By Janani Vithanage
After a 2 year (Covid induced break), Sri Lanka’s biggest, best food festival kicked off once more at Green Path at the Viharamahadevi park on the 26th and 27th of March from 11am to 11pm, bigger, better and busier than ever before! To add to the good news, Yamu was one of the event’s official online media sponsors, which was something that got us all really hyped up.
What makes Eat Street so special is the sheer number and variety of food stalls; from flavourful Chinese cuisine and Indian-style drinks to items as simple (but just as timeless) as Kottu Me, achcharu and isso wade, it has it all, making it a veritable mecca for foodies. It also provides an invaluable opportunity for vendors of all sorts of food and drink items to display their stalls and exhibit their sumptuous wares in the best of atmospheres, to the most enthusiastic and appreciative crowds. We, as part of the appreciative crowd mentioned above, were really excited about trying some of the treats up for grabs. This is what we thought.
We visited Eat Street in the afternoon, so despite the shade offered by the park’s overhanging trees, the heat was pretty rough on us, so we decided to start exploring with a refreshing cup of Kulukk-It’s Kulukki. Kulukki is a drink which originated from the KErala state of South India and is traditionally made of basil seeds, green chili, ginger, lime juice, sugar and orange juice. What we tried was called the “Lime Soda”. As the name suggests, soda had replaced the usual ingredient of orange juice. The drink also contained salt and pepper. All this served to deliver a taste that was sweet, tangy, spicy and fizzy all at once and we absolutely loved it!
Check them out on Facebook here or on Instagram @kulukkit.
The next stall we visited was Tesco Candy. This was a truly amazing find. They offer authentic imported goodies like Cadbury chocolate, Oreos, peanut butter, Ferrero Rochers, Pringles, KitKat and Kinder Bueno at the most incredibly affordable prices! They had a limited time offer on a pack of 3 Oreos dipped in molten Cadbury chocolate, which we bought for just LKR 150!
Call them up on 0775515155 to make enquiries and place orders or check out their amazing offers and deals on their Instagram page @tesco_candy.
As we walked on, we soon caught the deliciously tempting aroma of food being prepared at the stall done by Chinese Dragon Cafe and couldn’t resist trying their nasi goreng with hotter butter cuttlefish. This was served straight from the pan and was steaming hot. The rice itself tasted absolutely ravishing, being spicy, but not so much that it set your mouth (unpleasantly) on fire. The hot butter cuttlefish was very well done, with the crispy batter and the chewy cuttlefish within perfectly complementing each other. We do wish they had been a little bit more generous with the amount of cuttlefish they served, but the portion of rice was easily big enough for one person and could even serve two if you aren’t too hungry. Overall, we felt that the 490 LKR we paid was totally worth it.
Call them up on 0117 808 080 or check out their full menu on their website here.
Again, to help with the heat of the scorching sun, we decided to go for a cup of almond flavoured kulfi from Dine Budz. This was a real taste bud pleaser, with the sweetness of the condensed milk blending in beautifully with the subtle tastes of cardamom, saffron and almonds. Priced at just LKR 250, this was totally worth it.
Don’t miss out on checking out their Facebook page or simply call them on 077 780 9706.
After visiting Eat Street, we’ve become die-hard fans of Firefly Burgers. Their Classic Chicken Burger, priced at an extremely reasonable LKR 590, was nothing short of wonderful. The chicken patty was of a very generous size and there was an abundance of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sauce and mayo to further improve the flavour. We’d even say this was one of the most wholesome burgers we’ve ever had! The free spicy fries that were served along with it were also very well done. We loved the crunchiness!
We also tried the virgin mojito at Firefly Burgers and are pleased to say that we were very happy with this concoction as well. The drink wasn’t too sweet and the lemon and mint elements made it an incredibly refreshing palate cleanser, especially considering that it was priced at a mere LKR 150!
You can browse through their Instagram page @firefluburgers.sl.
Next, we decided to try our luck at Street Wok, where we went with a portion of their spicy chicken wings priced at LKR 690. We were not at all impressed by how the 6 wings were presented, but the taste more than made up for it! There was a sweet and sour vibe to the dish and the meat itself was cooked to perfection. The onion rings and the stewed carrot sticks added a pleasing extra touch of flavour as well.
Look them up on Facebook or Instagram @streetwok.sl, or just call them on 011 790 0333.
At the Corn Dog SL stall, we learned that they offered a deal of 2 corn dogs of your choice with tomato sauce and cream dip, along with a bottle of coke, for LKR 990. We decided to go for two of these portions, one in the variety “classic” and the other in the “cheesy” variety. We were really excited about these because they looked so good and were presented so well, but felt quite let down when we tasted them. While the classic corn dogs tasted quite alright, the cheesy ones were very dry and the cheese tasted extremely bland and made no improvement to the umami flavour of the sausage at all. Overall, they weren’t worth the price.
You can find them on Facebook here.
Lastly, we decided to try something sweet, which is why we ended up at EpiQ Express Gourmet. We went with two portions of their mini pancakes, which came as 6 per pack. The premium chocolate topped portion was priced at LKR 400 while the pancakes with the icing sugar topping were priced at just LKR 250. WE LOVED THESE. The pancakes were incredibly soft and warm and a very generous amount of toppings were added; they absolutely melted in our mouths. Other toppings available included nutella and biscoff. You can also choose from a range of add ons like strawberries and cashew.
Don’t forget to check out their Instagram page @epiqexpressgourmet or look them up on Facebook.
Service and Ambience
We were really happy with the service offered at all the stalls we visited. Everyone was super friendly and enthusiastic and were happy to accommodate our questions about the ingredients used in their products.
The overall atmosphere was very upbeat and relaxed and the hundreds of people milling around all seemed really excited and chilled out. There were also a number of eating competitions like the Kottu Me eating challenge and an ice cream challenge. However, the best experience was at night; the live bands and DJ really got the party going! If you missed Eat Street Colombo this year, make sure 2023 doesn’t see you making the same mistake!
