Verified I tried very hard to love this place. I know I did. But... it just didn't end up impressing me as much as I wanted it to?
I can't tell whether the food is "authentic" since this is my first experience with Sri-Lankan food. Those who've read my other reviews will know that it is seldom my first priority anyway. Hence, I'll simply attempt to comment on the taste from a neutral perspective.
So I had the mixed kottu, a fish bun, a dalgona coffee and a curds dessert. Not the best flight, but I felt it was diverse enough for a try.
The mixed kottu on its own is pretty good. Spicy (in the "lots of spices" way), al dente, and delicious. I ordered it with cheese, though I didn't notice much cheese. It wasn't a big deal, though. It could've just blended in with all the hot meat and eggs. I did taste a certain creaminess to it.
However, when I was having this dish, a constant thought kept crossing my mind:
"Hold on. Isn't Pad Siew just this but better?"
Yeah. Having lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana for a long time - a place with a large Burmese population, lots of whom can cook a mean Pad Siew, it was hard for me to be impressed.
Maybe I just wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I did expect some new flavors and tasting what amounted to an imitation of Burmese-Thai cuisine of all things did disappoint me a little.
The fish bun and the dalgona felt pretty much the same. The fish bun has too much bun and too little fish, and the fish paste they used had a quite fibrous texture that made it feel more like pork floss than a piece of fish to my tender teeth. I guess "fibrous vaguely-fish-flavored curry bun" just didn't roll off the tongue too well. Meanwhile, the dalgona coffee looked a lot better than it tasted. It didn't taste *bad*, it just tasted like a Starbucks frappe.
The curds dessert, on the other hand, was easily the worst offender in my book. It didn't taste like much else besides yoghurt smothered in honey - a VERY SOUR yoghurt, at that. Again, I have no idea if this is supposed to be authentic, but every rendition of the Halloumi and Honey dish has been more enjoyable to me, while feeling quite similar.
My friend had a chicken yellow rice and complained that the chicken was a bit salty. I only had a bite of it, but I'm inclined to agree. The chicken meat itself didn't seem to be anything special, either. It was breaking apart like everything you get from Tyson.
Service is ok. Atmosphere is ok. Neither really stood out either way to me.
TL;DR Sri Lankan cuisine is quite curious. However, I don't think the place stands up very well on its own.
