It has indeed been a while since any of us have had a chance to step inside any of the fine dining spots in Colombo. Since working from home became a staple in the Lankan corporate lifestyle, it has become increasingly easy to find some time to indulge in a few fine foods with very few ways of doing so, given the ongoing situation. Taj Samudra has come up with exactly what we’ve been craving, with a new and improved way of enjoying our favourite fine foods; all in the comfort of our own homes.

The Service 
Not only do the good folk at Taj Samudra aim to deliver these treats to your doorstep, but they also do it with a touch of class. The food itself is made and packaged in-house by the hotel’s F&B staff and safely delivered to you in one of their very own hotel cars. I don’t mean just any car - I mean a Mercedes Benz. Small things that add to the experience. The delivery folk are incredibly friendly and adhere to all Covid-19 guidelines in relation to food delivery, so you have nothing to stress about, and the service was incredibly prompt!

The Menu
Having been spoilt for choice with what to order, I ended up with a larger-than-life order from The Golden Dragon; one of the four restaurants included in the menu. The Golden Dragon focuses primarily on Chinese cuisine particularly Szechuan style dishes. I have tried out a few dishes from The Golden Dragon before and it was nice to get a chance to revisit a few of these dishes and try out a few more. 

For appetizers, the Vegetable Spring Rolls were light and slightly sweet. Not entirely filling and a good start to a hefty meal. I also had the chance to try out the Deep Fried Chicken Wontons - chicken-filled deep-fried crisps with a crunchy texture and a slightly creamy filling. While the Honey Chilli Winglets are technically an appetizer, the wings are actually pretty big so I decided to have it with the rest of the dishes. The wings were incredibly flavourful and the portion was considerably huge. The Egg Fried Rice with golden garlic was purely aromatic with a fresh whiff of garlic and fluffy texture which was a perfect base to pair with the rest of the dishes. As was the Stir-Fried Vegetable Hakka Noodles - although the Hakka Noodles would be the better choice for someone with a palate for spice.

The delivery also came with three vegetarian main dishes; Five Treasure Vegetables in white garlic, Long Beans cooked with Dry Chilli and Broccoli & Mushroom in Garlic Soya Sauce. The Five Treasure veggies had the lighter, almost chop suey like texture while the Beans, Broccoli and Mushrooms had darker, earthier tones to them. With regards to spice, the Szechuan Chicken with dry chilli really added heat to the plate. It wasn’t overbearingly spicy, which was great. If you’re leaning into the seafood side of things, I highly recommend you try out their Sweet and Sour Fish with Pepper and Pineapple or their Hot Butter Cuttlefish. The portion of cuttlefish was decent and the slices of fish were cooked perfectly. 

For Dessert, I tried out Date pudding with Toffee Sauce and coming from someone who isn’t one to indulge in anything related to Dates, the dish was amazing and I absolutely loved it. I recommend you try it out for yourself!
The service that these wonderful folk are providing not only covers The Golden Dragon but three other restaurants! Ports of Call, Navratna Indian Restaurant and Yumi Japanese Resto Bar - Taj Samudra’s premier fine dining spots are all on board to serve you their most delicious dishes. The prices are Rs. 800/- nett and upwards and you can contact the hotel and place your order or reach them through their email at [email protected] 

Hats off to Taj Samudra’s Executive Chef Samila Kumarasinghe and his team for putting these dishes together and most importantly coming up with this concept for all of us at home!

text Vihan Wickramasurendra