The Commons Coffee House Introduces Garden Dining

Fancy a hopper stuffed with creamy tandoori chicken? Or warm pittu soaked in kiri hodi, with a serving of peppery beef curry on the side, stuffed pol rotis with potato and chicken?

It’s been a few weeks since Commons introduced a new menu filled to the brim with delicious Sri Lankan dinner favourites made with a twist by Chef Prasad, Assistant Chef Christian and their team, who take care of the garden dining, a newly introduced dining concept, where customers can sit outdoors in the garden courtyard and watch the chefs work their magic on the side.

The garden dining menu features stuffed or topped hoppers with egg and seeni sambol, tandoori chicken, masala prawn curry, masala crab curry, or even milk and jaggery hoppers. The menu also includes godamba rotis, freshly steamed pittu (savoury, kurakkan or plain), and string hoppers which can be accompanied by a choice of curries such as ambul thiyal, mutton, chicken, beef or prawn. Stuffed pol rotis with cheese and seeni sambol, crab masala curry, prawn masala curry, and beef and potato are definitely worth trying out.

Delving into a selection of items spread out for a tasting, I quite enjoyed the topped egg hoppers with tandoori chicken – a famed dinnertime favourite best eaten with some killer lunu miris, this variant with a creamy and mildly spicy curry is excellent. Coming to a close second would be the ‘anam manam’ kottu, whipped up hot and steaming on a plate and this includes a variety of ingredients such as prawn, chicken and beef and slathered with cheese and a spicy tomato-based sauce. The mix of flavours will ensure that you keep reaching for seconds. Portions are generous and can easily be shared between two people, or better yet, order a few different items and accompaniments.

A meal is best paired with a fresh fruit juice or some iced tea, and no meal is complete without stuffing yourself with dessert, from the dessert cupboard, usually found with pots of chocolate mousse, warm cheesecake with a tart blueberry topping, warm brownie (served with ice cream), and slices of cake standing on its shelves.

This menu is available only after 6pm, and is available everyday. The Commons is located at 39A, Flower Road, Colombo 07, and is open from 8.30am-12am from Sunday to Thursday, and 8.30am-2am on Friday and Saturday.

By Sarah Kellapatha