Majestic City came into the scene a long time ago, as one of the OG's of places that even introduced the concept of "hanging out" in Colombo. It's been a while since their glory days and we witnessed a steady decline in MC with the years passing by.
But, with new malls and such popping up left, right and centre, we're happy that one of the OG's realised that they needed a glow up. Because hanging out wouldn't necessarily be the same without it.
The Transformation
It's a known fact that most food courts in Colombo suck, aside from the ones in these newly opened malls. With pungent smells, excessive people packed into spaces like sardines, dingy spaces and rumours of literal trashy food, the food court scene was going down faster than anything you'd imagine. Which is why we absolutely had to drop in when we found out that the MC's food court has had a bit of a makeover.
Ambience
With Christmas coming up right around the corner, MC had already started on their decorations. And combined with the giant fairy light presents at random places, and new furniture, it's much better than before.
Christmas is literally 34 days away and we love how shiny and new the food court has become. With shiny new walls, muted colours, a waffle ceiling that kinda looks like a beehive, wooden-looking tables and chairs scattered around the space, it's wonderful.
I happened to spend an hour just sitting at a table with a cup of coffee and a book app and combined with the near-freezing temperature of the space it gave the feels of a low budget Hallmark Christmas movie. The place was bustling with people but because of the amount of light in the place, you barely feel their existence. So, the next time you're looking for a place to sit and chill with a cup of coffee, a 12 pack doughnut pack (no one's judging) and a book, the Majestic City Food Arcade might be a worthy option to look out for.
The Food
While there is a change in the atmosphere and a definite change in its name, the Majestic City Food Arcade has proven to be loyal to their previous restaurants. So, if you're looking for anything new, we suggest not getting your hopes too high.
Kicking things off with a little Chilli Chicken Rice from Spicy Chef, we liked how things began. The rice was cooked beautifully with plenty of cut up red chillies mixed in bits of hot butter mushrooms, carrots and such and a slightly cold sunny side up taking the starring role.
With a piece of batter-fried chicken that probably took up half the chicken, it's probably the best Rs. 330 we spent yesterday.
Then we looked towards Great Wall Restaurant with their Egg Fied Rice with Chicken Rs. 350 for some nostalgic goodness to take things home but was left stranded by the side of the road 5 km from where we were supposed to be.
Essentially a plate of messily put white rice tossed in a wee bit of veggies and almost no egg, we weren't too thrilled by it. The chop suey tasted like your everyday fried rice accompanied chop suey and didn't have anything distinctly pleasant about it and the chicken was tough to the bone and more or less just deep-fried with sauces, nothing more.
The pricier one on our list was the Chilli Chicken Nasi (Rs. 380) from Malaysian Hotel. With a wonderfully spicy omelette, the dish looked promising. However, the rice was just tossed in a few sauces and oil and tasted like oil and spice, nothing else and while the chicken piece was rather large, it too followed suit in terms of being judged at meh.
Going to the Majestic City Food Court and not getting a slice from Pepper's is a sin.
Each slice costs a very reasonable Rs. 220 and is worth it. Pepper's has been at MC for 25 years and they've stayed true to their 4 flavours and sweet sauce and we really couldn't expect anything less than that.
Peppers sticks to a slightly thicker crust than thin-crust pizzerias and a thinner crust than your commercial ones. With a slightly sweet dough that tastes almost homemade and a sweet take on marinara sauce and a good portion of cheese topping it all off, we can't complain.
The Seafood Pizza was, essentially that, with a couple of minute pieces of fish lounging about. Looking for the seafood can be a bit like Finding Nemo. The Chicken Pizza was pretty much the same and the Vegetable Pizza followed suit as well.
The one thing that tasted different was the Hawaiian one because apart from the foundation, it had a couple of pieces of pineapple taking up some of the spotlights. If you like pineapple on pizza, you're going to love this.
In m opinion, the most exciting place to go to when you're at the MC food court is the Lil' Orbits showroom.
We happened to get a Cappucino (Rs. 350) and served with a small doughnut on the side, it was a wonderful affair. The coffee was creamy but had hints of coffee kicking in at just the right spot. The foam didn't take up half the mug and we're happy we got it. They use Lavazza coffee.
We also got a batch of doughnuts (20 for Rs. 600) to go that somehow disappeared in minutes. Which is why we don't have a picture of it.
And while the Chocolate Sauce (Rs. 100) that accompanied the doughnuts was quite disappointing the Caramel Sauce (Rs. 200) was slightly better but far too sweet. The doughnuts themselves were perfectly round and bite-sized and tasted like warm bites of heaven. Topped off with powdered sugar, they are super soft and had just the right level of sweetness to it. If you do end up at MC, get these and watch your day transform into something beautiful.
Conclusion
We're really happy the management at Majestic City decided to go through with this. It's the same okay food but in a much better space. Plus, it's not harsh on the wallet either.
