Kaema Sutra- Reviewed

A massive upgrade from your average saiwar kade

Right in the middle of Arcade Independence Square lies Dharshan Munidasa’s brain child, Kaema Sutra. Kaema Sutra introduced its take on contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine not too long ago and is more a tourist attraction for food than a local favourite. Loads of reviews on travel and food blogs online by foreigners suggested that this was a highlight of their trip.

I read through a couple of reviews before going to Kaema Sutra, and yes, the prices are at least ¾ times the average price you would pay for your typical Sri Lankan specialties like a hopper or kottu etc. But, if you are to judge the place solely by its price, then my friend, you’re making a massive mistake.

What we need to understand is that Kaema Sutra is actually a fine dining restaurant and I feel like the prices reflect it accurately. Although needless to say, as locals with a love for Sri Lankan cuisine, we weren’t necessarily impressed with their selection.

Ambience

A contemporary step up from your average saiwar kade. However, I personally did feel like the restaurant was too clustered and noisy (like a typical Sri Lankan ‘spot’). For the tourists, this is an accurate representation of our eateries. But as a fine dining restaurant, the ambience the place exhaled was not in line with what is usually expected of a luxury dining experience. It was both clustered and super noisy and we constantly felt like our privacy was interfered with. When we went to the restaurant at about 7.30, it was full to the brink, so don’t expect to find seating if you haven’t made a reservation. But we realized that at about 9, the crowd began to leave and the restaurant was quieter and more peaceful.

It’s pretty amazing that they have a miris gala right out in the middle of the seating area and the kitchen on full display towards the far end, but then if you are given a table closer to the kitchen like we were, be prepared to have your hair smell like kottu when you walk out. This was probably from the goat meat kottu we tried, but the smell and the fumes literally got tangled and wrapped up in my hair that I had to wash it before I hit the bed. It was atrocious.

Kaema Sutra is a giant leap for the Sri Lankan restaurant industry and has quite an authentic take on our food. It really isn’t as expensive as people exaggerate it to be, because they do deliver quality and taste. Their service though, we were not impressed with. The food reached our table pretty quickly but the attitudes and the speed of response of their waiters was greatly dissatisfactory.

Food and Drinks

Drinks: Small Island Iced Tea – Rs. 700

First of all, pretty smart title for the cocktail. And second of all, a drink you must absolutely have if you happen to go to Kaema Sutra. Their Small Island Iced Tea is made of arrack along with bit of some lime. There were lots of slices of lime floating around the drink and I feared that lime might overpower the cocktail, but it did not. It was the perfect mix and the arrack stayed a hero. 

Appetizers: Chicken Curry Salad with Egg – Rs.600, Godha Chips and a Sri Lankan Omelette- Rs.300

Our first pick was the Chicken Curry Salad with Egg, absolutely loved it. From what my taste palette and understanding of the dish, I think it was already cooked or seasoned in thunapaha and miris that was later shredded and added to the salad. The salad didn’t really have many greens. It was more on a local take on a Caesar salad with tons of lettuce topped with a half boiled egg. The chicken though, starred the whole dish and was perfectly tossed in Lankan spices.

The Godha chips were our next pick and consider this a warning, do not pick it, it will only ruin your night and your experience. The reason why I picked Godha chips was because it sounded pretty exciting. In a nutshell, its godhamba roti deep fried with chili powder tossed over it. It was too oily for my liking and I thought it tasted hopeless.

The Omelette on the other hand, was pretty big and filling. It was completely loaded with onions and spices and everything possible. It was also loaded with a few chunks of processed cheese, like Happy Cow. Again, another perfect representation of a Sri Lankan household meal but if you aren’t a fan of processed cheese, then you wouldn’t necessarily enjoy this Omelette.

Mains: Roast Paan – Rs.100, Boneless Chicken Leg Curry – Rs.700, “Two Egg” Hopper – Rs.200 and Goat meat string kottu (with cheese) – Rs.1600

Our mains were some pretty good choices. To start with, we paired some good roast paan with their one of nine curries, the boneless chicken leg curry. The roast paan at Rs.100 wasn’t necessarily any less impressive or different to one that you can get from your friendly neighborhood bakery.  

The chicken leg curry was absolutely delicious. It took its take on a Jaffna chicken curry because it was overloaded with thunapaha than chili powder and was super succulent and was definetly marinated well. It wasn’t the best choice for the roast paan or our next choice of the hopper because it lacked gravy. If I’m not wrong, I think you can ask for extra gravy as an add-on.

So the “Two Egg” hopper was pretty massive and was definitely enough for one person. There wasn’t anything new or different about it, but the fact that it was pretty massive stood out. Also, don’t expect to get some lunumiris or seeni sambol with the hopper, you need to order that separately too.

They do have quite a variety of kottus and you can fill your own MCQ like sheet with the exact requirements for your kottu. We thought of trying their goat meat idiyappa (string hopper) kottu and it did not let us down. The portion though was pretty small,  so just  one of that for 2 people might leave you going home hungry. Again, it was loaded with extras and the meat was very succulent but it wasn’t completely boneless. Time and time again I found these mini bones in my meat and I was not pleased with it. Since we also requested for extra cheese, again Happy-Cow-like processed cheese was tossed over our kottu. I didn’t really have a knack for it because the cheese was too lumpy and since it wasn’t melted, it was poorly spread.

That’s all we were able to try for the night, but we have heard that their What The Hopper in their dessert section is also a show stopper. We’ll definitely go back for that. Stay tuned!

Let us know what you think of Kaema Sutra in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?