Jack Tree in Havelock Town offers Thai and Chinese cuisine and is run by the same enterprising guys who do The Mango Tree. The food was pretty good on our visit, the service was great, but it’s all a bit expensive.
The Food
We got seafood noodles (Rs. 995), chicken fried rice (Rs. 995) and Thai hot butter cuttlefish (Rs. 895). The portions were enough for two, so you’ll probably end up spending about 1500 bucks per head here.
The cuttlefish was deliciously prepared, with very soft pieces tossed in well cooked veggies and slathered in a creamy sauce that tasted almost cheesy.
The fried rice was sticky and oily and the chicken that came in it was plenty but a little on the hard side – not the best we’ve had, but it tasted okay. The noodles were infinitely better, you’re better off ordering this than the rice here, and we were grateful for the abundance of big chunks of tasty prawns and cuttlefish in it. We’ve got to make special mention of the chilli paste here, which we basically just put on everything that we possibly could, it was a little sweet and is made extra red and spicy.
The saku or the sago with corn (Rs. 395) at the end of our meal was pretty good, served hot, but it’s an extremely sweet dish so unless you’re the sweet tooth kind don’t dare.
We’ve never had ambarella juice (Rs. 425) that tasted this great – sipping on this was like eating a bowl of ambarella, the taste was that strong, and they managed to deliver the flavour without making it too thick.
Service & Ambience
The restaurant has a cosy space upstairs. Some tables have a lot of privacy, it’s mostly a typical formal dining arrangement, but with a few cushy seats along the walls. Our waiter was extremely attentive and polite, and service was fast, though the sago took a while.
Conclusion
Jack Tree’s food is pretty tasty, if you eat here you’re probably going to eat till it hurts a little to walk. It is however, pricey. Is it authentic Thai? We didn’t think so, you get food here that the Sri Lankan palate is quite used to.
