It’s been a few weeks since we tried out a dessert on V Try - U Buy, so here is our recommendation for one of the better loved, yet lesser available desserts in Colombo.

Crème Brûlée is a hard caramel topped pudding that most people find irresistible, but as we learned in the course of our quest for it, is not available in most of the restaurants in town. Ideally, a very light dessert, this can be had after heavy lunches.

So as per our criteria, we were looking for a light, not overly sweet crème brûlée. Although it was traditionally served only in the vanilla flavour, the recipe has been tried out with several other flavours overtime, so we were checking out if the restaurant offered other variants as well.

After being torn apart between the one at Gallery Café and Park Street Mews trying to decide on the best one, we realized both had their unique appeals, and deserved to be called the best in their own right!

Read our ratings and comments below to find out why. Don’t forget to let us know where you like your crème brûlée best.

	Vanilla Crème Brûlée   The Dining Room, Cinnamon Lakeside (No.115, Sir Chittampalam A Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo 02)
Taste	* *
Price	Rs.400 + service charge and taxes
Value for money	Low
Variety	None
Overall	The crème brûlée comes very well presented with a dollop of whipped cream and chopped fruit drizzled in a tart berry sauce. However, when it came to taste, we were rather disappointed as it wasn’t even subtly sweet and much too gelatinous for our liking as opposed to the soft, creamy texture you’d expect in any crème brûlée. The caramelized top on the dessert was lazily replaced by some crystallized sugar. The service however was impeccable and attentive, even though we walked smack into the middle of a staff meeting at the restaurant.

	Crème Brûlée   The Gallery Café (No.02, Alfred House Road, Colombo 03)
Taste	* * * * *
Price	Rs.695 + service charge and taxes
Value for money	High
Variety	A jaggery crème brûlée is an alternative on the dessert menu and it’s priced at Rs.695 + service charge and taxes.
Overall	This, we declared was the perfect crème brûlée. Soft and melts on your tongue and just the right balance of sweet. The caramelized crust was slightly bitter in taste and cracked perfectly when we dug our spoons into the dessert. The portion was fairly large and can be easily shared between two people but since it’s a light dessert, you can even choose to indulge on your own.

	Crème Brûlée   Barefoot Garden Café (No.706, Galle Road, Colombo 03)
Taste	* * * *
Price	Rs.500 + service charge and taxes
Value for money	Average
Variety	None
Overall	This tasted just like a comforting dessert whipped up by your mum or grandma. It was soft, creamy and struck the right balance between sweet and subtle. The portion was quite large and came garnished with a cherry.

	Trio of Apple Desserts - Crème Brûlée, Ice Cream and Crumble   Park Street Mews (No.50/1, Park Street, Colombo 02)
Taste	* * * * *
Price	Rs.400 + service charge and taxes
Value for money	High
Variety	None
Overall	This wasn’t your average vanilla crème brûlée, as it included little pieces of apples in the creamy dessert - a rather welcome change to the regular crème brûlée we’d been eating for the review. A strong vanilla flavour penetrated the dessert and biting into the softened pieces of apple combined with the creamy dessert was absolutely delicious. Despite the dish including two other desserts, we’d come back just for the crème brûlée.

Our Pick: Gallery Café and Park Street Mews 

If the restaurant has a chain of outlets, the rating here is specific to the mentioned outlet. V Try – U Buy is not a connoisseur’s report, but is designed for the common man’s benefit. 

By Nivedha Jeyaseelan and Sarah Kellapatha