Located at: 316 Ethul Kotte Road, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 06 Mar, 2018

This was our lunch stop since we were in the area on the day. I had been eyeing this place for a while but hadn’t paid a visit – as yet. The place was quite quiet with a few sporadically occupied tables, possibly given the time of day. Being on the upper floor, it overlooked Water’s Edge’s extensive, well-maintained lawn that lines the lake. Quite a pretty sight to enjoy over a meal and a light chat. We were quite parched by the time we got there and so immediately jumped into the beverage menu and ordered drinks.

We were leaning towards the Mint & Ginger mocktail since it sounded quite refreshing. However, since the description said it contained ginger beer as well as brown sugar, we felt that it might be a little too sweet and went with the Rosy Pippin instead – apple juice, lime juice, grenadine syrup, ginger ale (LKR 490). For some reason, I assumed that the juices in the mocktail might be fresh and therefore it would make a good thirst quencher. I assumed wrong. They were carton juices that came with plenty of sugar and fizz. Which leave you feeling thirstier later on. Ah well, so much for assuming this would be the better option!

To start off, we ordered a portion of Spicy Tuna Maki (LKR 870). The roll was coated with tempura flakes, which gave it a subtle crunchy texture. And the sushi rice was nice and soft too – not mushy, not grainy – which I quite liked. However, there was absolutely no heat in the filling although the name states that it is ‘spicy’. Not that I minded it, but it did make the nomenclature sound rather misleading.

We ordered our mains from the donburi section. One was a Tendon – batter-fried prawns, squid and vegetables on a bed of rice with slightly sweet soya sauce (LKR 1,620). Of course, these come with a miso soup, which I enjoyed very much. It was a nice degree of warmth and tasted good too. The pickle, however, was nothing much. The donburi itself looked fabulous as it was laid down on the table, with three substantially sized tempura prawns sticking out of the bowl. They sat on a bed of tempura vegetables that included carrot, onion rings and lady’s fingers. However, as we worked our way through it, we found that there was only a single squid ring in the entire bowl. What a shame. It is the seafood that we ordered it for after all. Taste-wise, it was crisp and the prawns were nice and crunchy inside. The soya sauce wasn’t very sweet but did complement the rice. Yet, the squid – or rather, the lack of – was a let-down. In fact, it was mostly this and the lack of spice in the ‘spicy’ tuna maki that made me revise my rating (below) from a 4.0 to a 3.5.

The Chikin Katsu Don – crumbed and deep-fried chicken, onion and beaten egg on rice (LKR 1,490) definitely, and perhaps understandably, tasted better than the other main dish. The chicken was well seasoned and made for a delicious combination with the sautéed onions and egg. Of course, there’s only so much you can eat of it! But it was good. And what made it that bit better was that the chicken strips, although they looked like long strips, had actually been cut across into almost bite-sized pieces, making it easy to just pick up and pop into your mouth. I was quite pleased with this choice of dish. No dessert after this hefty portion!

Yummy Rating: 3.5 / 5.0