New restaurants in Hong Kong: Hotal Colombo – a taste of Sri Lanka that will live long in the memory
- Affordable prices, friendly staff and perfect food that included chicken kothu, which was a delicious mess, and the best bone marrow dish ever
- A different beer was even brought from a nearby sister restaurant, because one guest did not like the ones on the list
I cannot remember when my friends and I ate with such joyful abandon as at our recent meal at Hotal Colombo.
It’s partly the price point (about HK$170 per person without drinks and the service charge, although we were comp’d a few things since they recognised me and my friends), which meant we could order close to half of the menu to share between four of us, but it was mostly due to the food (fantastic) and atmosphere – the Black Sheep Group hire great, friendly staff who are thoughtful and proactive (one went to get another type of beer from a nearby sister restaurant, because my guest did not like the ones on the list).
The menu is quite brief: just 14 dishes, not including snacks, side dishes, and chutneys and sambols, we ordered six of them; there wasn’t anything we disliked.
String hoppers (HK$58), served with kiri hodi (coconut gravy) that we spooned over the long strands (which look very similar to Chinese rice noodles), was light and fragrant, and the spicy pol sambol served on the side was so good we ordered it as a side dish (HK$18).
Two plump steamed idli (HK$38) came swimming in another aromatic gravy flavoured with mustard seeds and topped with coconut cream. We pulled apart the triangular-shaped masala dosa (HK$58) with our hands and dipped the pieces in the bowl of sambar that was served on the side.
