Being healthy took Colombo by storm. Out of nowhere, we had people exercising, eating right and spending less time in front of TVs and more time in parks and gyms. At the same moment, we also noticed the rise of the health food restaurants sprouting up in almost every part of Colombo.
JuiceMo is yet another restaurant that came up in Independence walk earlier this year. They've got a whole bunch of healthy juices, mocktails and smoothies to choose from. We dropped in to check it out.
What to Expect
Independence square is a beautiful part of Colombo with many a tree, joggers and couples. Amidst all this lies a little block of cement of a shop with large wooden windows and cut cement walls – it actually is quite pretty.
This prettiness is also probably why so many people think it's expensive and casually walk away. Do not be fooled, friends! You don't need to sell a kidney to dine in here.
Anywho,
Everything they have on their menu is essentially feel-good food. Meaning, you don't need to stress about how you're getting fat if you're eating from here. And let me tell you right off the bat, we really liked JuiceMo.
Starting with the Blue Margarita (Rs. 595). Being one of the prettiest drinks I've ever seen, this one really blew us away at our first glance but sadly, it was way too sweet for our liking. While you do get a nice kick from the salt and the excessive sweetness in the start, the longer you keep it out, the more the sweetness hits you. Not the best feeling when you're in a healthy food joint.
*Pictured above – Tropical Storm (right) and Waffle Bowl (left)
Moving on to the Tropical Storm (Rs. 375). This is one of those drinks that you can probably drink instead of getting an actual meal. The whole thing was super creamy with strong hints of yogurt, mango, apples, and bananas hitting you smack dab in the face everytime you drink it. It was sort of like drinking a blended version of a fruit kottu (which we will discuss later). Majorly filling, we say go for it.
This is the Green Supreme (480) – a cold pressed glass of a mix that has the weirdest combination of green things. Gotukola, green apple, basil, spinach and we're slightly sure that we saw mint in there as well. This was one of those cases where you can't judge a book by its cover. Why? It was so good! With the perfect amount of sugar and sourness, it was the perfect remedy to the heat. We definitely see ourselves going back for more of this.
Edible Materials
In terms of the munchable, JuiceMo doesn't have many options but they do have a few like pancakes, waffles and ice cream. We went with their signature Fruit Kottu and Waffle Bowl.
This is the Regular Waffle Bowl (Rs. 300). If we were to break it down, it's necessarily a dish of a bunch of breakfast foods all thrown in together. There's the waffle, then a layer of two kinds of cereal, fruits, whipped cream and Nutella. While the waffle itself was thoroughly leathery, everything else was quite good. There's the bready-ness of the waffle, the crunch of the cereal and the shifting flavors of the fruit and the creaminess of the whipped cream. Basically, it's one of those rare yet ingenious things made up of the most basic of ingredients.
Featured here is the Regular Fruit Kottu (Rs. 300). Essentially, this dish is a tropical storm in solid form, and it's worth every cent you pay for it. With a layer of pancake strips, fruit, some creamy substance (yogurt, we presume), whipped cream, chocolate and a dusting of peanuts, it's perfectly filling and all in all, pretty good.
Service and Ambience
We didn't run into any problems regarding their service. The staff was both warm, welcoming and very helpful. If you have any doubts on what to order, they're more than willing to help you with it.
The ambience is the great outdoors. While they do have a small seating space with cushions, they also have a bunch of very comfortable wooden chairs and tables which you can sit and chill on.
We should probably tell you that since it is an outdoor setup, you might want to keep a lookout for squirrels, ants and other critters who might like leaving droppings on the table.
En Conclusion
We really like JuiceMo. It's affordable (they have cheaper drinks than the ones we tried), you don't have to feel guilty about eating here and the place is lovely. We recommend!
