Box Colony is a recently opened restaurant in Battaramulla. I wouldn't say its worth a trip all the way from the center of Colombo, traffic can be terribly anal, but if you're in the area, this can be a really nice place to chill for a while. The ambiance is great, lots of greenery, fresh air and garden seating; and the service is friendly and welcoming. The food however, could use some improvement.
The Food
The roast paan and chilli sauce dip comes as a standard for dine-in customers. The paan was a little on the rough side, but the dip was delish, it had a vague kocchi/yaka miris flavor to it, and that's something hard to resist.
For starters we ordered the Basil & Tomato Salsa on Toast (Rs. 460) and got a Lime, Lemongrass and Mint juice (Rs. 320). The bread was crispy and the salad was fresh, but didn't exactly wow the tastebuds.
Apologies for the terrible bokeh in this shot
The juice was refreshing, but slightly too much on the bitter side for my liking. So neither were execeptionally good, nor were they exceptionally bad. So I suppose we can agree on 'average'.
The Chicken Burger (at Rs. 800) came recommended from the kitchen so we went for that as a main, neither of us being too hungry that night. The meat patty was firm and had a good texture, but it wasn't very flavorful. So pretty average there also. The bread and salad was a less than average, and the barbecue sauce that came along with it was a little too sweet. The ingredients in the burger were rather dull tasting and ended up not voicing themselves, nor were they too mutually complementary.
Desserts
For dessert we got the parfait. It was a huge portion and we couldn't finish it. It had a nice coconutty texture, and chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. I am not much of a sweet tooth, so I found this rather too sweet. But still, if you like drowning your tastebuds in sugar this might be for you.
The Place
Is rather easy to find, just pass the Cool Planet if you're approaching from Thalawathugoda, and it will be on your left just a 100m afterwards. Avoid rush hour at all costs if you're going there from Colombo. Road rage will drive you half-mad.
The Ambience
Box Colony has a large garden area with a nice green lawn and lots of trees, one of the advantages of being located in a leafy suburb. It also has contaner boxes for buildings. Some areas are a little cumbersome, and if you BYOB then watch out for the iron steps leading upstairs, they are rather small and can get slippery in the rain.
The place calls itself a cafe, lounge AND a salad bar. I think these are identities that are way too disperate to fit into the same space without some measure of schizophrenia, and Box Colony falls prey to this condition a little bit also. The EDM pumping out of the speakers was out of place on the quiet weekday evening we were there, and the trendy filament bulbs hanging over the tables upstairs was a little too in our faces for our liking.
The upstairs makes you feel rather boxed in
The upstairs section, being as it is within a metal box, has acoustics which will make you highly partial to your neighbors' conversations. Great if you're a private detective tailing a cheating husband, but not so good if you're just there for a quiet night out. I suspect the EDM was an attempt at fixing this problem, but it only ended up creating more noise pollution.
Service
Exceptionally good, fast and friendly. They went out of their way to make us feel at home.
Conclusion
Come here for the space and the garden area, also a good quiet place to BYOB and chill with friends. The food here doesn't exactly wow.
