Curry Pot Restaurant is one that we're all pretty familiar with. Particularly to those of us who grace the rice and curry scene in Kollupitiya/ Bambalapitiya area on a regular basis.
Their newest venture is one that involves bigger doors and a lot more space for diners to dine in along the coast of Marine Drive in Milagiriya Avenue.
Ambience
Once you find Milagiriya Avenue, finding Curry Pot is in no way a biggie. 50-100 meters off Marine Drive, it is more or less colossal to what we're used to in rice and curry spots.
The whole building is essentially a giant dining area with the ground floor looking something along the lines of the above and the first floor catering to groups and such with a couple of private booths.
Air-conditioned with plenty of comfortable seating, the ground floor is ideal for when you're looking for somewhere to grab a quick lunch to go.
One of the private rooms upstairs.
But, if you're looking for something a bit more comfortable, we suggest going with the space upstairs. There's an abundance of cushioned seats so it's ideal for when you're with a bunch of people.
Food
The last two Curry Pot's we've been to focuses more along the lines of rice and curry, but, the newer venue comes with a newer menu. Sandwiches, noodles, a variety of rice, juice and fried food, Curry Pot Family Restaurant has a lot to offer in terms of food.
Take this for example. The Batter Fried Calamari came at Rs. 900 as a plate full of doughy calamari rings with a shower of giant onion rings and ketchup. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of batter-fried calamari, and this didn't necessarily convince me to change my mind either.
Super soft and not chewy at all, the flesh came as a bit of a surprise as to how it was so. Plus, the batter was a tad too much and lacked seasoning. Essentially making us keep dipping the ring in the ketchup to get any sort of flavour.
Whilewe do think that the portion size is quite good, we just didn't love the dish as a whole, unfortunately. With a bit a tweak, they can easily fix it.
Given how we went at lunchtime, we decided to skip out on the sandwiches and such and dive headfirst into the lunch buffet instead. Here's how it works.
- There'll be one side of the restaurant that's solely dedicated to rice and curry. It's pretty easy to identify given how there'll be a bunch of clay pots and 3/4 giant pans of rice on that side.
- Step one: Inform the staff member who offers you the a la carte menu that you'd much rather go with the buffet.
- Step Two: Place your order of either 5 vegetable curries with your choice of rice or one choice of protein and 4 other veggies to go along with your choice of rice.
- Step 3: See if you'd like an additional curry or two (each additional curry is served in a small dish and is enough for 2).
- Step 4: Pay and take your food wherever you want to.
Chicken Rice and Curry (Rs. 280) is a bit bigger than this. The only reason the portion size is this small is that we knew that we didn't have the capacity to eat that much food.
Coming with a piece of papadum and dried chilli, this was accompanied by an ordinary, store-bought dhal curry and a serving of soya that was pretty much one of the best life choices we've made in a while. Spicy, creamy and has a slight tang to it, the soya was packed with flavour and was brilliant. Particularly with the Mukunuwenna Mallung. Bitter on some ends, milky on the other and having the perfect amount of seasoning, we loved it.
The Chicken curry, like the dhal curry, was more or less like every other chicken curry you find in rice and curry places. Spicy and cooked to perfection, we're not gonna write odes about it. Now the Polos Curry, that we can write odes about. Having a sense of familiarity to it. The polos was tender on some ends and not so tender on the others, flavoured with a bucket of a variety of spices, the polos curry at Curry Pot was kind of like the ones you make at home. Kudos to that.
We also happened to get a Fish Rice and Curry with Red Rice (Rs. 350) with an extra serving of Mango Curry (Rs. 60) on the side. The Fish curry was a spicy, soft mess of goodness that went brilliantly with the fluffy red rice. Plus, given how big the piece was, it's definitely worth looking out for.
The vegetable curries we decided to go with happened to be a match made in heaven on this particular instance. Soft and creamy, the beetroot had slight spicy kicks to it, but not too much to make it spicy and the batu (eggplant) moju was an oily sweet mess of a curry that symphonied the plate to perfection. With bits of mustard kicking in at every corner and small crunches at some bits, we were made very happy by it.
Fresh and having small kicks of lime at little bits, the Gotukolla Mallung, too fell along the same lines as the aforementioned. With chunks of green chillies and close-cropped leafy bits, the Mallung was everything we could have hoped for. Nonetheless, what really blew us away was the final segments of this plate; the Pathola Curry and the Mango.
Creamy as hell, this pathola curry is a must try while the mango was spicy, absolutely tangy and fall off the seed soft. Do yourself a favour, get both of them.
The Mango Juice (Rs. 250) was not the best we've had. For someone who doesn't particularly like mango juice anyway, this was far from perfect. Sure, the drink was served cold and without much sugar in it, but flavour wise, it wasn't good. It's probably the mango itself because the juice itself was thick as hell.
The Chocolate Milkshake (Rs. 350) wasn't impressive either. Sweet and creamy, the Chocolate Milkshake didn't have a lot of chocolate content in it.
Service
In terms of service, there's nothing we can complain about. The staff was super attentive throughout without being obtrusive and they were pretty efficient about getting things done as well.
Conclusion
We like it. While the calamari and the mango juice was far from perfect, the lunch at Curry Pot was heaps better than some we're used to. We say go for it!
