Botanik is quite an enjoyable place to hang and have some good food, catch up with a friend, pleasantly whiling away, the decorations embellishing the place, giving off a very cosy vibe.
News reached us of their new lunch deal. And in pleasurable anticipation, we made our way to Botanik and reached there at the nick of time, just before the clock struck three. The lunch deal is available only from 12 pm to 3 pm on weekdays, so do make sure you're punctual if you want to try it out.
The Food
At Botanik, Thursdays are for beef, and we love having beef (as a meal of course) so opted for a Beef Rice (Rs. 800) and a Fish Rice (Rs. 750).
The food was brought to us in bowls, the components separated, and we were given the freedom of choosing the amount of food we served and to which capacity, instead of the usual plate of rice that has been served.
The bowl of rice looked so good. Served in an oriental-ish plate, the rice looked perfect, and it sure as hell was. I felt like they'd added a tiny bit of ghee to the rice, and it sure did do the trick.
They had a variety of curries prepared using the local Sri Lankan method including some crispy fried ash plantain, gotukola that you would love despite it being green, fresh, slightly oily papadam, amazing lime-pickle achcharu that added that extra zest, dhal prepared in a paste-ish way and a spicy mushroom curry.
The beef curry they presented was top notch. It was well done, was as soft as cotton, our spoon slicing through it like a hot knife through butter, but it still managed to have that slight signature toughness intact. The curry in itself was spicy and thick, quite well favoured.
The fish had been fried in a batter, that gave the fish that extra crispy taste, but we felt like the coating overpowered the taste of the actual fish, and the coating was half as thick or as thick as the chunks of fish. Nevertheless, it was devoured in minutes.
The Homemade Ginger Beer (Rs. 350) available at Botanik was in a class of its own. With tiny, yet biteable chunks of ginger, mint and lime in the drink, it was quite refreshing.
The Coco-nut (Rs. 600), a concoction of coconut water, dates and almonds, was exquisite and delicious. Considering its ingredients, it was also quite heavy and the tiny fragments of ground dates and almonds were the nail in the coffin.
As for the dessert we had the Dark Chocolate Nut Pie (Rs. 700). The nutty flavour overpowered the slightly bitter dark chocolate taste we were expecting, but the ice-cream, which they had made using their own recipe, which had its own texture, and the pie went along perfectly.
Conclusion
You would not want to miss out on this deal. Simply delicious food and a pretty chill place to hang out, it's everything you're looking for and more!
