According to my parents, Battaramulla used to be a dodge central around 2 decades ago. Don't ask me why we moved there.
Nonetheless, we've come a long way since then. Government offices, a giant Arpico, most of the population, a whole bunch of places to get food from and other such baloney reside there now. Yes, we glowed up good.
Anywho, last night, decided to check out one such restaurant. Here's The Catch. And their speciality is fried fish, and some darn good ones at that!
Ambience
As you can probably tell from this rather horrible photo, the ambience here carries a very rustic, ' kinda rich, so can afford -teenage gangster hangout spot' kinda vibe to it. With recycled barrels as tables, all-black everything and the outdoors, it's good. It's a pretty great spot to say, hang out with your multitude of friends. But, they do have a bunch of garden benches and tables on the side if you want to keep things a tad more private.
Plus, the car park is literally right next to the dining area, which we found strangely, quite nice.
Food
The ordering procedure is pretty simple. You choose how much fish you want (250g or 400g) and then the sauce you want it accompanied with (Tamarind, Kochchi or Lemon Butter) and then you choose the carb (roast paan with parippu and pol sambola, egg fried rice, steamed rice).
We went with the 400g fish with Lemon Butter and roast Paan (Rs. 1500) and the 250g fish with Kochchi and Egg Fried Rice (Rs. 900).
This is the fish with Lemon Butter. Crispy on the outside, beautifully cooked from the inside, it was superb! While the fish itself seemed to have been marinated with a bit of spice, the lemon butter sauce rang hard and clear.
Utterly buttery and tangy in every right way, we loved, loved, LOVED it. The roast paan they served on the side tasted super fresh and was delicately soft. Packed with all the right spices and just the right amount of coconut cream, the dhal curry was a delight as well. The pol sambol was a tad dry and lacked lime, but, when paired with the fish, everything worked out for the best.
Same as the previous one, this fish was also deep-fried to perfection. With a sharp crunch in loads of places, and beautifully soft parts when you break into the skin, it was good as it can get. Smothered in a deliciously spicy kochchi sauce, we were literally blown away by it.
You could tell that the spice was directly coming from the kochchi and nothing else and it had the perfect balance of flavour. We guarantee that you won't regret trying it, like ever! You might cry a bit. But, if you're crying from happiness or the kochchi, no one will ever know. So go for it!
The accompanying egg fried rice was lovely. The rice was fluffy, not droopy, or too oily and there was plenty of egg and vegetables to go around.
The fish gravy was quite alright. It tasted like a mix of homemade fish curry and the ones you buy from outside kadey. Not the best we've had, but could be better.
Service
Like almost everything here, the service at The Catch Colombo was pretty good too. They were super friendly throughout our whole time here. Our food arrived within around 20 minutes.
Plus, did you see that presentation? Rice gets served in clay pots, while curries come in pol katu. Kudos to that!
Conclusion
Needless to say, we went home with happy tears, and it's not only because of the spicy kochchi sauce. The fish was fantastic, their space is great and the service was wonderful. Literally, nothing to complain about. We definitely see ourselves going back there for more.
PS: They either use Mullet or Para for the fish.
