Kinjou is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Colombo. Their stuff is as Sri Lankanized as it gets, but it’s just okay at best. With all the competition these days, we think they need to change things up.
The Food
Kinjou is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Colombo and can be considered a pioneer. They also run a Kotte branch and the Japanese restaurant Sakura, but they now have a lot more competition within those cuisines. One thing we can’t really complain about were the prices, you can easily manage under Rs. 1000 per head for a group of three.
The mixed fried rice (Rs. 390 for S) was very ordinary but we can’t really complain given the price. This is basically a generic fried rice with some diced prawns and pork. We were curious as to what Rs. 390 to get us. While it doesn’t taste amazing, the portion was easily enough for two and the wallet damage is minimal.
We weren’t expecting much with the manchurian chicken (Rs. 590), but this one was actually pretty decent. This is a classic Sri Lankanized Chinese dish with plenty of chilli, seasoning and thick gravy. Oddly, this is one of the few places we’ve found where chicken costs more than pork or prawns.
The belly pork in golden sauce (Rs. 530) sounded promising, ended in disappointment. We kind of saw it coming when we almost mistook the dish for an achcharu. Firstly, there was barely enough pork for one person (it was mostly veggies), and second, the sauce was mostly non-existent. The paste-like sauce tasted almost entirely of chili.
The sweet and sour fried prawns (Rs. 550) was more acceptable and well-balanced, flavorwise. The prawns were well cooked and fried in a light batter, bound nicely with a spicy sweet sauce
Ambience & Service
Kinjou has a very obvious, in-your-face kind of Chinese inspired theme with a large golden lion statue at the inner entrance, vases with Chinese artwork and of course the signature red lanterns. As we walked in the place seemed really big… until I nearly walked into a mirror. In reality the place isn’t that big at all, with a seating capacity of around 30, although they do have a garden area in the back for larger crowds.
Service at Kinjou, like most of the other older Chinese joints, is streamlined and fast. The waiters were also friendly, attentive and very humble, so no complaints on that front.
Conclusion
Kinjou was pretty much just as we expected. Classic Sri Lankanized Chinese dishes at affordable rates. That being said they also desperately need to change things up to compete.
