Wonder Hotel is located right there, almost in the middle of Kollupitiya junction, where dwell Hotel used to be. i Coffee is the residential coffee shop of the Wonder Hotel, that lies on its ground floor, replacing the Tokiwa Cafe. Their main focus is serving coffee and meals for their in-house guests, but they also accept walk-ins, which is why we dropped in to grab some lunch.
Food & Drinks
They have a neatly displayed menu hanging behind the cashier – featuring a range of coffee, tea, and some bready snacks – sandwiches, burgers and a few pasta dishes.
The presentation of the Hot Chocolate (Rs. 422) was quite nice. It was poured into our mug from a shiny kettle, by our waiter. But alas all the high expectations got watered down with the likewise hot chocolate.
The chocolate flavour here was very little (almost none, tbh), and the milk didn't have any fluffy qualities. We had to mix with quite a bit of sugar to salvage this drink.
Our Cappuccino (Rs. 345) landed on the same level as the hot chocolate. The milk-to-coffee ratio seemed quite off with this cup. While the coffee punch was good, the milk was very light in texture, and not creamy. From what we gathered, they use a brand called Ceylon Coffee in their brews.
Our Club Sandwich (Rs. 675) came with a serving of fries, a side salad and ketchup. The bread was nicely toasted to have a slight crisp on the outside, was a tad salty with a hint of butter throughout. Chicken ham, fried egg, cheese, lettuce, onions and tomato stuffed in between its layers, this one was alright, but nothing to write home about.
The fries were decent with a crispy outer layer and a dusting of salt, while the salad was a combination of grated carrot and cabbage tossed in mayo.
The Spaghetti Bolognese (Rs. 802) didn't live up to our expectations either. Decorative parsley sat on a pile of minced beef, which was dry for our liking, did not have any sauce to it and sadly there was no cheese in the mix. The spaghetti was a tad undercooked which was highlighted in the lack of moisture in the bowl. At least the beef, despite its dryness, was decently seasoned to be on the sweet side, but with a bit of spiciness.
Ambience & Service
Our food didn’t come to us blazingly fast but, it didn’t take too long either. However, the staff was very polite and treated us with smiles and left us to our meals without any disturbances.
The ambience is similar to what we observed in Tokiwa Cafe. It's the same set of tables, chairs and couches, arranged in a different manner.
The atmosphere is, in fact, quite redeeming, really. Chilled away from loud noises where you can do some quiet work with your laptop or enjoy a book in the cosiness – this works out pretty well.
Conclusion
i Coffee certainly has room for improvement. Unless you are a guest of the hotel, or just want to grab something as you pass by, or get some work done, this place can work. We sincerely hope that they'd up their food game fast, and become a better addition to the cafe scene in Colombo.
