Veering off from the usual kottu joints and wade carts, Breeze Barracuda is a new resto down Galle Face Green. It’s in fact a sister restaurant to the popular beach hangout spot in Wellawatte, Barracuda.
Drinks
Unlike their sister restaurant, they do not serve any alcohol in here (boo!), but you can BYOB and it’s corkage free (yay!). Anyway, they’ve got a range of mocktails, milkshakes, smoothies and coffee.
We opted for the Triple Berry Smoothie (Rs. 400), which was way too sweet for our liking. It was thick, and had a good consistency, but not a berry drink by any definition. The dominating, and the only flavor we could get was the synthetic taste of Highland strawberry ice cream, sweetened by a strawberry syrup. This is more of a milkshake tbh, and a very sweet one in that case.
The Cappuccino (Rs. 350) however, was better than we expected. It was frothy, light, not burnt, and the milk-to-coffee ratio was on point.
Food
Their food menu is pretty extensive with Chinese food, as well as Western cuisine including burgers, sandwiches, pasta, wraps and even pizza.
We started off with the Vietnamese Seafood Hot Pot (Rs. 900) which is actually a dish that you can also have as a main, because of its massive portion size.
It was a properly cooked stew with full of coriander flavor, and had plenty of chewy cuttlefish, prawns, red snapper, crab, ramen noodles and vegetables soaked in a nicely spiced, thin broth.
The Chicken Fried Rice (Rs. 700) was just a lousy rice tossed in a few pieces of chicken, egg, cabbage, spring onions and carrots, but no seasoning. It wasn't oily, which is good, but we couldn't even get a hint of salt in this. Overall, it's alright, but probably your homemade fried rice would have tasted better.
The Double Cooked Pork Belly (Rs. 800) was quite oily, but good. It wasn't just doused in greens or onions, so you get a generous portion of well-cooked meat. There was a good balance between the flavors, with a tinge of sweetness, while the taste of oyster and soy sauce nicely emerging through.
Barracuda’s has been hailed for their excellent Hot Butter Cuttlefish (Rs. 750), and it turned out to be the star of our meal. The cuttlefish was adequately spiced, cooked just right, with the perfect crisp on top, and it was very flavorsome. Its batter was very crunchy, slightly dripping with oil, and the tempered karapincha (curry leaves) was a nice touch.
The sauce that was served with it was incredibly spicy, which actually makes this a good tapa as well.
Service & Ambience
The staff here is friendly, prompt and helpful, but the efficiency of the service could get a tad slow as the place gets crowded at night.
The restaurant itself has comfortable indoor and outdoor dining facilities, and the view of course is spectacular, as it opens to some of the best scenes of Colombo city lights, including Port City, and the breathtaking sights of the beautiful Indian ocean.
Overall
Our total bill came to around Rs. 5000 with taxes and service charge, which is albeit higher in our opinion, considering that their food was pretty mediocre. Although, it's still a good call for a weekend tipple, as you can do corkage free BYOB, and maybe some shisha.