ECHO

ECHO

Name of the restaurant: ECHO

Address : Angasana City Club and Spa, Colombo 3

Contac telephone number: 0112497485

Food type: Italian

Walk in / need to reserve: better reserve in advance especially on Wednesday

Cost per person around: SLR 2000-2500

His and her opinion

Review factsheet

His Ψ Her Ф 1 <5>

Criteria	1	2	3	4	5
Getting there			Ψ		Ф
Parking				Ψ Ф
Entrance and welcome			Ψ		Ф
Ambiance			Ψ	Ф
Table ,seating and cutlery				Ψ Ф
Menu				Ψ	Ф
Availability				Ψ	Ф
Drinks			Ψ	Ф
Starters				Ψ	Ф
Main course					Ψ Ф
Desserts				Ψ Ф
Presentation				Ψ	Ф
Price			Ψ	Ф
Service				Ψ Ф
A special surprise	Ф Ψ

Her:

The restaurant offers you a truly elegant, divine and a memorable fine dining experience. Friday evening, few friends got together to go for dinner with a friend who came back to Sri Lanka after spending her holiday in France।

The choice was echo and all agreed unanimously.

Sasha and I were the last to arrive; we were warmly greeted at the entrance and escorted to our table. The others were still deciding on what to drink as the wine list included few of the best wines you could ever get. For a moment, we were indecisive, but finally made up the mind to settle with a bottle of Pinot noir. The drinks list had a variety of choices and can be considered as one of the best drink menus in the city. The starters came next. I decided to have a Ruccula salad. They serve the salad in the right potion and grate the cheese on to your salad bowl on the table. Wow, a mouth watering experience. The main course for me was baked king fish with vegetable. The fish was fresh and tender and the presentation of the dish made your meal a great one. The fresh colours of the veggies were not faded and the veggies were nicely half boiled. Again grated parmesan gave a more colour and glamour to the meal.

As I was already full with the starter and the main course, I didn’t order a dessert but profited by having spoonfuls from others. The profiteroles were divine. NO OTHER WORDS.

Having a nice cappuccino at the end of the meal was the best way to finish such a nice dining experience.

I simply believe echo is one of the best dining experiences I have ever had.

His:

Undoubtedly echo is one of the most sought-after restaurants in Colombo especially on Wednesday when the buffet is on. The restaurant is comparatively new and the décor is quite pleasing and inviting with a separation between the smokers and non smokers (GOOD NEWS FOR ALL YOU SMOKERS). one gets a courteous welcome at the entrance. However the moment you sit down the service springs in to action, every 3 seconds waiters will quarry whether you want something to drink, as we were waiting for some friends to join we asked them to give us few minute but it did not stop them from repeatedly asking whether we want to order drinks, ironically after 4mins one waiter wanted to take away all the wine glasses on the table “ i told him; if you are having a shortage of wine glasses please go ahead but if not leave it” he took the glasses away, unfortunately for him he had to bring it back when we ordered wine. This was the most annoying aspect I came across in echo. But it was compensated by the Devine food.

I didn’t order a starter but savoured the serving of bread with olive oil, which was quite ok. I had several nibbles from my friend’s plates which was quite good. The Papardelle was magnificent (especially with parmesan) the dessert Tiramusu was excellent. All the food that was severed at our table was fabulous (I had bites from everyone AS USUAL ) ; the presentation the food was just FABOULUS.

The place can get a bit crowded cramped and noisy when there are many people (which happens mostly on Wednesday) sometimes this take away the experience of fine food which is similar to having a quick lunch at a small restaurant in the streets of
old Lyon (France of course)।

The price is towards the high side, but if you avoid taking wine it’s quite reasonable. I can definitely recommend echo for excellent Italian food in Colombo. But it all depends on your pallet.

Chutneys

Chutneys

Name of the restaurant: Chutneys

Address : Cinnamon Grand Colombo

Contac telephone number: (94) (11) 2497371

Food type: South Indian

Walk in / need to reserve: Since the place is new better reserve in advance especially on weekends

Cost per person around: SLR 1600-2200

His and her opinion

Review factsheet

His Ψ Her Ф 1<5

Criteria	1	2	3	4	5
Getting there			Ψ	Ф
Parking		Ф	Ψ
Entrance and welcome		Ф	Ψ
Ambiance		Ψ Ф
Table and seating and cutlery		Ψ	Ф
Menu			Ф	Ψ
Availability		Ф	Ψ
Drinks			Ф Ψ
Starters
Main course			Ψ	Ф
Desserts
Presentation	Ф Ψ
Price		Ψ	Ф
Service			Ф	x
A special surprise	Ф Ψ

Her:

It was a Friday night. I came home after a busy day at work and as usual was in a mood to go out for dinner. So along with a very close friend of ours - Julie, we decided to check out a new place, the latest South Indian restaurant in Colombo – Chutneys.

We were greeted at the entrance of the restaurant, all the tables inside were booked due the rainy evening, but we were happy to settle out door. It was a nice ambiance with slighted illuminated lighting and nice breeze. We were happy to be the only guests out door and enjoyed the tranquillity. We got the menu in a short while: the choice was not numerous. I settled with the mango juice, to be honest, the juice was excellent. I haven’t been to a south Indian restaurant from a while, but the menu seemed to me very familiar and nothing extraordinary. As there was not much of extravagance in the starter menu we decided to directly settle with the main course. The food was simply great, it was a define taste, the mutton curry, with soft pieces of mutton melting in the mouth, wow what en experience! The mutton was cooked in thick coconut gravy, for a change, a formidable taste. I enjoyed the green chicken curry. With the exact amount of spices the taste buds would require from south Asian food.

We enjoyed the food and were in a mood to have a kulfi ice cream. But unfortunately all the desserts we wanted was not available in house. Then we received our cheque, it was not unaffordable. Well in simple words, the food at Chutney, is value for money.

So if you find yourself in the mood for a good Indian spices, at a reasonable price you know where to go.

His:

The location was quite convenient since it was at Cinnamon (some time the road can be closed up for VIP movements) , but its hell to park when the hotels has other functions going on. As Luvini said we were stuck outside sine we did NOT MAKE a RESERVATION, anyways the environment and ambiance was quite modern, which is a unique twist from a typical South Indian restaurant with a welcoming service. The menu was quite impressive with an aerie of South India food from different states, but the drinks and dessert section was quite poor. However the Mango lassie was delectable.

The main courses were quite interesting and fabulous, but the portions were quite small for my liking this applies to the rotti sections too, and the food presentation was none existing but the food was delivered next to no time. The cutlery was plain stainless steel cups and plates which did not match the sophistication of the décor. Most of the desserts we ordered were not available which was definitely were a minus point. The dinks ranged from 150 to 200+ which I feel is quite ok and the main course around 600+ per dish which is a quite ok, even though the dishes were priced at reasonable level the small quantity was a definite drawback for me. Overall it was a pleasant dining experience!

Do share your opinions with us

http://srilankarestaurantcritics.blogspot.com