Chips & Dips

A fry for every mood!

Situated on Visaka Road in Bambalapitiya, Chips & Dips is Colombo’s newest little eatery serving up some interesting dishes. It’s a little difficult to find at first but the cute minimalist interior and friendly service got them a great first impression. There are quite a few seating options in a fairly large space and they have a great playlist to chill out to! The menu at Chips & Dips consists of their signature chips served with various dips, burgers and hotdogs.

Drinks

Served in glass mason jars with steel straws, the drinks came in quite a good portion and were a great accompaniment for the food that was to follow.

Pineapple Juice – LKR 390
Quite pulpy, this juice was surprisingly sweet and quite refreshing. You don’t usually find pineapple juice being served in cafes in Colombo, but Chips & Dips does a good one, finding a balance between the sweetness and the bite of the pineapple fruit.

Lime Juice – LKR 300

Quite a satisfying glass of lime juice, this was a pretty big portion and was adequately sweetened. The cold drink was perfect for the warm Colombo weather.

Peach Iced Tea – LKR 400

The Iced Tea was surprisingly made using soda instead of water, which is an interesting twist to what Colombo usually offers. Served with just the right amount of sugar, chilled and fizzy, this concoction had us doing the happy dance!

The Chips

Their namesake chips and dips were served in two options – you can either get a portion of chips with a dipping sauce on the side of have a dish with a saucy topping. We tried one from each category.

Curry Mayo Chips – LKR 380

Served in a little cone-shaped holder was a portion of thick-cut fries and a curry mayo dipping sauce on the side. The portion was pretty decent for the price as the fries were chunky and filling but unfortunately, we found that the chips were too soggy for our liking. The sauce though was quite delicious, with notes of Western cuisine from the mayo and notes of Lankan cuisine from the curry flavouring, it was a fusion that would make anything taste much better.

Meaty Chicken Chips – LKR 450

From the toppings option, we opted for a meaty chicken chips that came with a portion of fries on a plate topped with steaming minced meat. The minced meat had a chili con carne preparation to it with, with the meat being drenched in a delicious sauce, thereby in turn making the chips absorb all of the yummy goodness!

The Burgers

From crumb fried fish burgers to mozzarella burgers, the burger range at this café is extensive. To feel our way around the menu and try out things all our readers may be interested in, we opted for two burgers on two far ends of the spectrum.

Vegan Veggie Burger – LKR 650

An interesting addition to a Colombo-based burger menu, we were curious about the execution of the vegan burger. Sandwiched between toasted sesame-seed buns were coleslaw, lettuce, tomato, and a crumb fried veggie patty. This was tasty but a little underwhelming as the patty mostly consisted of a samosa-like potato filling. It was also a task to eat – and not in a good way either. Our patty kept coming apart and the potato kept coming out the other wise of the bun – not the best dining experience, this one.

Buffalo Chicken Burger – LKR 650

The only word that comes to mind when eating the buffalo chicken burger is ‘tantalizing’. With loads of flavor and satisfying textures, this burger consisted of two well-sauced pieces of chicken, coleslaw, lettuce and tomato between two toasted buns. Now this isn’t a gentleman’s meal because it can get pretty messy – but it’s oh-so worth it!

The Hotdogs

Chips & Dips has a range of hotdogs ranging from a meaty chicken option to plain mozzarella, but their cheesy dog sounded the most appealing.

Cheesy Dog – LKR 550

The sausage in this hot dog tasted more boiled rather than fried, and we missed the bite of the sausage, but the bun was nice and toasted and the cheese had a very satisfying pull to it. In terms of flavour, there wasn’t a lot happening here, but we suppose it would suffice well for a foreign palate.

Dessert

Paradise Cake – LKR 450

The only option in their desserts section, the Paradise Cake, wasn’t our favorite. It was served in a jar and looked quite pretty but the flavours and textures just didn’t speak to us somehow. Though we were told it was supposed to be a cold cake, the cake was a little too dense for us and the cream-like icing a little too bland.

The service at Chips & Dips was a tad bit slow with food and drinks taking about 15 minutes to arrive at our table even though we were the only customers – but all in all it was a pretty solid experience. The staff were quite helpful and courteous and the dishes were delicious and would act as comfort food for any bad day. If you’re feeling like going to town on the calories, Chips and Dips is your place!

Tip: Don’t miss out on those meaty chicken chips!