Isso

IssoPisso!

Isso made its debut into the dining scene not too long ago. They “broke the internet” on social media and people were obsessed with the place. We didn’t do an initial review at the start and decided to pop by for a quick prawn-crazy meal a few days ago. The dining space is cute, its small but manageable. They are take-out oriented, where your food is served in boxes, even when you dine in.

The food was great and so was the staff, but we have one major frustration, and that’s their use of plastic. At the end of my meal I was rather concerned with the plastic boxes we were going to leave behind. This is because I noticed that the family that dined in front of us, too ended up leaving the empty boxes for the waiter to clean up. I then approached the counter and asked the cashier if they had a waste disposal mechanism. To this, he very honestly (I’m glad that he was), responded that since they were a small entity, they do not have an in-house plastic disposal mechanism and, like the rest of the neighbourhood, they too would hand their trash over the Colombo Municipal Council trash collectors. I was also flabbergasted when I learnt that there are days where they throw over 100 plastic boxes into the trash. I spoke to the waiter but I knew that he could do nothing about it, so in attempts of reaching out to owner, I messaged them via Instagram (because their handle is quite active), but I have not received a response since.

Sorry Isso, we fell in love with your food, but not with your restaurant practices. 

​Drinks:

Peach and Raspberry Iced Tea  – LKR 300

The iced tea was a SOZO, Gourmet Iced Tea. It was the first time I’ve had this brand of iced tea, loved it!

Appetizers:

Springs Rolls – 2 Pcs: LKR 290 | 4 Pcs: LKR 490 | 8 Pcs: LKR 890

We loved the Spring Rolls so much! They were overwhelmingly crunchy and the tail that was sticking out was a great dipping-aide. It was accompanied with a dollop of sweet-chilli sauce that is always a great combo with prawns.

Pisso Vade – 2 Pcs: LKR 290 | 4 Pcs: LKR 490 | 8 Pcs: LKR 890

We were expecting your average ‘Galle Face Isso Vade but were surprised to see a beautifully fried prawn wrapped around in vade mix and placed over what seemed like a herb paste. We didn’t like the paste that accompanied the vade, but were quite fond of the vade itself.

Mains:

Before getting down into what we ate, let me explain how the process of choosing your meal works. It’s a 3-step process. Step 1: You choose the size of the prawns you want in your meal. They sell the large prawns at LKR 990, XL prawn size at LKR 1190 and XXL at LKR 1390. You can then process to choose how you want your prawn prepped. They have 6 styles on the menu, out of which we tried 3. Next is the carb you want as a side. Additionally, meal box comes with a salad on the side too.

The Local Favourite + Corn on the Cob

The Local Favourite is your Sri Lankan take on Hot Butter Cuttlefish. It was a handful of fresh prawn tossed in spices and onions and capsicums. The prawns were lightly fried and the corn on the cob was a great pick of a side.

Eastern Spice + Egg Fried Rice

So I basically asked the team behind the counter to do the pairings for me and they suggested that the Eastern Spice is best with their Egg Fried Rice. The Eastern Spice is Isso’s take on a Singapore Chili prawn curry. Its spicy, its tangy and it was my favourite.

Northern Twist + Roast Garlic Paan

The Northern Twist is a Jaffna Curry Prawn dish. In this case I was advised to stick to the Roast Garlic Paan. The prawn curry was quite flavourful, but unfortunately, it was a came off a little too strong. Another downside was the fact that the whole meal was accompanied with just one slice of roast paan.

The Italian Job – LKR 1190

The Italian Job is penne pasta with creamy prawns. It was a tomato and pesto based creamy sauce and a plenty of prawns were chucked into it.

Have you been to Isso yet? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?

Tip:The Eastern Spice with the Egg Fried Rice was the best we tried!