We stumbled upon a relatively new-looking FB page under a strange (to our ears) name — Tosakanth’s Roast Paan. They’ve been popping up on and off at the Colombo Design Market and stuff, and are the latest addition to our fast growing home-made take-away food scene. They specialize in roast paan sandwiches, with not-too common stuffings like Cadjun Chicken & Cranberry, and Ambul Thiyal.
Food and Service
Needing about a day’s head’s up to prepare, Tosakanth is a stickler for quality who takes pride in her roast paan and does her best to ensure that you have it fresh off the grill. As in, even if you say you’ll pick it up late, she’d ask you for a 15 minutes’ heads-up before you’re there so they can heat it up for you. We appreciate this level of care, where it goes beyond just making and handing out the meal.
They have a pretty concise menu, and we picked out pol-sambol and cheese (Rs. 200), chilli chicken (Rs. 300), and ambul thiyal (Rs. 250), to share among a couple of us at work.
It was still toasty by the time I got to YAMU HQ, which was neat. Packed really neatly, our only gripe as soon as we saw it was that the portion was smaller than we expected it for each sandwich — fine if you’re a light eater, but would probably leave you craving for another serving if you’re not.
My favourite was the pol-sambol and cheese, mostly because of the sheer simplicity and nostalgia of the meal — roast paan and pol-sambol is something we used to share among a group of friends while in school.The sambol was fresh and tangy. Full points!
Imaad’s pick was the Chilli Chicken in which the herbs and flavours emerged nicely, and he liked the play of coriander in it. Just spicy enough for him, I didn’t get much heat off it (but then again when someone says ‘chilli’, I expect to be crying at the end of the meal). Tosakanth doesn’t skimp on meat or anything, so you actually get plenty of chicken in your sandwich. It’s really nice.
What fell a bit flat with us was the ambul thiyal because it wasn’t the actual ambul thiyal we’re used to. While it tasted great, this was more akin to a white meat tuna stuffing as opposed to the peppery and goraka infused dry black fish curry.
Good fish paan but not ambul thiyal per se.
Conclusion
If you’re working around the neighbourhood and would like something unconventional and convenient to pick up for breakfast, check these guys out. We’d recommend the pol sambol and cheese, but they’re planning on expanding their menu so check out what’s new. No delivery as yet, but they’re located close to the Coffee Bean at Horton Place, so it’s kinda accessible to anyone working around Borella – Colpetty – Bamba.
