Jun 03 2015.
views 975Who doesn’t love a hearty Sri Lankanized Chinese meal, promising the familiar flavours from the Drum? Buttery seafood fried rice, crispy hot butter cuttlefish with flecks of red chillie, stir fried green beans in a garlic sauce, and sweet and sour chicken. These dishes make for a great meal, and you can be assured of that at Red Orchids, which happens to be one of Colombo’s newer entrants into the ever growing list of Sri Lankan Chinese restaurants.
Located down Castle Lane in Bambalapitiya, the renovated two-storey house converted into a restaurant has been up and running since early April this year, serving popular favourites to its patrons for lunch and dinner. Interestingly, the staff and kitchen team at Red Orchids used to work at the Drum so you can be assured that you can find all your favourite dishes here, in case you were missing the fare. The menu consists of a wide variety of soups, appetizers, rice and noodle dishes, in addition to chicken, beef, pork and seafood dishes. Customer favourites include deep fried prawn balls accompanied by a sweet chillie sauce, sesame prawn toast, spare ribs (pork), and dumplings (chicken, fish, pork).
Sampling a few dishes off the menu for lunch, I found the seafood fried rice quite buttery and nice with soft grains of basmati rice combined with diced carrots, spring onions, prawns, fish and cuttlefish. The chicken with cashew nuts was cooked in a light soy sauce, with soft pieces of chicken going very well with the crunch of the cashew nuts and fresh veggies. The crispy batter fried fish in a sweet and hot sauce went pretty well with the seafood fried rice, and I thought it was great even on its own – as a starter perhaps. Special mention goes to the hot butter cuttlefish laced with chillie, the stir-fried green beans and mushrooms in a garlic sauce, and the sizzling bean curd in a hot garlic sauce – all three of which were my favourites from the menu. HBC is a firm staple at every Sri Lankan Chinese meal, else your meal simply isn’t complete, so best you order this when you visit Red Orchids.
Customers can pick from ice cream, fruit salad or lychees (can be served with ice cream) for dessert. Fresh fruit juices and soft drinks are available to accompany your meal. The restaurant consists of three dining areas – one on the ground floor in addition to a private room, and two on the first floor, one of which is indoors with a private room, and the outdoor dining area which overlooks the Indian Ocean, just perfect for winding down in the evening.
Red Orchids also delivers to surrounding areas for free (Colombo 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07), with a minimum order for Rs.1000, and they charge a nominal fee for delivering to other parts of Colombo and its suburbs.
Red Orchids is located at 35, Castle Lane, Colombo 04. For delivery and other inquiries, please call on (011) 2555058/9.
Text and photographs by Sarah Kellapatha
0 Comments
K. Goonetilleke says:
Jun 24, 2015 at 12:00 amIt is sad that the daily mirror publishes anything that is given. Why would one want to go to this restaurant just because some "Drum" discards have been employed there when the real Drum is just a call away? Amazing what people do to make a fast buck!