Shopping and eating – two of my favourite things!
The Gallery Café is an oasis in the busy city of Colombo in Sri Lanka. Situated within the former office of Sri Lanka’s renowned architect, Geoffrey Bawa, the Gallery Café is part restaurant, part boutique, part art gallery, part gift shop.
For shopping, there is an endless selection of artifacts of Sri Lankan style – metals, pottery, housewares, local crafts, home décor pieces, elegant shawls, unique glassware…it’s hard to choose, especially when suitcase space is limited. A “must do” when in Colombo.
The shopping is spectacular, but we found the café less so. While there is something on offer all day (from cafes and coffees to launch / dinner), we had dinner at the Gallery Café. The menu is predominately fusion – a seemingly creative mix of Indian, Asian and Western favourites.
Of course, since Paul is obsessed with pumpkin soup, he had to try the pumpkin soup with pesto and pumpkin crisps (495 LKR / S$6.12 / $4.30 USD). And for his entrée he chose the chicken breast with bacon and cream cheese filling and mashed potatoes and salad. (945 LKR / S$11.70 / $8.20 USD) Paul’s first choice, the pumpkin gnocchi with blue cheese sauce, was sadly not available. While the soup was good, the chicken was rather forgettable. The chicken was overcooked and tough and somehow the other items simply did not compensate.
This seemed to be a trend, because I wanted to order the carrot gnocchi with cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and mushroom cream sauce, but it too was sold out. So I instead ordered the parmesan crusted pork schnitzel on creamy fettucini with a Goan vindaloo sauce (985 LKR / S$11.70 / $8.20 USD). My dish might have been good, but it is hard to say since it took 1 hour to come out and arrived to me stone cold. Sigh…it’s just frustrating to not be able to et what you really want on a menu and then have the thing you do order come out in such a lackluster and disappointing fashion.
So while the shopping is a “must do”, we cannot say the same of the dining based on our experience. Maybe better to stick with coffee and tea, next time…
The Gallery Café
2 Alfred House Road
Colombo 3
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Telephone: +94 11 258 2162
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