Located at: 55 St. Anthony’s Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 13th July, 2023

Quite a charming find this turned out to be!

The Coffee Craft is quietly tucked away on a by-lane off R. A. de Mel Mawatha and, contrary to what its name misleading suggests, serves up a variety of Vietnamese dishes. And Vietnamese coffee, of course. The cute interior is tastefully done with subtly bright colours on the walls and an interesting blend of furniture and wall frames. Refreshingly pleasing on the eye.

We thought of trying two of The Coffee Craft’s appetisers. The first was their Fresh Prawn and Chicken Spring Roll (LKR 800 for 2 pieces; LKR 1,190 for 3 pieces). Each roll was quite sizeable, with a couple of large prawns, ample chicken, a bit of noodle, raw papaya and fresh leaves. Together with the accompanying sauce, it was quite enjoyable with its freshness, crunch and content. Well worth the try.

The second appetiser we tried was the Steamed Chicken Dumplings (LKR 800 for 3 pieces; LKR 1,290 for 5 pieces). This was delicious. So much so that it didn’t even need the sauce that came with it, although the sauce did complement it well. The chicken filling was beautifully seasoned and almost tasted like a really good burger patty.

The Coffee Craft offers a few options when it comes to the mains. There are the usual individual dishes (meant to be enjoyed by one), there are Family Meals where you get to choose from an array of vegetable dishes, protein dishes, soups and rice/noodles to share, and there are bento boxes at LKR 3,500 per person where, again, you can pick from a similar array of dishes as above. We went with the Family Meal option.

We picked the Sour Soup with Fried Fish (LKR 1,600) which came in the form of a perfectly seasoned broth with fresh spring onion, fried onion bits, pieces of pineapple and chunks of fried fish. The flavour of the well-seasoned fried fish had leached into the broth and definitely took the taste of the soup to another level. It was fantastic.

The Vietnamese Ginger Chicken (LKR 2,200) was really good, too, with ginger pieces and the juice of ginger enhancing the sauce. The chicken was nicely seasoned, cooked to near-tenderness, and the sauce was excellent with the rice.

We also tried their Stir-fried Prawns with Tamarind Sauce (LKR 2,900). The prawns, which had a nice bite to them, were bathed in a sauce that was a bit more viscous than that of the chicken, and was slightly tart from the tamarind infused into the dish. The fried onion garnish added an element of texture to it. Another enjoyable dish that went well with rice.

Our vegetable pick was Stir-fried Bok Choy (LKR 1,200), which was crunchy, vibrant and glossy from the tasty soy-based sauce that it came in. The bits of garlic that had been tossed into the dish contributed towards both taste and texture. Quite good, too.

The Coffee Craft did not have their Steamed Sticky Yellow Rice that we hoped to try, on the day. So, we went with their Steamed Jasmine Rice (LKR 400 per bowl), a sticky white rice that had been cooked just right to retain some moisture.

From the beverage menu, we tried the Detox Goddess – lime, honey and mint (LKR 790). This was absolutely lovely. So refreshing, and so well-balanced in tartness and sweetness. What’s better was that the sweetness came from honey and not sugar, hence making it health as well.

We were keen to try some of their coffees, being sourced from Vietnam after all. The Latte (LKR 750 hot; LKR 850 cold) came bitter, but with a bit of sugar syrup stirred in, turned into a pretty good cup of coffee.

I was intrigued to check out the Cream Coffee with Cheese (LKR 890; other options are Salted and Egg, for the same price). It wasn’t as cheesy as I expected, but when stirred well – and with a dash of sugar syrup – turned into a decent iced coffee. Not so cheesy, but nice enough.

The White Coffee (LKR 890 hot; LKR 950 cold) was probably the best of the coffees we tried. It came already sweetened, but not too sweet, and was perfect as it was. Not too strong, not too light and giving a sense of homely warmth.

Our overall experience at The Coffee Craft was definitely a good one. The food tasted great and was very satisfying while also not making us feel too full – despite trying a few many items. Good stuff!

Yummy rating: 4.0 / 5.0