Odara Caterers is a little gem of a rice & curry spot tucked in between a couple of shops down Borella Junction. After you make way to the giant tree at the start of the Ward Place, this spot is a little bit in from there. Or you can always ask from tuk drivers that are parked nearby – which is what we did.
Food
You'll be spoilt for choices here with curry options, especially the proteins – from fried fish, curry fish, curry chicken, devilled chicken, devilled prawns and so on. Along with that, you have more than six variants of curries of which you can choose four for your buth plate. They do fried rice too.
We settled for a Prawns Rice & Curry (Rs. 320) with devilled prawns riding on top of a mound of white rice, accompanied by gotukota, kos mallum, carrot curry and wambotu curry.
The rice was cooked well, fluffy and generous in size. Juicy and soaked in a sweet sauce, the prawns were chewy and had a tinge of sweetness to it.
The wambotu curry had karawala in it alongside loads of chilli flakes that contributed to a good amount of heat with a curry flavour. We thought the gotukola mallum was on point with its lime, salt and fresh leafy crunch and the carrot curry was a bit sweet and was curried up well.
The kos mallum added a creamy flavour and texture to the bite with papadum bringing the crunch. We enjoyed this delicious plateful of buth and the mix of flavours it had.
We decided to grab a Chicken Fried Rice (Rs. 250) with a Fried Fish (Rs. 100) piece for the heck of it. Our buth packet had had an omelette tucked in the rice, a bit of chilli paste on the side and a sizeable devilled chicken piece sitting on top.
The rice wasn't oily and had a wok-fried aroma. The omelette was a tad salty, but quite okay when mixed with rice. We didn't get much in the way of chicken flavour since the chicken had soused up the sweet and sourness from the sauce.
The fried fish came with a thin batter on the outside and it was too salty for our liking. the fish inside was cooked all the way to the bone but wasn't all that soft either.
Ambience & Service
The spot has enough seating to hold about more than a dozen people and the place is quiet and calm on the inside, even if its located on a busy section of Colombo.
All the lunch items are neatly laid out on clay pots as well. The waitstaff was polite and prompt in their service and we had no issues.
Conclusion
Odara is somewhat hidden from the busyness as we feel. But they are a solid rice & curry choice and have decent prices too. They do catering stuff and you can find loads of choices when you pop in for your meals here.
