Located at: 20 De Fonseka Road, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 09th February, 2025

Tucked away on De Fonseka Road is a bustling brunch spot that enjoys an influx of both curious and loyal customers. The menu is short and sweet, but has been the subject of many-a-foodie’s conversation for its eye-catching presentation and tasty fusion of flavours.

Their Salted Chilli Tamarind Fizz (LKR 900) is like a mild explosion. You definitely get a chilli hit at first sip, and then you get a taste of the tamarind as it washes over the palate. The funny thing is, despite the heat of it, you tend to keep sipping on it more due to its thirst-quenching nature. I was keen to try the Iced Rose Latte as well, but the unfortunate monkey-business that caused an island-wide power outage (yes, that power outage) meant that the entire range of coffee bevvies could not be served until power was restored.

The food menu offers a selection of Tosakanth’s Roast Paan – which is what this spot was known as and was popular for in its pre-‘Stache days. We went with a couple of other items from their savoury menu. The Spiced Scotch Egg (LKR 2,900) came in the form of a spiced prawn scotch egg with masala mashed potato, cucumber and mint raita, fried onion relish and a tamarind and jaggery glaze. What strikes you immediately is the amount of thought that they clearly put into curating a dish such as this – the variety of cuisines and flavours that they have stitched together to create a patchwork that is both attractive and tasty. The masala mash went perfectly with the raita – which had minimal flavour but was a lovely creamy accompaniment to each mouthful of the spiced-up mash and fried onion. The prawn scotch egg was all about texture – the crunch of the fried breaded outer shell, the bite of the prawn mix that covered the egg, and the runny yolk of the egg. That tamarind-jaggery sauce was the star, though. Excellent by itself and with whatever it touched.

The Katsu Sando (LKR 2,800 for chicken, LKR 3,000 for fish) is one of The ‘Stache’s signature dishes. And it’s serious business. Messy, filling and delicious. It’s held together with toasted halves of kadey paan from the decades-old Hasthigiri Bakery – whose third generation founded and runs The ‘Stache. We went with the fish option, and the fillet was crumbed and fried to crunchy perfection. The bread itself was very good, of course, and the Asian cole slaw added both colour and texture to the affair, together with a bit of pickled cucumber. The star of this dish, too, was the sauce – or perhaps I should say, the dressing. A sriracha mayo and kithul chilli paste combo that was mouth-wateringly good and really brought it all together.

From the sweet menu, we tried their Kaya Toast (LKR 700). Having lived in Malaysia for a while, I do like a good kaya jam – a combo of pandan, coconut, brown sugar and egg yolk. The kaya on this was good, but slightly eclipsed by the thickness of the kadey paan that carried it. Perhaps a different (thinner) bread option might have allowed the kaya to shine better.

Overall, a pretty good first encounter with the popular brunch and bistro spot!

Yummy Rating: 4.0 / 5.0