Last week’s search for the finest Lamprais in Colombo took us to the VOC Café, Green Cabin and The Colombo Fort Café. It was no surprise that the VOC Café’s traditional Dutch Lamprais came on top with it having the most authentic flavour from the rice to the meats to the vegetables. In the second part of our search we ventured to three places namely Bars Café, Don Stanley’s and The Dutch Grocer. In terms of authenticity and flavour The Dutch Grocer was leagues ahead with Don Stanley’s coming in a close second not in terms of authenticity but because it was really tasty. However Bars Café was a sheer disappointment from its dry consistency to the absolute rude behaviour of their staff.

Chicken Lamprais - BARS Café (24, Deal Place, Colombo 03)

Price - Rs.420
Value for money - low
Taste - *
Variety - None
Overall - To start with, the lamprais was served warm but nothing tasted fresh. The rice was horribly bland, and the chicken lacked flavour. In all honesty, nothing in this lamprais tasted any good, and we were disappointed because food at this establishment is usually very good and tasty. But from a very recent experience with cheesecake, we are seriously beginning to doubt the standards of quality. And to top things off, the service was rather horrible. We had to keep walking to the counter to grab the attention of the manager/waiters.

Chicken Lamprais - Don’s Deli (53, Haig Road, Colombo 04)

Price - Rs.395
Value for money - average
Taste - ****
Variety - Don’s Deli also serves mixed meat lamprais priced at Rs.495 and a vegetable lamprais at Rs.325.
Overall - A rather delicious lamprais which we quite enjoyed. The rice could’ve used a bit more flavour but every accompaniment including the brinjal pahi, seeni sambol, fried ash plantains, frikkadel was exceptionally tasty and such a welcome change from the horrible experience at BARS Café.

Chicken Lamprais - The Dutch Grocer (178A, Stanley Thilakaratna Mawatha, Nugegoda)

Price - Rs.395
Value for money - high
Taste - *****
Variety - The Dutch Grocer sells a mixed meat lamprais at Rs.410, vegetable lamprais at Rs.380, chicken and pork lamprais at Rs.395 and a chicken lamprais at Rs.395.
Overall - Easily the best pick from the lot to end our lamprais round for this week. Digging our spoons into the rice, we found it to be incredibly flavourful and combined with the accompaniments, it was a truly delicious treat. After having heard numerous positive reviews about lamprais from The Dutch Grocer, we were quite glad to have picked them in our review. We were told that they will be opening a takeaway outlet on April 3rd at Kirula Road, while their kitchen and small dining area is located in Nugegoda.  

OUR PICK: The Dutch Grocer

By Natasha Fernandopulle and Sarah Kellapatha