A culinary revelation at Trillium Hotels
“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” - Orson Welles -
The Mezza9 , a fine dining restaurant at the newly opened luxury boutique city hotel, Trillium Hotels, unveiled its signature menu on the 13th of November 2018. It showcases a vast array of world class cuisines and is said to herald a “new era of epicurean dining”.mr. Rachitha Ratnayaka, Director of Trillium Hotels, emphasised that their focus lies in giving Sri Lankans a taste of elite international cuisines. Speaking to him, he said “We have been to many parts of Europe and Asia, and tasted the finest food from various high end restaurants, and have chosen some of the best foods and introduced them here with a little Sri Lankan twist, to suit the palates of the people. We have quite a variety of food at prices that range between a thousand rupees to eight thousand rupees, thereby making our food available to a person of any calibre looking for a good high end meal.”
Their menu definitely looked spectacular as it included an assortment of luxury dishes such as Peri-peri Chicken, Duck and Beetroot two ways, Wagyu Ribeye, a Salmon two way and their signature dish Surf and Turf, just to mention a few.the ambiance was extremely welcoming.
The Food
We were recommended 5 dishes in particular followed by dessert to review. We first tried the Wild Mushroom Risotto
, which had an abundance of mushrooms and cheese. The winner of this dish was the overwhelming amount of cheese, which is what I love, and it was truly a mouthwatering delight. For those with small appetites, this
dish is enough for two. This was accompanied by the Wagyu Rib eye Steak and Salmon Two Ways . Wagyu beef is arguably the best beef in the world, and Mezza9 is one of the few elite restaurants in Colombo who serve this. The steak was done medium well, and the meat was tender and had the perfect texture to it. It was definitely a delicacy, although I felt like they could have done a tad more in terms of flavour. The silky mash and pickled onions complemented the steak quite well.
The salmon done two ways was also a commendable dish. I'm not a huge fan of salmon, but this dish was remarkable. I particularly liked the salmon sashimi with soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger, and lime, which gave it that additional zing. The sashimi was smooth and had a delicate texture. Although I'm not a fan of salmon tartare, if you do love your salmon, I'd certainly recommend this dish. The highlight of the day, however, was the Peri Peri Grilled Chicken.
There were two pieces of grilled chicken marinated in peri peri sauce, which made it quite spicy. I really enjoyed this dish because the chicken was really soft and the flavours were simply astounding. The chicken was served with saffron rice and tabbouleh salad, and though it complemented the chicken quite well, I felt that the chicken would have easily made a great dish on it's own. I would certainly recommend this to someone who craves a good flavoursome chicken dish.
The final dish presented was the Duck and Beetroot Two Ways. I particularly disliked the five spice crusted duck breast. It was quite hard and I felt like they could improve a lot in terms of flavour. However, the confit duck leg with fig jam made up for this shortcoming as it was cooked to perfection and would just melt in my mouth. The fig jam complemented the duck so well, and it was truly a delicious combination.
The desserts we got were the Passion Fruit Panna Cotta and
the Molten Chocolate Cake. They were both great desserts, nothing extraordinary.
The Mezza9 at the Trillium Hotels Colombo definitely offers the ultimate fine dining experience. The restaurant is luxurious and besides having the finest food on offer, it has a beautiful rooftop view of Colombo. . I'd definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to try elite international cuisine.