New numbers in town
When I arrived last summer, Colombo was athrob though it seemed that Sri Lanka’s then vaunted “booming economy” seemed a veneer. Nevertheless, Colombo today is in boutique boom. Recently-launched boutique hotels and boutique cafés ensure Colombo isn’t eating humble pie just yet. Colombo Courtyard price of Rs 950. But quail’s eggs cost and portions are copious. I much prefer beetroot, apple and feta salad. Sounds banal? It’s all about the proportions. And young chef Tyrone who clearly understands food advises, “Ensure you get a mint leaf with every bite.” This salad leaves me in consternation. Tyrone smiles, “Surprised at such a young chef?” He is but twenty. Then again, experience confirms that the skinniest chefs are the most skilled!
“Shandwiches” the menu announces. It’s unclear whether this is a typo or a feat of great innovation. COLT (cheddar, onion, lettuce, tomato) “shandwich” becomes a CLT- it arrives sans onion. Worrying when tagged at Rs 580.
Coffee is Hansa (charged at Italian coffee prices), which Commons too serves but in mightier, jazzier concoctions.
Smoothies (try Tropical with fresh mango, banana and beads of crunchy passion), nevertheless, deliver. Desserts, less so. I found little joy in carrot cake. Wine improves with age. Cake doesn’t. Cheesecake requires an axe to cleave. Perhaps incentive to purchase some of the knives selling as “antiques” for startling prices? I almost choked on my salad when informed an English dinner set was going at Rs 25,000. Apparently, the English owner’s grandmother’s.
And yet, SW salads wow. Je ne raconte pas de salads, as the French would say! Java