Positioned at Upatissa Mawatha, Ceylon City Hotel (CCH), an up and coming hotel in the industry, overlooks a blue ocean nibbling at the lengthy shoreline of Bambalapitiya if not for the concrete jungle rising its thick head almost everywhere. Whether it be the pleasure of a multi-cuisine experience or simply lounging over fresh drinks, the tradition of dining at CCH is very special.
Ambiance and Service
Flamingo, the hotel’s main restaurant is renowned for its innovative and thoughtfully ranged cuisine accessible by both; guests and outsiders. Even though CCH has shown their deftness pertaining to location choice gummy with the city’s hustle and bustle, when we step in, my partner remarks at how slightly ‘tacky’ the place is, given the colour scheme used to fill the interior starting from the lobby lacking aesthetic dignity or are we missing something? Then again, this kind of incredulity is wiped off the moment we realise the staff here are warm and wonderful with marked politeness - ushering us for a lunch menu in the absence of music.
Drinks
Virgin Mojito is our pick for the day from their cocktail segment and there’s nothing to regret about it. It’s a festival for the senses with the mint leaves and crushed ice seeping through nicely above the soda infusion. They also have a wide range of fresh juices and as we try the papaya juice, a smooth texture with each slurp is exactly what we were looking for.
The Food
First of all, CCH’s culinary vision is so wide and wild that they refuse to reduce to anything singular or specific but are busy boasting a marriage of Sri Lankan, Singaporean, Italian, Arabic, Chinese as well as Western cuisines.
That said, we approach the crisp spring rolls for appetizer hoping it’s not overly spicy and thankfully it isn’t a cry for help either. Neatly stuffed and golden like slabs of butter on the surface, the fillings are all about chicken, carrots, cabbages, onion and perfection, if you will.
Priced at LKR 800, the Seafood Pasta wins our love at first try no doubt. I’m far from wanting to fork through a sunny plate of pasta this afternoon however, to ignore the plumply cut chunks of cuttlefish and prawns smothered in thick cream would be a crime. Let’s not forget how mushy the brown onion soup is. Triangular shaped cheesy bread pieces are floating around thin reeds of fried onions and if undercooked, the acidity would have failed to quell my sombre mood in the beginning.
Slowly then, we tear away from our Italian indulgence and move to give the Nasi Goreng a shot accompanied by Tom Yum soup (LKR 650). Of this, the sautéed chicken dipped in peanut butter seemed very puzzling not lucid. Apart from the poor execution in terms of balance, what this dish needs is more love and less ambition. The kind that could strike some sense over its strangeness and keep a conversation going without wounding the palate. More so, the condiments in the rice are thrown in large quantities which we thought unnecessary.
Their Mexican Rice at LKR 650, on the contrary, works like a charm though. Smack with flavours, it is more levelled even if the spices were intense. The same is felt when we discover there’s plenty to love about the crispy chicken thigh piece. Extra juicy and tender, its efforts to satisfy us is much more broader than the chicken portion in the Mongolian Rice at LKR 600. A little tough on the inside and in dire need of salt, it does what is less than expected with the exception of a few merry pineapple cubes found here and there sugaring our woes at times. But here’s the thing; the cream of chicken soup comes with a zesty flavoured sensation we can't simply let go.
Overall
Listed recently as the Best Budget Hotel South Asia along with other prestigious accolades to boot, Ceylon City Hotel offers its diners an all-embracing cooking style set against the Colombo sun streaming through their windows in abundance.
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Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ceyloncityhotel.com
Tel: +94 11 2 50 8000
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