Located at: Uga Residence, 20 Park Street, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 29th July, 2023

Uga Residence at night is a striking sight to take in, particularly the courtyard, which houses a fairly large pool, and its surroundings – lined by an old-style bar on one side, Rare on one side, and an elegant passage (on the side with the rooms) with beautiful stencil woodwork on white walls and lanterns lining the pool. Large trees lit up with LED cables and dim lighting all around, the ambience is picture perfect for a memorable evening.

We tried a few beverages from the Rare Cocktails list. Rare Passion (LKR 2,150) was a combination of vodka and passion fruit with a chilli and salt rim. The chilli on the rim definitely packed a punch, while the juice was fresh with passion fruit seeds for a little bite. Raw Mango (LKR2,150) comprised of gin, ambarella and lemon juice, and was quite refreshing. I asked for a mocktail version of Kithul, without the vodka base (LKR 1,090), and really enjoyed it. The subtle combination of pineapple juice, lime, ginger and kithul treacle was lovely – lightly sweet and very satisfying. The slight heat brought on by the ginger pieces was beautifully neutralised by the fruit juices and sweetness of the treacle.

The attractive bread platter was quite enjoyable, too. The white sesame and wholemeal bread rolls came warm and soft to the core. And the combination of butters sat pretty in their dishes, with a parsley garnish.

Rare’s menu is impressive, to say the least. And the presentation of their dishes is just as eye-catching. We started off with some soup. The first was their Roasted Butternut Purée – with slow-cooked mutton ragout and roasted cumin (LKR 1,800). It was earthy, as described, and soothing in a homely way. The roasted cumin that almost inevitably made it into every spoonful gave the soup a bit of a South Asian feel, while the meat itself was quite tender.

We asked for the Lemongrass Cappuccino – with coconut foam and garlic crouton (LKR 1,850) to be split into two to share, hence the image below shows a half portion. It was tomato-rich, with a nicely rounded mouth-watering tanginess to it. However, while I was expecting a soup that was going to be oozing the flavour and aroma of lemongrass, the actual intensity of lemongrass flavour was only slight, and limited to an aftertaste. I love tomato and I loved the soup as a tomato soup, but that was not quite what was described on the menu. The croutons were not heavy on garlic flavour, either, but were a good toasty accompaniment to the soup.

As one of the mains, we tried their Baked Crab – prepared with field mushrooms and pecorino (LKR 3,850) which came with a fresh salad of peppers, cucumber and onion, and black garlic bread on the side. The bread was really crispy and had a nice garlic flavour. The baked crab mix was well-seasoned and prepared tastily. It looked like a light meal, but was comfortably filling and a good dish overall.

The East Coast Barramundi – with vanilla corn purée, confit vegetables, Asian greens and rosemary wild honey (LKR 4,750) came as a sizeable fillet of soft grilled fish on a bed of roast potato slices and a delicious, sweet purée. It was topped with a tuft of grated root vegetable. In combination, each mouthful was quite wholesome and tasted very good while also feeling healthy to a large extent.

The slow-braised Spare Ribs – with grilled pineapple, garlic and rosemary apple chutney (LKR 4,900) looked intimidating as it arrived, the portion seeming daunting for my small appetite. However, it had been slow-cooked to such perfection that the meat fell right of the bone, making the dish light and delicate. The sauce with which it was covered was delicious by itself, but the sweet purée-like sauce at the bottom was excellent with the ribs. The mukunuwenna leaves were a great choice to add a subtle touch of freshness and texture to the meat. I also liked the combination of the grilled pineapple with the apple chutney.

We tried three of Rare’s desserts, one of them being their Kithul Jaggery Cake – with fresh soya bean ice cream, honey tuille and salt-baked pineapple chutney (LKR 1,650). The cake was soft and moist, but perhaps could have used a little more kithul jaggery, for the flavour was not as apparent as we expected to be. Overall, the dessert had in interesting combination of textures with the tuille, ice cream and pineapple chutney.

The carefully constructed Crêpes Suzette – with vanilla pod ice cream and orange butterscotch (LKR 1,650) was unique. The combination of the soft crépes with the caramelised sugar and butter sauce and the very mildly bitter-sweet and tangy orange was very nice as the ice cream was mixed into the sauce.

Mud Cake “Crostillant” – with miso crumble, orange and anise butterscotch and vanilla pod ice cream (LKR 1,850) turned out to be a delectable affair. The rich mud cake with its ganache-like chocolate frosting was dense, but not excessively so and came in a manageable portion. It was great with the ice cream and crunchy crumble, making up a wonderful blend of textures. A little more of the butterscotch sauce might have been nice, but the dessert was still delicious as a whole.

Yummy rating: 4.0 / 5.0