Located down Nawala Road, The Coffee Rooms is a fairly new venture that plays host to three different affairs – meeting room, kid's play room and a cafe.
Food & Drinks
The Coffee Rooms has kept their menu simple, by including a few starters, breakfast, mains, paninis as well as a range of coffee, milkshakes, juices, frappe and tea in their drinks section.
We started off with the Cheesy Garlic Bread (Rs. 400), which certainly could use some improvement. It was cheesy as advertised, with an abundance of mozzarella, but not garlicky as it should be. The bread was too soft, texture was irregular as it was just baked, not even lightly toasted. It had a few bits of garlic embedded on it, which tasted raw – so this is probably not the best choice to start your meal with.
The Chicken Panini (Rs. 450) came as a well toasted slices of sandwich bread, stuffed with a mixture of chicken, egg, and a couple of veggies – onions and chilies. This one was pretty good, but they could've used more chicken in it. The chicken was just boiled, had no seasoning, so the flavor of egg and veggies that emerged through the sandwich was overpowering – which made us feel like we're eating an egg sandwich.
The portion of fries that was served with this was sharp, crispy and had just the right amount of saltiness.
Bringing some positivity to our whole experience, the Seafood Mie goreng (Rs. 650) was the best one out of the lot, but still has room for improvement. It came served with a portion of mie goreng, topped off with a bulls eye egg, a salad, some chili paste and a handful of crispy prawn papad.
The mie goreng itself was seasoned well, and boasted a strong seafood aroma with bits of prawns, cuttlefish and fish scattered about, but sadly too oily for our liking. The salad or the chili paste didn't complement the dish – but the crispy prawn papads were a nice addition to munch on, while the nicely cooked bulls eye egg added for a filling meal.
*Pictured above: Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate (left) and Chocolate Chip Milkshake (right)
We had high hopes for the Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate (Rs. 350) which they advertise it as a 'no-sugar drink' – but it was quite confusing as it tasted more sugary than being chocolatey. The milk-to-coco ratio was totally off, and needless to say, we didn't finish this.
The Chocolate Chip Milkshake (Rs. 250) didn't impress us either. It lacked the balance of the milkiness, sweetness and chocolatiness. Seriously, how hard is it to blend some chocolate ice cream with milk?
Ambience & Service
The Coffee Rooms is a part of three storied building, and they're located at the ground floor, while the meeting room and the kid's play room resides on the top floors. There's a separate stairwell on the right hand side if you want to access them.
The ambience at the cafe is pretty simple, but quite cozy with neatly arranged wooden furniture catering to both indoor and outdoor seating facilities. It's well lit, and the orangey bricked walls gives out a vintage vibe, which actually goes well with the atmosphere of the place.
The service was inviting, efficient and friendly – no complaints here.
