Located at: 5 Skelton Road, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 04 Sep, 2018

Visiting again after a while, I thought of trying something other than pizza this time. But first, I needed to rehydrate – a Lime and Mint fresh juice (LKR 400) was my choice. I like the fact that they prepare this without sugar and serve it with sugar syrup instead. It was certainly fresh and a healthy option. A simple drink to go with the simple, laidback feel of the place.

For the first of our two mains, I ordered a Milanese di Pollo alla Parmigiana – crispy breaded chicken breast, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, sautéed potatoes and salad (LKR 1,650). This dish turned out to be full of subtle yet delicious flavour. The chicken was pounded to a fine thickness and had picked up the seasoning beautifully. The crisp texture of the crumb, that was also well-seasoned, added to the enjoyable experience. It was drizzled with a bit of olive oil, which kept it nice and moist. Tucking into a bit of the tomato and mozzarella cheese topping with everything bite gave it that extra bit of oomph in terms of both taste and texture – although, frankly, the chicken was quite yummy by itself. The sautéed potatoes were also beautifully seasoned and scrumptious. Again, something that could be enjoyed by itself. The salad was fresh and provided a nice, light break between mouthfuls of the protein and carbs. All in all, this was a wonderful dish.

The second mains was a Gamberi Aglio e Olio – prawns, olive oil, chilli flakes, home-made garlic bread (LKR 1,450). Out came ten de-shelled prawns that must have been massive in their shell, cooked to crunchy perfection. The chilli-olive oil dressing, if I may call it that, in which it came was great to use as a dip for almost anything that would take it up. I tried it with the chicken, the potato and the garlic bread, and it worked for everything, alike. The garlic bread itself was quite different from most I’ve tasted. It looked quite plain with no garlic to be seen really. However, as you bite into it, you realise that it is packed with the flavour of fresh garlic. Personally, I’d have liked it to be a little crunchy, but the softness allowed it to soak up the olive oil dressing from the prawn dish in this case.

We got into a bit of a chat with the proprietors during our lunch stay and at the end of our meal, the gentleman very kindly brought us a platter of sweet treats to try – dark chocolate dipped candied orange, bits of dark chocolate, and normal and chocolate dough chocolate chip cookies. I do wish I’d taken a photo before diving into it. They were really good. And I’m not saying this just because they were on the house! They really did taste pretty good. Mental note to pick up some chocolate chip cookies on my next visit!

We also took away a few croissants to have later – plain croissants and cream croissants (LKR 200 and LKR 250, respectively – if I remember correctly). The cream seemed to the be the same cream they use in their cannoli. Which I love. Subtly sweet, subtly creamy, with a cooling effect as it passes over your palate. The croissant itself, though, was too dough-y and dense for me – and quite large too! I like my croissants light and crisp. So, I’ll probably stick to their cannoli in the future.

Yummy Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Read Part 01 of The Eat Log’s review on Dolce Italia @ https://theeatlog.com/2017/09/21/dolce-italia/