To say that my gastronomical experience at The Scarlet Room was utterly delicious would be nothing but a pure understatement.

The restaurant situated on the first floor of Colombo Courtyard, comes out with a new menu this week placing focus on Italian fare, alongside select European delights and Asian fusion dishes in addition to sandwiches, burgers and a selection of beverages.  

Starters

To kick things off, I am served delicate rolls of Norwegian smoked salmon stuffed with cream cheese, chopped shrimp and celery mousse, which is light and packed with the delicate flavour of smoked salmon coupled with the mild flavour of cream cheese.

This starter is enough for two to share or you will get filled up fast. Other starters include bruschetta, mixed starters and pan seared lagoon prawns.

(On the menu, Italian dishes include an English translation at the bottom, so this dish is actually called Rotolo Di Salmone Affumicato Con Formaggio Fuso E Polpa Di Gamberi E Sedano, which translates to Cold Roll of Smoked Salmon).

Salads and Soups

The Scarlet Room menu features a wide range of salads and soups to start your meal. Choose from a Nicoise salad, Caesar salad, mixed greens salad, roasted chicken salad or a salad with boiled, fresh Tasmanian salmon cubes.

The soup menu is vast and includes favourites such as cream of chicken, tomato, pumpkin or vegetable in addition to asparagus and salmon, vegetable minestrone, and a mussel soup.

Freshly Made Pastas

For my main course, I was served potato gnocchi cooked in a creamy pumpkin sauce with lagoon prawns and coriander leaves. The gnocchi was soft and the pumpkin sauce was mildly flavoured with delicate hints of pumpkin, and paired with the prawns, this Italian dish was excellent. Other pasta dishes include ravioli, tortellini, pappardelle pasta, spaghetti carbonara, penne pesto, crab and zucchini tagliatelle, linguine with lobster to name a few.

Main Dishes - Meat and Seafood

Next came the honey glazed spring chicken roulade, which is chicken breast stuffed with cheddar cheese and vegetables grilled and honey glazed. The dish includes grilled potatoes and buttered vegetables. The roulade is a combination of flavours, beautifully executed and an absolute winner.

Also on the main dishes menu is lamb chops, sliced beef fillet, beef tenderloin, grilled chicken, mixed meat grill and pork chops. Grilled jumbo prawns, grilled fresh salmon, red mullet fillet, salmon and modha medallions make up part of the seafood mains menu.

Other Mains

Also included in the menu is mutton biryani, chicken biryani, chicken tikka masala and naan, nasi goreng, and the Thai baked kurumba with red prawn curry and herbs. A range of paninis, sandwiches and burgers are also included for a light meal.

Desserts

The restaurant does more than justice to its desserts especially the triple layer of cashew nut chocolate, peanut butter and raspberry ice creams, which is two blocks of triple-layered homemade ice cream. Delving my spoon into the dessert was just bliss, as you discover the vast difference in flavour in each layer of ice cream but beautifully paired. A definite must try.

Other desserts include the passion fruit cheesecake, blueberry cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, courtyard golden cake with raspberry mousse and orange ice cream, vanilla panna cotta, warm brownies, cheese and honey pancakes, and ice cream in vanilla, raspberry, orange and chocolate.

The Scarlet Room is located at Colombo Courtyard at No.32, Alfred House Avenue, Colombo 03. It is open everyday from 6.30AM-10AM (breakfast), 12PM-3PM (lunch), and 7PM-11PM (dinner).

By Sarah Kellapatha

Pics courtesy Colombo Courtyard