Located at: Heritance Negombo, 175 Lewis Place, Negombo, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 28th July, 2023

There’s a serenity about Heritance Negombo’s lobby that soothes you as you enter the space. Perhaps it’s the combination of the mellow wall colour, the imposing but zen interior décor pieces and the window walls that inadvertently teleport you beyond the wooden deck to the beach and ocean a few hundred feet away. And if you walk to the far end of the lobby, you get a glimpse of the beautiful pool area to your right. The staff, too, are extremely warm and welcoming.

Before I get on to what we ordered, a word about the bread at Blue Tan. The bread that came in the bread basket was so good! Nice and crusty on the outside, and super soft within. And it came warm, which made it absolutely perfect. Addictive, if I may say so. And it didn’t end there. The bread of the burger that we later ordered (mentioned below) was just as good! This time it was a toasty outer shell with a slightly sweet, softer core. Kudos to Heritance Negombo’s pastry chef!

On to what we ordered now. We started our lunch off with some Hoisin Glazed Chicken Satay (LKR 2,100). There were four skewers of tender chicken in the portion with a very nice sticky Hoisin sauce coating the meat. I loved the ginger peanut sauce that came with it. To be honest, the chicken did not require a dip since it was already glazed with Hoisin sauce. But that dip could be enjoyed by itself or with bread alone. Quite delish!

The Seafood Tom Yum (LKR 2,700) wasn’t quite what we expected. There was a fair bit of seafood, but the flavour was not quite there. The soup had more of a Sri Lankan gravy taste and lacked the mouth-watering sweetness and tartness of tom yum soup. It seemed to be missing the kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemongrass that usually get mixed into tom yum in noticeable amounts.

Next up was the Pulled Pork Bun (LKR 2,900), whose bread I mentioned above – Hawaiian sweet bread, to be specific. The mustard butter that had been applied on was perfect with it, by the way, and I enjoyed some of the bread with the mustard butter by itself. The pork wasn’t really pulled pork, but cubes of pork that had been seasoned well and tasted good, nonetheless. There were also lettuce and chunky pieces of bacon in the bun. The menu mentioned chilli bacon jam, so I assume the bacon was the unexplained replacement for that. The fries, though, were delicious – crispy and salted to perfection. A side of fresh salad accompanied the bun and fries.

The Tagliatelle & Chicken Ragout (LKR 2,750) was tomato heavy. The pasta was well-cooked and the parmesan on top was a good finish to the dish, but the dish did not have a great deal of chicken. The menu mentioned caramelised vegetables, but there were none that came with the dish.

The Honey Mustard Pork Gammon Steak (LKR 3,000) came as promised. And tasted good, too. The mash was particularly good, as was the creamy pepper sauce that was on the plate. The pork itself was done nicely and was quite filling. There wasn’t a great deal of sweetness in the sauce, but the caramelised pineapple pieces added a touch of barbeque-like sweetness to the meat. The dish came with some sautéed vegetables which had been cooked just right.

We tried one of Blue Tan’s desserts to round things off, and it was quite a pleasant surprise. The Homemade Banana Brown Sugar Ice Cream (LKR 1,500) was presented rather contemporarily, with two quenelles of ice cream served on beds of crumble, accompanied by contrastingly bright micro sponge and caramelised pumpkin seeds. The ice cream had a defined and distinct banana flavour as soon as it touched the palate, that later faded into a bit of a thick, buttery feel. The crumb accompaniment was a good contrast of texture with a touch of sweetness. My favourite component, however, was the caramelised pumpkin seeds. Delightful, they were, with their crunch and sweetness. Almost like pani cadju, but a more interesting variant of it.

It is evident that despite the glitches mentioned in this review – mostly disparities between menu description and product, the team at Blue Tan put a sincere effort into the preparation and presentation of their food. The staff, too, were very courteous and the restaurant has a great ambience. The overall experience was a pleasant one. For these reasons, despite the shortcomings mentioned, my rating of Blue Tan is a 4.0. I do hope that they work harder and lift their game up to the higher level that I believe they have the potential to be at.

Yummy rating: 4.0 / 5.0