Food & Drinks
Rice & curry here is offered as a set menu, so you don’t get a say in what curries you want with your rice. The curry spread is limited to five, and that’s inclusive of a protein (curried chicken/fried chicken/ curried fish/fried fish).
With a generous helping of white rice, Lamindu’s plate of Chicken Rice & Curry (Rs. 230) comprised of a hefty piece of chicken, beetroot curry, tempered winged beans, dhal curry, pineapple salad, and good old papadum. Aside from the chicken, and the tempered winged beans, none of the other curries did a good job in wowing us.
For starters, both beetroot and dhal curries lacked the spices, which is the most fundamental thing about Lankan curries. The dhal curry was especially bland and did not even had a hint of salt in it. We really liked the pineapple salad, which was delicious enough to save grace. With plenty of onion and pineapple pieces munch on, it was adequately peppered and helped to bring savory, sweet and sour flavors onto the plate.
The chicken was cooked well, and had a good amount of spices in it, while the tempered winged beans were deliciously crunchy and not too oily. We liked them both.
With the same curries in repeat, this plate of rice and curry replaced the chicken of the previous one with a massive fried fish. The fish was kinda soggy, didn’t have that crispy exterior that we hoped for – probably because it was sitting on the display for a while. To our surprise, it was only 1.00pm, which is basically the time that lunch hour starts.
The fishy thing is, they charged us Rs. 230 for this plate, which is the price for their normal fish rice and curry, but didn’t offer any curry fish in it, even if they had it on the display. Instead, another Rs. 150 was added to our bill for the fried fish alone. Not cool!
The Chicken Fried Rice (Rs. 260) was quite alright. It was seasoned with pepper and salt and had a few roast chicken bits to go around. I liked how they have added a handful of pineapple pieces on top of it.
We also tried a Roast Chicken Piece, which was a rip-off for the Rs. 380 price tag. It was a big piece, but had no seasoning and was soggy from all the waiting.
*Pictured above – Orange juice, Mango juice, and Pineapple juice
With a blob of ice cream on top of every glass, they do some good juices. The Orange Juice (Rs. 150) had a bit of sugar in it, subduing the natural citrusy flavors that it’s supposed to have, but the Pineapple (Rs. 150) and Mango (Rs. 190) juices were on point in terms of flavor and texture.
Ambience & Service
As I mentioned previously, it’s a restaurant on the side of a kadey. They’ve got around 4-5 wooden chairs and tables, enough to hold about 20 customers at a time.
Friendly and helpful, we didn’t run into any problem regarding their service.
Conclusion
Well, we weren’t the most impressed. I’m not sure whether it was a bad day for them, but it was quite disappointing for us. It’s the normal buth kadey prices, but what we received for that cost is not just worth it.