Coco Veranda Coffee House Colombo - Restaurant in Colombo Sri Lanka

You Should Coco


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Paying more than LKR 200 for coffee at a coffee shop seems insane to me. For a few (hundred) rupees more, you can drink a beer on the Galle Face terrace. Given this choice, I’d always go for the more drunken option.

So, when Coco Verandah opened up on Ward Place about half a km from Odel, I thought it just another addition to the multitude of coffee shops with vaguely interesting names, lookalike ambience and average food.

We were passing by on a weekday, though, and we were hungry. Hungry enough that we couldn’t last all the way to Odel. So we dropped in and, avoiding the coffee, ordered the burgers and a sandwich instead.

Best Burger of 2008 at Gardenia Cafe, Holiday Inn - Fast food in Colombo Sri Lanka

The year has been a tumultuous one. Lehman Brothers and Danduwam Mudalali, failed in different ways. Asantha De Mel left his office, poppin' his zero cost collar and blaming everyone else.

Yet us Sri Lankans continue caring for nothing other than what's for dinner (heta marunath...). But in our precarious economic times, we have cut back, eating it as cheaply as we can. Maybe the paang has less maalu, maybe the sambol has less pol. But we cannot give it up completely for then the economic terrorists would have won.

For our personal stand against indigence and gloom, we go to the Gardenia Coffee Shop at the Holiday Inn hotel in Colombo. Coffee shops in posh hotels are really good places to eat cheap and this is no exception. It is fairly nicely done in with banquettes to sit on and the pool to look at. The only objectionable elements are the menu and table mats, cheaply printed and laminated as if at a greasy diner.

Five Stars on the Cheap at Taprobane Coffee Shop Cinnamon Grand - Restaurant Review Colombo Sri Lanka

In my previous existence in New York City, we used to go to the most upscale restaurants and see how we could come out with the lowest bill. We used to call this game 'Being Broke.' Or 'Being Poor.'

Here in Sri Lanka, the way to do this is to go into a posh hotel and eat at the coffee shop of said hotel. Taprobane Coffee Shop at the Cinnamon Grand is such a place - I discovered it after a heavy night out (this was before I got married and started falling asleep at 10pm) The ambience is really nice - the view is better than most hotel coffee shops except for the Hilton - and the menu is extensive and cheap.

The Burgers of Sri Lanka (BARS Cafe Colombo Sri Lanka)

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We've been passing BARS quite often as it's right on Duplication Rd though the address is 24 Deal Place. The ambience is promising with the option of outside dining, overlooking the splendor of Duplication Rd. The other thing in its favour is the music: cool, chill, soothing and groovy music that complements the upscale roadside vibe of the restaurant.