Fifty floors above ground is a strange altitude for dinner yet this is the setting Charcoal Tandoor Fire Grill has given itself, perched on the 50 th floor of Capital Twin Peaks on Staple Street, some 600 feet above the city with 360-degree views of Colombo where rush hour traffic ends up being scenery. It offers one of the best arguments for an early dinner, arrive in time for the sunset and stay late for a good meal and company.

Charcoal Tandoor Fire Grill is Colombo’s newest entrant to fine dining. The restaurant is the South Asian debut of Bangkok-based Soho Hospitality, opened late March of this year, through a local partnership with entertainment figures Bathiya and Santhush and other investors. It labels itself as ‘fun’ fine-dining with the ambition of offering fine dining without all the posturing.

The concept of Charcoal Tandoor Fire Grill dates back to centuries-old Indian culinary traditions. The restaurant’s tandoor chefs come from Lucknow, the old capital of Awadhi cooking, where the techniques of marination and charcoal cooking are not something learnt overnight, but something that’s more of an inheritance, passed down from generation to generation the secrets of the perfect spice blend and the craft and form of grilling.

The menu at Charcoal is built around this, drawing on the historic spice route and Mughlai and Persian influences and every dish is a story of layered spice works, slow cooking and skilled tandoor techniques.

On any day, the copper ovens at the kitchen of Charcoal are working overtime because the kebabs make the clearest case for what Charcoal stands for.

The Lahori Seekh Kebab is a freshly minced lamb kebab mixed with a secret spice blend, charcoal grilled to a firm, smoky exterior with a soft interior and served with chopped pineapple, lime curd and cream cheese dressing.

The Kakori and Galouti kebabs are very much the same dish told two ways, both tracing back to an Awadh legend about an aging Nawab who loved mutton but could no longer chew through the tougher cuts and a loyal royal chef who spent months creating a kebab so delicate it melts in your mouth at first bite. Sure enough, the dish arrives soft enough to spread across on a crispy roti paratha like a pâté. It’s a dish for people who like their meat on the gentler, tender side but if you want texture and resistance from your meat, look elsewhere on the menu for this doesn’t offer any.

The Sikandar Ki Raan, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, is a whole leg of lamb supposedly first roasted to celebrate the conquest of north-west India by Alexander the Great and has since become a celebratory dish of royal Indian cuisine. At Charcoal, the whole leg of lamb is braised for several hours until the meat falls off the bone, then finished in the tandoor for a crisp exterior and served with melted butter and chaat masala poured over at the table.

The Murgh Angaar is the meal’s quiet achiever as a chicken dish but its uniquness is that it undergoes a double-marination. The first to tenderise the meat and second a cooked marinade of onion juice, mace and spices to build flavour before being grilled.

But not everything on the grill needed meat to make its case. The Malai Broccoli is by no means a signature of Charcoal but we are told it is a dish no one leaves without trying. Grilled florets of broccoli tossed in a cream cheese and cardamon marination was one of the best dishes on the table and a strong option whether you came for the meat or not.

If one opts for the biriyani and breads, the Dal Charcoal, prepared over two days where black and white lentils are soaked for 24 hours and slow-cooked for a further 24 hours before butter and cream are folded in at the end, is a perfect accompaniment along with the Shahi Jhingha Curry made of jumbo prawns cooked in a coconut cream and seafood stock base with the distinct flavour of curry leaf.

And even though the mains are rich and filling, there is always a little room for dessert, particularly the Rasmalai Milk Cake which is the kitchen’s take on the classic tres leches with a saffron milk cake and cream cheese, poured over with rabdi with notes of cardamom and rose. A light, airy dessert that’s perfect for a heavy meal.

Overall, Charcoal Tandoor Fire Grill offers both the view and the works. The tandoor dishes carry the weight of techniques that has been passed through for generations and the restaurant delivers on the concept of ‘fun’ in fine dining with a relaxed room that serves up some serious food.
Charcoal Tandoor Fire Grill is open for  dinner service from 6 to 11pm. Reservations are available via the website - https://charcoalbkk.com/charcoal-sri-lanka