41 Sugar is not just about the trendy atmosphere, the food’s amazing too

Walking into 41 Sugar, your first impression would be that it is a nice place for drinks from the soft lighting to the amazing band playing inside the lounge area, and just the setting, that of a trendy bar type atmosphere. The fact that they would serve delicious food wouldn’t necessarily cross your mind, however, they do have a wide variety of tapas, mains and even desserts to choose from.

Overlooking the CCC Grounds, 41 Sugar is located where the former Lemon restaurant was down Maitland Crescent and the building is also home to Floor By O! and Silk, giving you a number of options to choose from within the course of the night. If you choose to have dinner outside the view is pretty stunning and it is lovely to see Colombo just go by while you indulge in some delicious food.

MSD Production is the company behind 41 Sugar and the abbreviation stands for Maxwell (Gehan Fernando), Shane Ismail and Dinesh Weerasinghe. Gehan and Dinesh run the show here while Shane resides in the UK. Sugar Bistro at Crescat is also another restaurant venture under these guys while a branch of Sugar Bistro will be opening soon at the Old Dutch Hospital in the Galle Fort.

“The atmosphere at 41 Sugar is more formal than at Sugar Bistro and the food is a reflection of that,” Dinesh explains adding that what they are going for is a supper club kind of atmosphere.  He also stresses on the fact that they stick to one recipe therefore ensuring that at least 99% of the time consistency is maintained. The band currently playing at 41 Sugar has been flown in from South Africa and will be playing there till the end of this month and Dinesh explains that 41 Sugar will continue to showcase foreign bands.

41 Sugar started operations in November last year with their official launch being in December 2013. Something that really excited me about the menu was that they serve Churros which I last indulged in years ago in Los Angeles – so I was quite eager to try it out! They have a compact and varied menu in terms of styles of cooking and mine started with the Lamb Bolognaise Spring Rolls with Mint Aioli. This crunchy, savoury and tart starter was simply delightful. The Californian Mixed Salad which followed was like summer in a bowl and my little bowl of summer was filled with crunchy peppers, juicy chunks of pineapple, tangy sweet orange and the velvety texture of black olives, crunchy freshly chopped onions and lettuce served with a wonderfully refreshing mustard vinaigrette.

We ordered two mains and I simply could not agree on which was better as they were both full of flavour and pleasing to the eye. We opted for the Grilled Barbeque Tenderloin of Pork served with Garlic Mash and Glazed Beans as well as the Grilled Fillet of Norwegian Salmon with Ginger Glaze served with Wasabi Mash and Sautéed Beans.  The pork was tender and delicious while the salmon with that Japanese edge – wasabi and pickled ginger was amazing on the taste buds.

For dessert we were served Layered Dark and White Chocolate Truffle Cake with Chocolate Sauce and Home Made Mexican Churros with Tequila infused Chocolate and Berry Dippings and the latter was definitely the winner. The crunchy, airy churros dipped in chocolate and berry dips was in a word, heavenly!

Address: 41 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7
Hours of operation:  6pm to 1am on weekdays and till 2am during the weekends. The kitchen stays open till closing time
Note: Reservations are encouraged especially during the weekends

Ratings:

Variety of food: 5 stars
Value for money: 5 stars
Cleanliness: 5 stars
Friendly staff: 5 stars
Parking: 4 stars
Toilets: 3 stars

By Natasha Fernandopulle
Pix by Kanishke Ganewatte