Located at: Granbell Hotel Colombo, 282/5 Kollupitiya Road, Marine Drive, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 19th October, 2022

Granbell is a relatively new Japanese-managed hotel in the heart of Colombo. So, naturally, they have a Japanese restaurant in-house. It’s located on the 25^th floor and has an outdoor dining option as well, with an endless view of the Indian Ocean across the road.

Minori’s Ebi Tempura sushi roll (LKR 3,000) was quite delicious. You could taste the flavours that had been embedded in the tempura prawn and seaweed as you munched on it, and the taste and texture of it as a whole with the avocado, cucumber and mayo topper were excellent. However, given that sushi is meant to be enjoyed in a single bite, the large size (diameter) of the roll meant that each piece was quite too much for a mouthful.

We tried two varieties of their don buri – Chicken Cutlet Don (LKR 2,000) and Pork Cutlet Don (LKR 2,200). They were obviously very similar, apart from the type of meat in the respective dishes. Both of the meat cutlets tasted good, and the egg was a fine balance between completely done and slightly runny. The sauce that dressed the dishes was good, too, but not enough, in my opinion. The sticky rice that lay under the cutlet and egg needed more of the sauce in order to be enjoyed, without which it was somewhat dry.

Minori’s desserts were on point. It was a bit disappointing that they did not have their Granbell Signature Cheese Cake on the day – which was what we were really looking forward to, but the other desserts surely did not disappoint. The Mille Crêpes (LKR 900) was probably the best of the lot. So light, so creamy and so fluffy. Above all, it was only mildly sweet despite the caramel drizzle that adorned it – which was great.

The Granbell Pudding (LKR 800) was quite good too – essentially a milk and egg (custard) pudding, topped with caramel sauce and half a strawberry. Simple but satisfying.

Their Banana Yoghurt Sorbet (LKR 600) was quite interesting, too, with a fro-yo kind of texture and a fruity banana flavour coming through with bits of banana fruit incorporated into the sorbet. It was a sort of balanced combination of indulgent and refreshing.

The beverages in the image below are Pineapple juice (LKR 700) and a Delicious Dream cocktail – arrack, triple sec, orange marmalade and lime juice (LKR 1,600). The pineapple juice was lovely and fresh, and I am told that the cocktail was something novel, too.

It seemed a bit odd that the green tea was not Japanese sencha, but more like a Chinese green tea. Not an issue, of course, but unexpected since Minori falls under a Japanese management. Next time, maybe!

Yummy Rating: 4.0 / 5.0