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The Dining Room, Paradise Tintagel Hotel Colombo: What Could Have Been.
The Dining Room, 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 dessert, 2 cocktails, 2 bottled waters SLR17,700 (incl. service charge & taxes) (US$98, €89, £76). 65 Rosmead Pl, Colombo 00700, Sri Lanka. +94114602060. http://www.paradiseroadhotels.com/tintagel/
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
The Dining Room: Who Is Coming Here?
Written by EatGoSee
You are likely reading this because you are staying in the Colombo Tintagel deciding whether to go out or simply go downstairs. I understand this dilemma and let’s talk you through it because it’s an important decision. I also stayed at the Colombo Tintagel so I too know this fork in the road.
The sheer existence of this review strongly suggests that I chose The Dining Room. I came here for my one and only night in Colombo. I curated a list of ‘must go’ restaurants in Colombo which is my usual habit before going on a trip. Recommendations poured in from people who came before me.
Yet the dark hand of travel fatigue muted our desire to explore. The simple on-site options of the excellent Red Bar for an aperitif before sauntering over to The Dining Room was all too alluring.
The Dining Room’s moody modern decor featuring local modern artists makes for high-brow conversation before and between courses. Lastly, the gracious service in a cosy, slender, dimly-lit dining room makes for a romantic evening. Oh wait there is one more thing, you could also slip back to The Red Bar for a digestif before slipping upstairs to bed afterwards. You do not need to think about taxis, rain or other such logistics of going out. Staying in is effortlessly convenient.
You are likely reading this because you are staying in the Colombo Tintagel deciding whether to go out or simply go downstairs. I understand this dilemma and let’s talk you through it because it’s an important decision. I also stayed at the Colombo Tintagel so I too know this fork in the road.
The sheer existence of this review strongly suggests that I chose The Dining Room. I came here for my one and only night in Colombo. I curated a list of ‘must go’ restaurants in Colombo which is my usual habit before going on a trip. Recommendations poured in from people who came before me.
Yet the dark hand of travel fatigue muted our desire to explore. The simple on-site options of the excellent Red Bar for an aperitif before sauntering over to The Dining Room was all too alluring.
The Dining Room’s moody modern decor featuring local modern artists makes for high-brow conversation before and between courses. Lastly, the gracious service in a cosy, slender, dimly-lit dining room makes for a romantic evening. Oh wait there is one more thing, you could also slip back to The Red Bar for a digestif before slipping upstairs to bed afterwards. You do not need to think about taxis, rain or other such logistics of going out. Staying in is effortlessly convenient.
The Dining Room: So should you stay in or go out?
At this point, you may have stopped reading and called the front desk for a table (even though reservations are not needed at all). Yet you should carefully consider two things before going further. Firstly, Colombo quietly harbours a number of reputable restaurants so the opportunity cost is high. Secondly, the observant among you would have noticed: I did not say anything about the food. Ah, why isn’t he heaping praise about the food? It is this last point that I urge you to keep reading.
If you do not know what you want then the menu has you covered. The Dining Room will provide you with Italian, Malay, mixed European, seafood, Indian and grilled meats. The menu acquiesced into the trap that snares many a hotel with international clientele: just give everyone a bit of everything. The options read like a greatest hits including a mushroom ravioli with truffle and burrata (SLR2575), seared scallops wrapped in back bacon on cauliflower purée (SLR4450), pan-fried salmon with (more) cauliflower purée (SLR2845) and grilled tandoori chicken (SLR1675).
My eyebrows furrow when I read 73 items on the menu (excluding side dishes) with an impressive 28 being just the dessert options! Curiously, only two dishes actually claim to be Sri Lankan. The first of the Sri Lankan dish duo appears after the starters and salads halfway down the second page. Does The Dining Room decisively reject local food? Does the kitchen assume that visiting foreigners want little to nothing of local dishes? Stunned. Do visiting foreigners only want the reassuring embrace of the spinach lasagna (SLR1495)? Maybe the kitchen acquiesced knowing that its guests are eating outside the hotel anyway so here are 78 perfunctory dishes curiously weighted towards desserts.
The Dining Room’s Menu
If you do not know what you want then the menu has you covered. The Dining Room will provide you with Italian, Malay, mixed European, seafood, Indian and grilled meats. The menu acquiesced into the trap that snares many a hotel with international clientele: just give everyone a bit of everything. The options read like a greatest hits including a mushroom ravioli with truffle and burrata (SLR2575), seared scallops wrapped in back bacon on cauliflower purée (SLR4450), pan-fried salmon with (more) cauliflower purée (SLR2845) and grilled tandoori chicken (SLR1675).
My eyebrows furrow when I read 73 items on the menu (excluding side dishes) with an impressive 28 being just the dessert options! Curiously, only two dishes actually claim to be Sri Lankan. The first of the Sri Lankan dish duo appears after the starters and salads halfway down the second page. Does The Dining Room decisively reject local food? Does the kitchen assume that visiting foreigners want little to nothing of local dishes? Stunned. Do visiting foreigners only want the reassuring embrace of the spinach lasagna (SLR1495)? Maybe the kitchen acquiesced knowing that its guests are eating outside the hotel anyway so here are 78 perfunctory dishes curiously weighted towards desserts.
