Open Time:
11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m.What we had
Mains
by Anuki Premachandra.
Multi-cuisine adventures by the sea
Barracuda had been around for so long and has made their name as one of the most chilled-out hangout spots in Colombo. A great restaurant by the side of the Dehiwala beach, adorned with massive mangroves and great company, Barracuda gets a cross-section of customers ranging from families to your usual office crowd to guys that just come to chill and have a great time.
Ambience
Prices are in the mid-range and they offer three different types of cuisines – Chinese, Thai and their around-the-world menu, Sizzlers. It’s BYOB too and that’s why it’s usually packed to the brim on a Friday night.
A dimly lit setting curtained with massive beach mangroves and vines, they’ve got an adjoining restaurant – Sizzlers run by the same management as well. You can actually order off the Sizzlers menu even at Barracuda. It’s the perfect place for a party or a family gathering. They’ve got a great space for outdoor parties and a new indoor space as well. It’s the perfect Sri Lankan summer vibe beach side hangout I’ve been to in Colombo.
In terms of their service, we weren’t a 100% satisfied, but this was our only let down. The waiters were cordial, they showed us to our seats and made it a practice to ask us how our food was after every meal. However, in terms of their response rate and friendliness we thought they lacked greatly.
They’ve got some good music- a live band in action. Could improve on the vocalists, cause we felt like some of the songs weren’t done justice, but it’s good vibes overall.
Food and Drinks
They’ve got a 3 part menu. If you’re feeling Chinese, Thai or Western, they’ve got you covered. They have a Lankan take on their menu as well. We made sure we tried one of all 3 courses.
Drinks: Gummy Bear – Rs.375, Frozen Fruit Slushy – Rs.400 and Pink Lemonade Rs. 375
Gummy bear, as delightful as the name, was a delight to sip. It was a mixture of lemonade and lime that worked well together, although we did feel that the lime overpowered the drink to some extent.
The Frozen fruit slushy is your ultimate by-the-beach power-drink on a hot sunny day. The menu promised that the drink was frozen lychee, but for me it tasted more mango than lychee. But whatever it was, I loved it.
The pink lemonade was by far our favourite. This drink should have been called gummy bear and not the former. The pink lemonade tasted like a frozen jelly drink and was fun to try.
They don’t serve cocktails or alcohol, so don’t forget to BYOB.
Appetizers: Sizzlers: Chilli Cheese Toast – Rs. 360, Thai: Prawn Cake – Rs. 678 and Chinese: Prawn Salad Rolls – Rs. 658
Their chilli cheese toast did justice to the expectations of a perfect cheese toast. It was crispy, it was cheesy and it was the right amount of spice. Now generally, when you say chilli toast, you assume there will be a whole dump of chilli flakes on the toast. Barracuda had a surprise in store, instead of chilli flakes, they have thinly sliced green chilies. I never knew what a great combo green chilies and mozzarella were until I had their cheese toast.
Their prawn cakes were super crispy so that box was ticked. It was golden brown and wasn’t too oily like your traditional prawn cakes. But the only downside to this was the fact that the meat was a bit too dry.
Let’s get down to our favourite. The prawn salad rolls. It was super yummy and something I would definitely recommend. It’s pretty much a prawn salad and a bunch of mayo chucked into a spring roll, fried till golden brown and served with some good sweet chilli sauce. The salad and the mayo worked so well together, I’d definitely go back for more.
Mains: Sizzlers: Grilled Breast of Chicken – Rs. 1200, Thai: Thai Basil Pork Fried Rice – Rs. 648 and Chinese: Deep Fried Garupa in Hot Garlic Sauce – Rs. 248 (100 g), Hot Butter Cuttlefish – Rs.648, Vermicelli Chicken Noodles – Rs.548 and Pak Choy with Black Mushroom – Rs 528.
In all honesty, the only reason why we wanted to try out the Grilled Breast of Chicken was cause it was called ‘Grilled Breast of Chicken’ and not Grilled Chicken Breast 😛 It was a sizzling dish, with mashed potato and some veggies. It wasn’t typically a favourite – we thought the meat was overcooked and hence, too dry. But the sauces and the juice on the meat was to die for.
Our option of rice was the Thai basil pork fried rice. Overall, it want entirely all that great because of the overwhelming herb taste in the rice. But the beef was tender and well cooked. Although we would have liked this dish separately, it paired well together with our other curries.
The rest of our dishes were from their Chinese menu and we particularly liked their Chinese dishes over the rest. The deep fried garupa was amazing. The fish was super fresh and the spices had infused into the meat and bounded well with the hot garlic sauce it sat on. We had a whole fish to ourselves and enjoyed it to the last bite.
We knew we had to try out their hot butter cuttlefish only because we’ve heard so much about it. It was everything we thought it would be. It was super crispy and it was the right amount of salty and spicy. The texture of the fried cuttlefish struck accord with the crispiness of it. It was so good, it kept you wanting for more.
Next, we thought we’d pair the curries with some good vermicelli chicken noodles. Definitely preferred the noodles over the rice. The sauces were combined well and it was your average Lankan Chinese chicken noodles- but hey, we aren’t complaining.
And our last choice was a vegetable dish, again off their Chinese menu. I think we enjoyed these bad boys the most. The black mushrooms were super tender and juicy. The sauce was basic but was a thick one and worked well with the rest of our choices.
Dessert: Lychee with Ice Cream – Rs. 338 and Caramel Pudding – Rs.248
The desserts didn’t wow us necessarily. If you aren’t in the mood for ice cream and want just the lychees, you can have it at Rs.100 less. The caramel again, was pretty basic. The sugar was caramelized well, wasn’t too burnt nor was it too sweet. I think it’s safe to say that we did enjoy our choice in the desserts.
Let us know what you think of Barracuda in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?
