Colombo’s Best Designed Restaurants by Devanshi Mody

Yes, I mean Wallpaper-hailed Lalin Jinasena, whose break-all-the-rules unconventionality is refreshingly young, audacious and fun: Buddhist monk parasols become lamp shades, polystyrene-encased dried leaves form cushions - very cheeky, really.  

Shocking, however, is that a 29-year-old transformed a 200-year-old Colonial relic in 7 months into what major international Hot Lists have now declared one of Asia’s best boutique hotels. You wonder if designer-architect-owner Lalin Jinasensa worked under Geoffrey Bawa, little realising he wasn’t born in Bawa’s time.

With such flamboyant young blood, Colombo’s restaurant design scene is appetising. But what’s on the plate is more important than what’s on the walls- even if this is a design piece. Certain omissions might raise eyebrows, but we don’t want to be recommending places where a London editor deplored the “new concept dosa that gets cold before it reaches the table,” and ran to Mathura for “the real thing.” A healthy balance (pun not intended) between design and well-designed menus is what we’ve opted for.

But first is a trio of restaurants with 2 common features: designer food and frescoed walls.

The Navaratna is arguably one of the world’s most fascinatingly designed Indian restaurants.  Ancient-looking wall frescos set against a contemporary décor anticipate the menu _ traditional, with a contemporised twist manifested in subtle flavours and titillate-the-toughest-palate textures.

Kebabs excel on the well-crafted menu (especially the unusual dahi pakodi and yoghurt-marinated potatoes). Young new Chef Arya’s signature corn and spinach curry is inevitable. His biriyanis and angoori ras malai wow - the best Indian food this side of India. All Colombo agrees - this restaurant’s invariably full and by midnight gregarious chatter frustrates the efforts of the live classical musicians.

It’s a good sign when you see Indians at an Indian restaurant, but it’s a better sign when you see locals and tourists clamouring outside for tables whilst the F&B-manager-turned-bouncer valiantly resists the onslaught (a frequent occurrence during crowd-pulling food promotions).

Tourists adore 1864, Colombo’s most romantic restaurant. Colonial charm, Portuguese murals and plush contemporary seating flirt entrancingly whilst the swaying water body casts mesmerising reflections on the wood-panelled original ceiling. The softly turning antique fans impart an air of sensual languor. Rose petals and tremulously flickering lamps float gently on each table’s water-filled indentions. All this against a backdrop of sumptuous curtains as red as passion itself.

If the heady ambiance hasn’t intoxicated you Colombo’s most staggering wine collection will. Chef Haleesha’s exquisite ethereal creations with a fusion twist sustain you in rarefied realms. The bread basket is a treat in itself whilst the exotic soups are to die for - but the unique lasagne is worth living for. An absolute Must-Do.
Don’t miss the city’s only wine tastings, conducted in the restaurant’s atmospheric basement with original colonial brick walls, teak tables, dashing sommeliers et al.

Under HVN’s gilded ceiling Hindu sages meditate serenely on clouds of a mural comprising one wall of the restaurant whilst silver rain curtains off the eclectic library-lounge next door. An antique two-winged fan spanning the length of the room does the rounds. Leather, metal and glass comprise HVN’s nether regions where red wine glasses and napkins flicker like hell’s fires.

But the fine dining Italian cuisine propels you back to paradise. Inspired by an Italian grandma’s recipes, executed by a Sri Lankan chef with international experience, the food is heavenly. The chef debunks the dubious notion that only Italians cook good Italian food with his excellent risottos and pastas. More masterfully, he plays with hackneyed recipes resurrecting them in innovative, divinely textured bell pepper gnocchi or the equally extraordinary homemade scalded tea ice cream (you won’t find these in Italy).  

Slick

The Hilton Colombo’s fine dining restaurant Spoons is an exercise in style - including strangulating London-style prices. But it’s worth splurging on. Ultra suave aquamarine interiors include a swank open kitchen, smart elongated lamps, plates and wall plaques that look like frozen bits of sea.

Young Chef Buddhika, trained under French Michelin-starred chefs, beat big-hitters at a recent Dubai food competition to bag 3rd prize for his signature must-try camembert wantons served with pecan nuts and sublime blue cheese ice cream. Michelin-starred guest Chef Stefan Gaborieu visits annually but his protégé arguably outdoes the master with adventurous fusion food, sophisticated textures and striking presentations excellently complimented by Colombo’s most exclusive wine list (including vintage Petrus).

Cannelloni sounds un-intriguing, but Chef Buddhika’s is a revelation. Praline Parfait and Chocolate Fondant are the chef’s favourite deserts. Rather French - but Paris won’t present palate cleansers on fantastic billowing, fire-on-ice contraptions…

Chic

Colombo’s going gaga about tres chic garden restaurant Zaza, which seemingly floats on water. It certainly flanks a central water body (the other side of which is the swish Tea Republic al fresco lounge). The crowning glory of this spectacular setting is the fire breathing fountain. The ambiance gets hotter still when Colombo’s babes perched on ultra modern chairs purr and pick their food, officially “Spanish.”

Actually, the food is much more interesting - Sri Lankan toppings on tapas and ethnic soups in nifty shot glasses. Nice. The restaurant also offers select but top notch Sri Lankan cuisine. In fact, this might well be the finest Sri Lankan cuisine in town so have a few tapas and shots as starters and proceed to the Sri Lankan wild rice and black pork curry main course (vegetarian version available).

Eclectic

The Commons: This super cool chill zone recalls Pop Tate’s café of the Archie comics fame, albeit a funkier version attracting teenie boppers, chi-chi housewives, the British High Commissioner (a regular). The endless menu’s utterly, utterly delicious, dangerously healthy creations (a vegetarian’s paradise): kottu rotti or herb and cheese rotti. Crab potato parcels are massively popular. But so are Mongolian rice, spicy veg waffles, the fluffiest pies and the best coffees ever - Cookie Nut Frappe, Chocolate Chip Fudge Frappe, Iced Chocolate Crunch.

As for desserts - the mouth-melting, tender-textured, can-glut-6-without-being-ill Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Heaven, Date Pudding with Butterscotch sauce, raspberry cheese cake lure you from temptation to temptation. And succumb one must. Sigh.

Coffee-lectic

A 5 star hotel coffee shop doesn’t excite anyone’s imagination. But Latitude’s stunning maze of decorative wine bottles intoxicates. Best indulge in the sprawling buffet with Mediterranean salads (including top-notch muttabal), continental pastas, lasagne, pizzas, Middle Eastern sherwa, Sri Lankan fare and Indian naans and curries. Plus, Colombo’s best dessert buffet - try the daintiest pancakes with caramel and ice cream.

Ethnic

The Curry Leaf is known more for its picturesque outdoors setting than the Sri Lankan cuisine. The thatched, open-air ethnic hut-style restaurant overlooks lovely lotus ponds and fountains on one side and a small but delightful landscaped garden on the other.

Exotic

A serene Buddha greats you at the Royal Thai whilst the striking wall hangings, silks, tiled pillars and sculpted wood whisk you on an exotic voyage into the oriental. The private dining room is especially splendid. But here’s a restaurant people want to be seen at. The menu is extensive and unique - it’s the first time I’ve had Thai green curry containing sugar.

Ethno Chic

Geoffrey Bawa’s courtyards, especially the inner pool-studded one, ever enchant at The Gallery. Tourists flock for the glamorised Goanese-shack ambiance (never mind the Sellotaped ceiling).