along so rarely; silky smooth and like a warm blanket for my tongue I felt like I could have eaten an ostrich egg sized one but in reality probably couldn't it was so rich. I can't begin to properly describe quite how utterly wonderful this course was. 

Things carried on in the same inventive and delicious vein with the arrival of barbecued octopus with muscadel grapes.  An explosion of sweet juice from each grape contrasted the char on the outside of the octopus tentacles. Octopus can be a tricky beast but this one was soft and tender without a hint of rubber which must be a bit of an undertaking to barbecue. I could merrily have ploughed on eating portion after portion until I'd munched all eight tentacles but the next course beckoned.

Pulled veal with white asaparagus and summer truffle was tasty and I'd quite happily eat it again but not particularly memorable in comparison with the egg or octopus dishes.

I'm sorry to report that things then derailed slightly. Lovage ice was revolting, not a word I use lightly but completely applicable here. There are some things that are creative and interesting but should never actually be eaten and this is one of them. A blast of very intense, savoury, celery-like flavour but cold and frozen. Let's move swiftly on. 

The final course of the tasting menu was listed as "barley flour sponge soaked in red tea with Tahitian vanilla cream". It was perhaps not as pretty as many of the previous courses but more substantial and a nice eat. Essentially a baba like heavy sponge with sweet Chantilly cream, I'd challenge anyone to object to it but equally it was hard to get too excited about. 

I would summarise it as a very tasty baba that would have been even tastier with the addition of rum. Then again I find that most things become tastier with the addition of rum but maybe that's just me?

Where Dabbous is sadly let down is on the service front which I would categorise as lackadaisical with an insouciant air of cool. Male serving staff are all of the bearded and braced variety missing only a Quaker hat but perfectly genial. The girls are all size eight or below and some had that slightly dead-in-the-eyes look that comes from extreme hunger and boredom and exude an air of processing tables swiftly so the annoying people will leave.

Whilst they have a basic knowledge of the dishes being served that doesn't extend to detail about the ingredients used. My favourite interaction related to some really very delicious tiny waka mono green baby peaches from Japan served at the end of our meal. Or more specifically from Fukishima, a detail volunteered by our waitress. "Are you sure?" was our measured reply bearing in mind irradiated power stations and all that. The response came "well that's where my boss told me they were from but he might have been joking". I'm still none the wiser.  Other similar questions around ingredients or dishes were met with rather quizzical looks. Not your average Michelin star service. 

Between the volume of the dance beat based background soundtrack and the proximity of tables  to one another, you will hear everything from your neighbour's table and they you.  To our left two very amiable chaps were planning a baritone ukelele tribute to Leonard Cohen trio (fabulous idea and initiated a very fun conversation) and to our right a very Eurotrash couple were discussing the ins and outs of their friends' multiple divorces and transnational custody battles (less fun). The point being that we were so conscious of being able to hear everything they said that our own conversation was very stilted and limited to talk about our meal rather than catching up on our own gossip. 

Price wise it is pitched at the right level for the food and the experience at £59 for the tasting menu. A set lunch (£28) and dinner menu (£48) are also on offer for 4 courses. 

Dabbous is worth a visit just for those flashes of brilliance found in the coddled egg and the barbecue octopus but other dishes were not so great and its not a relaxing experience or somewhere that I would like to take someone for a special occasion. The egg is on the bar menu along with a rather delicious sounding beef shortrib sandwich so my temptation would be just to pop in for a cocktail and snack combination rather than fighting/ waiting for another booking.

6.5/10

Dabbous
39 Whitfield St, London WIT 2SF
020 7323 1544