2016 Jun 30
by Anuki Premachandra
Sipping’ to the Colombo Skyline.
One of Colombo’s few roof top bars that really does justice to its name. It really is like sitting atop a royal splendor of the Kingsbury and its stately grandeur. One of the contemporary luxury bars in Colombo that’s got a view to kill for.
The Kingsbury Sky Lounge offers a premium range of cocktails and tapas, carefully prepared dishes that are well beyond our expectations.
Ambience
It is one of the hippest bars in Colombo because of its architecture and vibe. With blue beadings around its glass balconies and dim light on the table tops, from the minute you still at your table, you know you’re in for a classy yet fanciful experience.
It’s literally one of Colombo’s only and one of its finest rooftop bars and The Sky Lounge stands well apart from the rest because of the finesse the place brings. The Kingsbury Colombo, as we know it, houses the English traditional architecture with grand gestures like roses and a both interior and exterior that’s got the royal ring to it. The Sky Lounge strays a bit off the architecture we see everywhere else in the hotel. It’s got contemporary lighting and a set up that screams both party and style.
You can opt for either their high bar stools or the lower table ones both made of outdoor fibre. The view is absolutely astonishing. It is the perfect place for a date or to come to spend some time with your friends. On one side you see the Colombo skyline and onto the other, our glorious harbor in full operation at any time of day.
Here’s a point that’ll grasp your interest, they’ve got two happy hours on the clock! After a long day at work, you can score yourself a happy hour from 5.30 to 6.30 p.m. or their late night one from 11.30 –12.30 p.m. The Sky Lounge is open from sunset to sunrise everyday. You can watch the beautiful sunset while sipping away to a Cosmopolitan while enjoying live music from Thursdays to Saturday.
In terms of service, we were not entirely happy with the experience we had. The food took a little too long to arrive. The drinks however, were brought to us as and when we ordered it but the food took a lot longer than anticipated. The staff, although friendly is not as efficient as we’d expected them to be.
Food and Drinks
When you’re at the Sky Lounge, you’re on for an experience that will keep you coming back for more. If you want a lighter buzz, then their Martinis are absolutely recommended.
We tried The Kingsbury and the Dot Bikini both at Rs.1200.
The Kingsbury, is a combination of Vodka with fresh strawberries and cranberry juice. It’s a very-berry sort of martini and one that tastes more like a Mocktail than an actual cocktail.
The Dot Bikini on the other hand, was a mix of Vodka with passion fruit. It had both a syrupy taste to it along with passion seeds and a pulp. Again, a much lighter buzz and perfect for the first drink to start off with.
Next we decided to try their signature cocktails and went ahead with a King Coconut Refresher, a Gladiator, a Kings Aloe Vera Melon Fizz and a Kings Flower Crush. The price range went from Rs.1200 to Rs.1600 and then to Rs. 1500 and all four were very strong combinations.
The King Coconut Refresher was packed with lots and lots of mint but was yet a strong combination of raspberry vodka with mint, strawberries and king coconut water. Like the name suggests, it does refreshes and really acts as a cleansing cocktail with all the mint and its mix with coconut water.
The Gladiator was not as much a refresher as a solid Jack Daniels cocktail. If you’re not into very strong flavors of alcohol in your mouth, then The Gladiator is a no, but if you really want to feel the buzz, this is a drink you should definitely go for.
The Kings Aloe Vera Melon Fizz was a little too strong like The Gladiator and had an infusion of vodka with aloe Vera syrup and mint.
The Kings Flower Crush was one of my personal favorites with vodka and an elder flower syrup. It had both the stronger flavors mixed with ones with a lighter buzz.
The food was definitely something to talk about. We decided to order a Chicken Caesar salad at Rs.800 along with Steak fries and spicy potato wedges with a spicy dip at Rs.650 as a side.
The Caesar salad is something I would definitely go back for more. It was literally only some baby lettuce tossed with some croutons, I found some pieces of anchovy here and there, with tons and tons of Parmesan with a cheesy mayo-like dressing. It was definitely a show stopper and the kind of dish that would want you to lick every inch of the bowl once you’re done. It was topped with a few slices of chicken. Loved it!
The steak fries and the potato wedges were also an interesting take. I felt like it was a good combo with the salad because the fries and the wedges incorporated the spice and fat the salad obviously didn’t have. The fries did taste a bit meaty and both the fries and the wedges had generous amounts of spice in them.
They also have an interesting sandwich menu that ranges between Rs. 600 – Rs. 1300. When asked what is usually the most ordered sandwich of them all, the waiter recommended the ABLT at Rs.620.
The ALBT is an interesting mix of avocado, flying bacon, farm lettuce, tomato, fried egg with house aioli and spicy mayo. It really is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a long time because the combination of flavors really cut through one another. With every bite you take you can taste the bacon and the avocado and the eggs. It really does justice to the expectations we had for it. The other sandwiches are also very interesting combinations, with the Happy Burger at Rs. 900 going in with branch ranch beef or bird farm chicken or the Rock Star Bagel at Rs.680 with Smoked Alaskan Salmon.
What caught out glance next was the Sri Lankan Sky Favorites. From Jaffna Mutton curry to Fried Sprats, this menu has it all. These next few dishes qualify as mains and not bigger portions of tapas like the earlier few.
We decided to try the Tempered Jaffna Dry Mutton Pot at Rs. 1300. The mutton curry was served with a dun-thel rice. What I can tell you is that it tasted very similar to our homemade yellow rice. A good similarity. The mutton curry was spot on. The flavors were really absorbed into the meat and it was cooked to the right texture. Neither was it too dry or too soft. Although we only ordered the mutton pot, our heart was with each and every dish the Sri Lankan Sky Favorites listed. They’ve got an interesting Sri Lankan Spicy Bite Platter that contains a mix of filled capsicum with tuna cutlets and vegetable samosa with a yogurt sauce, or, their Down South Special Hot Butter Cuttlefish and Prawns served with ghee rice.
We also decided to try their Lamb chop, tender chicken and Beef tenderloin at Rs. 2700 from their Hot Rock Grill. The entrance and the presentation of the dish was a show stopper. The dish was accompanied with stir-fried veggies and a generous amount of mashed potato with lamb jus and a garlic oyster sauce. The Lamb chop was the best out of the three and in case you were wondering, yes, this is one dish that serves all three meat items. The Lamb Chops were juicy and very succulent although we don’t have the same to say about the chicken or the beef. The chicken was a tad bit too dry and so was the beef. The mashed potato is to die for. As a fan of mashed potato, this was so far one of the best kind I’ve tasted in the country. Hands down, it was both the right amount of texture and taste. The lamb jus and the garlic oyster sauce really complemented the meat and was a created a show stopping dish altogether.
The Kingsbury Sky Lounge is definitely someplace you would want to keep going to over and over again. If you’re lucky, you would catch the sunset at about 5.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. but if not, you’re always in for a better treat. As the night gets darker and the sky shines with all its glory, the Sky Lounge gives you a roof top chic bar experience no other bar in Colombo offers. The beautiful Colombo Skyline makes you feel like you have a bird’s eye view of the beautiful city and you feel closer to the stars with a every sip you take.