This is not a destination restaurant which is a forehead-slapping missed trick by the (boutique) hotel management.
The Dining Room's Food
Our orders of baked button mushrooms (SLR1395, $8, €7, £6) and the spicy Sri Lankan mud crab soup (SLR1095, $6, €5, £5) arrive swiftly. I want to acknowledge how strange it is that I am ordering (and that a restaurant offers) baked button mushrooms in a Sri Lankan hotel in 2019.
The Sri Lankan mud crab soup is warming moreishness, thick with a sweet seafood broth made of unctuous coconut milk brightened by lime leaves. It is a lobster bisque in technique but Sri Lankan in design. They should batch cook this in jars and sell it on the street; it is that good. Minor quibble: it could be spicier but amping the spice may risk overpowering the crab. So maybe the kitchen should offer guests spice-level options ranging from hum and purr to nuclear fallout, as preferred.
Mrs EatGoSee enjoyed the baked button mushrooms with creamy feta and the crunch of walnuts. The button mushrooms arrive enveloped in back bacon but, alas, the bacon is not cooked sufficiently. The fat is not rendered fully enough she spends much of the dish surgically removing veins of fat. Longer cooking would make this unnecessary and, of course, result in crispy bacon which to closer to godliness than cleanliness.
Our pan-fried barramundi (SLR2075, ) and pan-fried pink salmon (SLR2845) tapped in with lightly fast exchange with our starters leaving. I would ask the waiter how he did that but a magician never reveals his secrets.
The pan-fried barramundi’s golden crispy skin is crunchy and protects a thick fillet of juicy fish. It is well seasoned and the side salad of leaves jewelled with popping pomegranate seeds makes a light dinner. It is, however, a dinner usually seen in cooking magazines (or Pinterest) under the titles (or hashtags) ‘midweek’ and ‘healthy’. It is enjoyable without being overjoyed. The lemongrass ‘mousse’ is closer to a whipped butter that dissolves instantly into the barramundi’s pan-fried crevices. The concept is there but this would go better with my imaginary rib-eye above. I suggest they use a gremolata of lemongrass which is a little more in keeping with the Mediterranean vibe.
Mrs EatGoSee enjoys her salmon and offers me a few bites (for she is generous). The fish is cooked medium (as it should) and the cauliflower purée is a classic pairing which we also eat at home.
Two courses and travel fatigue left us with little interest in a dessert. That was until I saw cinnamon jaggery ice cream (SLR825). Sri Lanka is known for its cinnamon and jaggery is concentrate palm sugar sap (or other sources). The subtle sweet cinnamon ice cream leaves fudgy chunks of jaggery. It is the least complicated dessert (of the 28 listed, more on this later) but enjoyable nonetheless. Sometimes less is more.
I am unlikely to come back to The Dining Room unless the menu is changed significantly. This is for a few reasons but there are two scenarios: firstly I am a guest at the wonderful Colombo Tintagel or, I am staying elsewhere.
If I stay at the Colombo Tintagel, I would take the opportunity to venture out into the city for dinner. I would not return to The Dining Room if I was not a guest at the hotel because neither the menu nor the food is strong enough to justify travelling through Colombo traffic. This is not a destination restaurant which is a forehead-slapping missed trick by the (boutique) hotel management.
Championing local food is about more than just eating. I want to take time out as a message to hotel restaurants. I am a seasoned traveller for both work and personal. I boarded close to two dozen international flights by the end of 2019. My carbon footprint is horrific and, worse, nothing fits my size. I spend more time in a hotel room than I care to admit so my first glimpse into local cuisine in the hotel restaurant.
Maybe restaurants think people want familiarity over novelty. Sure, sometimes people do not want to sift through words they cannot pronounce only to find themselves mining Wikipedia for ingredients they do not know. I have been there and I have the Google search results to prove it. A capable waiter will shepherd you through a menu with acumen and finesse.
There are low impact solutions to this if a kitchen cared and just put the effort to have:
A local tasting menu
A local three-course fixed price menu
A handful of featured seasonal dishes
A specials board
Chefs signature dishes, all regional
A sample platter of local dishes
A waiter passionate about you going home with a dining experience from the place which you dared to visit
I concede there may need to be a balance. You can keep steak and chips on the menu. I too love the barbaric ritual destruction of a rib-eye grilled and generously salted. Yet, my other courses can give me that local moment. Just one moment to experience something real about where I am because – chances are – this is probably the only opportunity I will get to experience an authentic local moment.
The Dining Room is housed inside of one of Sri Lanka and Colombo’s most historically significant buildings. It was the home to its fourth prime minister later assassinated. His widow was the world’s first female prime minister. Their daughter was Sri Lanka’s first female president. This location is dripping with Sri Lankan history. I am going to take a leaping guess that most of the kitchen are Sri Lankan born. Yet, The Dining Room offers fleeting insights into Sri Lanka’s kitchen table despite the rich history of its location and the obvious collective insights of its kitchen staff. The Dining Room dropped the ball here big time.
