Located at: 77 Galle Road, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 22 Jul, 2019

This classic sports bar is always abuzz when there’s any significant sporting event happening anywhere around the world. That aside, it’s also a pretty chilled out spot for a bit of lunch, evening snack or dinner. They dish out your typical British pub food like fish and chips, pies of sorts, stews and ribs (oh my gosh, their ribs are some of the absolute best in town!). And then there are a few dishes on their (rather comprehensive) menu that are a little more innovative and unconventional. I think it would be correct to say that our choice of appetiser was one such unique dish.

Devils on Horseback (LKR 750) is what they call it, and it comprises almond stuffed prunes wrapped in bacon. I know, right? What an odd and unlikely combination. And yet, what a perfect marriage of tastes and textures! It was surprisingly delicious. A portion of this generously comes with ten pieces of exactly what the description says with a slightly spicy sauce for dipping. It was fantastic both with and without the sauce. The only issue for me was that there was a substantial amount of bacon fat (which I’m not a fan of), but I know many who love to indulge. Considering that, these little treats were genius.

One of our two mains was the Ocean Pie – Scottish salmon, fish, prawns, cuttlefish topped with mashed potatoes and served with vegetables (LKR 1,300). I’ve had this a couple of times before and it has been consistently good. The creamy seafood interior bathed in white sauce and the subtly flavoured mash on top make for great comfort food – and they certainly don’t compromise on the seafood. The accompanying veggies were a mix of sweet corn and peas – simple, but sufficient.

The second mains was a Chicken and Mushroom Casserole – mushroom, roasted chicken and green peas served with garlic toast (LKR 1,100). This comes across as a deceivingly small portion, whereas it is far from small, quantity-wise. It reminded me of Japanese cuisine for some reason, probably due to the soy-based gravy. I particularly like the pop in colour and texture that the perfectly cooked green peas gave the dish. The chicken was just right too – mildly tender, and the garlic bread was toasted to perfection.

To wash all of this down, we opted for some Freshly Squeezed Juices (420). Both the watermelon and mixed fruit juices were fresh, as said, and unadulterated. I’d say they doubled for dessert too as we were too full to be tempted by their attractive dessert menu at the end of it all.

Well, what more can I say but, ‘Cheers!’.

Yummy Rating: 4.0 / 5.0