Peppermint Cafe

Colombo, Dec 7 (@serial.eaters #Instagram)

So, we were really excited to check out Peppermint Cafe, not just because of the pretty pictures of the place & food, that we’ve been seeing on their Instagram feed, but also because friends who’d been there already seemed to either love it, or hate it, with no in-between. We don’t let opinions like that affect us though, so we knew we would have to check the place out first and see for ourselves.

For drinks, we got the Ice Coffee with Cinnamon, Blackcurrant Mojito, & Blue Curacao Mojito. The ice coffee was quite a hit, with the cinnamon flavor being on point & coming through really well & the drink, on the whole, being quite refreshing, but the mojitos were disappointing! They were definitely not worth 590+ bucks each. There was a tiny amount of flavored syrup at the bottom of the glass, and after that was stirred in, the drink just tasted like a fizzy lime drink – like a pretty average regular mojito.

Moving on to the food, all of which (as you can see) were quite pretty to look at, we were sort of split down the middle. All of us liked that the options were pretty great. There was a good variety of dishes to choose from, and some of us really liked the fact that a few were health-friendly, with even some Keto friendly options in there. We got the Hot Chili Cheese Fries, Spicy Prawns with Cheesy Pasta, Spicy Chicken with Cheesy Pasta, Garlic Chicken with Kang Kung & Avocado, & the Eggs with Grilled Sausages, Mushrooms, Spinach & Bread.

I love pasta and was really excited to try out the dishes we ordered, but for items that were described as “spicy” on the menu, both dishes were quite bland & flavorless. I’m not even that into spicy food, but even I needed something else to be added in. Even a little more salt in the pasta would’ve brought out some of its flavors! And if they’re described a certain way on the menu, we expect it to be that way! The dishes weren’t horrible though, and I truthfully wouldn’t be complaining if they were a bit cheaper. But for Rs.1100+.. I don’t think they were worth it.

The garlic chicken dish was probably the best out of the lot. The chicken was cooked well, and actually had some flavor, & the mushrooms were pretty delish. It was quite a hit with one of us who was trying to stick to a diet that day!

The egg dish was also quite okay. Nothing special about it, except for the mushrooms – which were the same as those on the garlic chicken dish. Everything else could have pretty much been made at home, by me (and I’m honestly not great in the kitchen at all!)

The chili fries kind of annoyed me. I really like fries, and order it pretty much anywhere I go, and while the base of the dish – the fries – were great (thick-cut, crispy, golden), the chili was a real let down! It was actually sweet, with sort of a tinned corned beef sorta taste (not a fan!), and after just one forkful of it, I couldn’t even bring myself to go back for another taste. Really wish I had just got the fries minus the chili – on their own, they were the bomb!

Now, we understand that taste is quite a personal thing, and that opinions do differ, but the above was pretty much the opinion everyone across the board had. If we’re going to pay that much, we expect the food to at least have some flavor!

Our experience here wasn’t all that bad though. The food was served quite quickly, the portions were generous, the service was great, and even though they only have an outdoor dining area (which is not the greatest idea for a place like Sri Lanka – cause it gets quite hot!), we really enjoyed the space & the atmosphere even though it was a hot day. They also had to charge ports all over, so if you want to chill there for a while & work, you won’t have to go looking for a place to charge your laptop or phone. And, we kind of really liked the slide. Yup, you read that right! What other restaurants in Sri Lanka, that you know of, has a slide?! How cool!

Would we go back? Probably. It wouldn’t be fair to them if we based it all on just one visit with a split-down-the-middle review. So we probably will go back and try out the other stuff on their menu. Here’s to hoping that they up their spice game!

Peppermint Cafe

No 76 Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 00700

-The above content is taken from @serial.eaters Instagram page and is not the original content of NewsIn.Asia.