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A place has a lot of value when it has meaning. When it carries meaning it means it carries a lot of sentiments. Sentiments mean stories. Brown Sugar together with Isle Amore is one such place with a lot of stories. Nestled cosily in Col. T. G. Jayawardena Mawatha, Colombo 03 are the 2 brands of food and stories- Brown Sugar by day (8 am-5 pm) and Isle Amore by night (6 pm-12 pm). After a hot long working day, visiting Brown Sugar and being greeted by a soothingly cool Watermelon Mojito presented by the warmly smiling Director Diara Wickremesinghe really made my day. With the promise that the food will further revive it, Diara begins to relate the stories of Brown Sugar and Isle Amore.

Brown Sugar café and dessert bar

Rooting from the little wish of a 10-year-old girl who baked and sold cookies to buy her mom a flip phone (which she did),  Diara relates how the discovery of her passion for baking gave her the stepping stone to start a home baking business at the age of 15. Pink Salt located in Mount Lavinia, Dehiwala was her 1st successful endeavour, paving the way to establishing her second, 2 years later under the name Brown Sugar café and dessert bar. Serving a comprehensive brunch menu from 8 am-5 pm and a beverage + dessert menu from 8 am - 11 pm, Brown Sugar is one cosy and comforting place you might want to spend a morning at. Available in its coffee range alone is a ‘Brewscape menu’ offering Expressos to Lattes to Cappuccino etc, primarily made out of Damn Fine Coffee Beans. Beverages also include smoothies, mocktails, milkshakes and fruit juices.

The brunch menu offered in 2 categories (sweet and savoury) covers a delectable variety including bowls of curd topped with fruits, nuts and kithul treacle, Nutella waffles, ‘Eggs Offered Anyway’-poached scrambled boiled etc., ‘Grilled 4 cheese dishes’, fries, shrimp tacos, sandwiches, mac n cheese and salads. Adding to this is the scrumptious dessert menu exploring many freshly baked treats including creme brulee, tres leches, doughnuts, bread pudding, Affogato and baked cheesecakes. The cafe also offers a pre-order menu with a 1 day's notice for cakes covering classic cakes, cakes topped with vanilla, chocolate, and dark chocolate mint, coffee ganaches, passion fruit - strawberry compote, Victorian sponge cake topped with ganache or fruit, and Tres Leches.

What we tried at Brown Sugar...

We were offered to try the Shrimp Tacos and the Beef Biriya Sandwich. The Shrimp Taco has its backstory rooted in main chef Sanjana Sugathadasa’s attempt at a Bao filling.  Therefore the dish was actually innovated at home!  Served in 3 flour crisp tortilla shells are batter-fried shrimp, avocado salsa, and pickled onions topped with an in-house made signature taco sauce. We found the Shrimp Tacos garnished well, with its colourful appeal and healthy vibe. The Beef Biriya Sandwich is served together with the broth where the grazed beef in the filling has been slow-cooked. The tradition here is to dip the sandwich with beef-cheese filling into the broth and take your bite. This dish certainly brought a personalised feeling to me for the succulent and tender beef engulfed in heavy thick gravy reminded me of how my own mother cooks it. Although the dish was originally rooted in Mexican birria, the aroma propelled by coriander leaves and local spices gave the sentiment of Sri Lankan cooking. Next, we tried the “Explosions” of Brown Sugar, i.e. the Nutella & Smores Doughnut and Custard Creme Brulee. Naming them as 2 of the fastest sellers, Diara reveals the interesting backstory for both the sweet treats. Way before Brown Sugar happened, a spat with her boyfriend (now finance and Co-Director) led her to the idea of a perfect apology through a doughnut bouquet.  

Posting it online, the bouquet “blew up” bringing orders even up to 10 bouquets a week. This resulted in months of practice to perfect the dough ratio of yeast : salt: water in the doughnut. More focus is always on the dough, Diara says. Served with a generous spread of Nutella, sprinkled with crushed Marie biscuits, topped with in-house made marshmallows and then blowtorched to sight, the doughnut did speak the story of hard work to me. An extra stockpile of cream during the Christmas holidays with her family visiting her from Australia gives Diara the opportunity to come up with the extra creamy, not-too-sweet Custard Creme Brulee. This recipe is what the cafe sticks with to this day.

Isle Amore  means - love for our island

Isle Amore which takes over Brown Sugar every evening is defined as a pizzeria, but still offers a carefully curated vibrant blend of Italian classics interwoven with “little snippets of  Sri Lanka”.

Tracing back to countless pizza dates which pushed a decision to invest in a Uni-Pizza-Oven provided the stepping stone for Isle Amore. Love for Italian cuisine and love for the island does show on the menu at the restaurant. Comprising starters, crust dippers, lasagna, pasta, both ‘Authentic and Island’ pizza, ravioli and “Wood Fire Wings” (chicken wings cooked in the wood-fired oven), Isle Amore is one place you should visit if you are on the lookout for Italian cuisine.

We tried the Chutney Chicken Pizza and the Chillie Jaggery Beef pizza, both of which belong to the Island pizza category. The pizza with its crust dough fermented for 48 hours follows the Neapolitan style of pizza, not displaying an overfilled topping. The Chutney Chicken Pizza inspired by the mango chutney dish Diara’s mother (which she lovingly refers to as Brown Sugar Mama) made during her childhood serves a delicious pie, not too savoury and not too sweet. The chutney and chicken combo integrates really well leaving enough room for diners to personalise their hot-spice levels.

The inspiration for the Chillie Jaggery Beef pizza roots back to Diara’s culinary school assignment, where she had to signify earth with food elements. Kithul Jaggery signifying the earth of Sri Lanka, with the Chillie Beef is quite a clever combo for it coordinates well elevating it as a spicy-sweet dish.

Interior

Paintings of “Brown Skinned Women” adorn the walls at Brown Sugar, symbolising resilient women in the industry aspiring to walk a journey. The target is to endorse more than 50% of females in the overall team. The “co-working rooms” or private dining areas, allow customers to utilise it as a quiet working space or study area.  A 5000 LKR flat rate is charged for reservations. The venue overall is capable of hosting 60-70 packs at a time and offers BYOB arrangements.

What to look for?

Open mic nights, pop-up markets, and quiz nights are lined up for the year at the venue. All the fun events are posted online for all the “Brown Sugar Babes” out there!

text Nuzla Rizkiya

PHOTOS BY Samantha Perera