The Sri Lankan mud crab soup is warming moreishness, thick with a sweet seafood broth made of unctuous coconut milk brightened by lime leaves. It is a lobster bisque in technique but Sri Lankan in design. They should batch cook this in jars and sell it on the street; it is that good. Minor quibble: it could be spicier but amping the spice may risk overpowering the crab. So maybe the kitchen should offer guests spice-level options ranging from hum and purr to nuclear fallout, as preferred.
Mrs EatGoSee enjoyed the baked button mushrooms with creamy feta and the crunch of walnuts. The button mushrooms arrive enveloped in back bacon but, alas, the bacon is not cooked sufficiently. The fat is not rendered fully enough she spends much of the dish surgically removing veins of fat. Longer cooking would make this unnecessary and, of course, result in crispy bacon which to closer to godliness than cleanliness.
Main courses
Our pan-fried barramundi (SLR2075, ) and pan-fried pink salmon (SLR2845) tapped in with lightly fast exchange with our starters leaving. I would ask the waiter how he did that but a magician never reveals his secrets.
The pan-fried barramundi’s golden crispy skin is crunchy and protects a thick fillet of juicy fish. It is well seasoned and the side salad of leaves jewelled with popping pomegranate seeds makes a light dinner. It is, however, a dinner usually seen in cooking magazines (or Pinterest) under the titles (or hashtags) ‘midweek’ and ‘healthy’. It is enjoyable without being overjoyed. The lemongrass ‘mousse’ is closer to a whipped butter that dissolves instantly into the barramundi’s pan-fried crevices. The concept is there but this would go better with my imaginary rib-eye above. I suggest they use a gremolata of lemongrass which is a little more in keeping with the Mediterranean vibe.
Mrs EatGoSee enjoys her salmon and offers me a few bites (for she is generous). The fish is cooked medium (as it should) and the cauliflower purée is a classic pairing which we also eat at home.
Dessert
Two courses and travel fatigue left us with little interest in a dessert. That was until I saw cinnamon jaggery ice cream (SLR825). Sri Lanka is known for its cinnamon and jaggery is concentrate palm sugar sap (or other sources). The subtle sweet cinnamon ice cream leaves fudgy chunks of jaggery. It is the least complicated dessert (of the 28 listed, more on this later) but enjoyable nonetheless. Sometimes less is more.
Would I Return to The Dining Room?
I am unlikely to come back to The Dining Room unless the menu is changed significantly. This is for a few reasons but there are two scenarios: firstly I am a guest at the wonderful Colombo Tintagel or, I am staying elsewhere.
If I stay at the Colombo Tintagel, I would take the opportunity to venture out into the city for dinner. I would not return to The Dining Room if I was not a guest at the hotel because neither the menu nor the food is strong enough to justify travelling through Colombo traffic. This is not a destination restaurant which is a forehead-slapping missed trick by the (boutique) hotel management.
Why The Dining Room (and hotel restaurants) must invest more in championing local food
Championing local food is about more than just eating. I want to take time out as a message to hotel restaurants. I am a seasoned traveller for both work and personal. I boarded close to two dozen international flights by the end of 2019. My carbon footprint is horrific and, worse, nothing fits my size. I spend more time in a hotel room than I care to admit so my first glimpse into local cuisine in the hotel restaurant.
Maybe restaurants think people want familiarity over novelty. Sure, sometimes people do not want to sift through words they cannot pronounce only to find themselves mining Wikipedia for ingredients they do not know. I have been there and I have the Google search results to prove it. A capable waiter will shepherd you through a menu with acumen and finesse.
Offering local food isn’t hard
There are low impact solutions to this if a kitchen cared and just put the effort to have:
A local tasting menu
A local three-course fixed price menu
A handful of featured seasonal dishes
A specials board
Chefs signature dishes, all regional
A sample platter of local dishes
A waiter passionate about you going home with a dining experience from the place which you dared to visit
I concede there may need to be a balance. You can keep steak and chips on the menu. I too love the barbaric ritual destruction of a rib-eye grilled and generously salted. Yet, my other courses can give me that local moment. Just one moment to experience something real about where I am because – chances are – this is probably the only opportunity I will get to experience an authentic local moment.
The Dining Room is housed inside of one of Sri Lanka and Colombo’s most historically significant buildings. It was the home to its fourth prime minister later assassinated. His widow was the world’s first female prime minister. Their daughter was Sri Lanka’s first female president. This location is dripping with Sri Lankan history. I am going to take a leaping guess that most of the kitchen are Sri Lankan born. Yet, The Dining Room offers fleeting insights into Sri Lanka’s kitchen table despite the rich history of its location and the obvious collective insights of its kitchen staff. The Dining Room dropped the ball here big time.
Why bring this up now?
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