Found in Elibank Road with its quiet tree-lined, almost picture-perfect streets, lies one of Colombo's newest ventures to things of the cafe-d variety.
We happened to come across Baked Colombo via social media, and one look at their Tiramisu tart convinced us that we should probably pay them a visit.
Ambience
This picture doesn't do justice to the restaurant. Made to look like a Pinterest board, Baked Colombo has quite a large space tucked inside. Pastel, warm tones all around, paintings and a part of their floor covered in quirky tiles, we positively loved the ambience of this place.
Everything is wonderfully spaced out and it's perfect for when you're looking for somewhere to meet a friend or even have some alone time with a book. Plus, the food here works in favour of either option as well.
The Food
Desserts, coffee and a few savoury items to pull it all together, the menu at Baked is simple but interesting.
We had heard many a tale about the Tiramisu Tart (Rs. 480) at Baked. So, it was pretty obvious that we absolutely had to get this one.
The tart itself was a bit tough in texture but tasted wonderful. Creamy with a slightly sour note, the cream filling was perfectly complemented by the coffee and chocolate. Sure, it might make a noise when you try to cut into it with your spoon, and that noise might have everyone staring at you wondering if you've broken the plate. But trust us on this, the embarrassment is worth it, go for it.
Taking on a slightly Keat-y stance, YAMU presents, An Ode to a Cheesecake.
Cheesecake is everywhere, but finding a good cheesecake can be quite a task. And thanks to Baked, we happened to find the nicest Raspberry Cheesecake in Colombo.
The pictures make the slice look small, when in fact it is quite large and fully worth the Rs. 480 you spend on it.
Utterly moist and wonderfully soft, the Raspberry Cheesecake at Baked is fantastic. Plenty of sour notes from the cake itself, punched higher by the almost (not) excessive amount of raspberries infused it in, we loved it.
Sweet, but not too sweet, the slice looks and tastes wonderful. The only real problem we had with this was the fact that the base had too many sugar granules in it. Apart from that slight zip, it was perfect.
The Cheesemelt Pizza clocked into a very decent Rs. 650. Large enough for 2 to share (with a bit of room for dessert), the pizza was slightly thicker than a normal thin crust pizza and was fully loaded with Marinara sauce, cheese, basil and olive oil.
While the cheese helped cream everything together, the strong presence of garlic and oregano helped keep things interesting. We would have preferred if there was a bit of acidity in it, but, all in all, it was quite good.
Pictured Above: Hot Chocolate (Left), Cappuccino (Right)
Coming in a tall glass, the Hot Chocolate (Rs. 480) came as a warm, milky concoction that turned out to be all right. While the drink was slightly milkier than we would have liked, the only slightly sweet factor helped salvage it for us. The addition of a tad more chocolate would have made it better.
The Cappuccino (Rs. 450) was pretty much a mug full of foamed up milky cooffee-d up goodness that we thought was quite good. While the presence of coffee was evident in the cup, it wasn't bitter, but quite strong.
Service
The Service at Baked Colombo followed suit with the rest of our experience at Baked. Warm, welcoming and quite friendly, the staff managed to get our food quite quickly and we had nothing to complain about. Plus, while they were friendly, they weren't overbearing.
Conclusion
We genuinely liked our experience at Baked Colombo. The space is beautiful and the food, especially the cheesecake, was simply brilliant. We highly recommend.