Bijou is a Swiss restaurant in Negombo located along Porutota Road. They serve well priced, filling meals that are accompanied by excellent service and hospitality from both the staff and owners.
Bijou is not new to Negombo. As owner Dolly informs us, the restaurant has been around for about 30 years and has become one of the stalwarts in the airport city's dining scene, bustling with tourists even during the relatively off peak month of October. The restaurant itself is simple, but comfortable and full of character. The front is decked with Swiss flag bunting and the interior is unfussy and homely, filled with the uninhibited laughter and chatter of guests that seem genuinely quite happy to be there (the table behind us was engaged in a cheerfully noisy game of cards and we even found
a video of Dolly singing along to an accordion at the restaurant online). This is the sort of place where you can linger over your dinner; you can watch the tourists stroll down Porutota Road and contemplate your next move leisurely over a mug or two of chilled beer while slowly digesting what will most likely have been a rather large meal.
The food is excellent and the portions are generous - but affordable. A filet steak topped with your sauce of choice (bearnaise, peppercorn, mushroom, etc), accompanied by either mash, fries, croquettes or fried potatoes and bacon (I strongly recommend the latter) and salad only sets you back Rs. 1300. And it's a solid meal - the beef was well seasoned and tender and the potatoes were buttery and delicious, flecked with crispy bits of bacon. The menu is fairly meat heavy - schnitzel (Rs. 975) , stroganoff, cordon bleu (Rs. 1200) - but they also do some good seafood and the lobster thermidor (Rs. 2500) comes recommended. Our meal, consisting of two starters, three mains and a few beers came to just over Rs. 6000.
While we have high praise for the food, we were even more impressed by the service. The waiter remembered our order right down to each steak preparation without taking notes in addition to being friendly, helpful and generally just a pleasure to interact with. The owner, Dolly, appears to be at the restaurant on most days as well and is charming and interesting, taking the time to chat to guests beyond the perfunctory greeting.
The emphasis on fairly priced, tasty food together with highly competent yet cheery service makes Bijou an excellent dinner destination if you're in Negombo. The great atmosphere and food puts you right where you want to be when you're on holiday. It's well worth a visit - and you can even zip in from Colombo just for a meal via the
new Katunayake Expressway.
TIP
Try the fried potatoes with bacon as a side.
Dream Cafe
Havi Restaurant
Delete Comment
jam
I haven't been to this place but come on… seriously…1200Rs for cordon bleu? That's way too much…
tidalbobo
I would totally recommend NOT to go here if you are Srilankan. Sad though, this is a true experience that somewhat tarnished our recent visit to Negambo. Despite being seated for over 15 minutes, 3 reminders to the waiter and one reminder to the managers ( sort of) person at the counter area, we got ZERO service.
I would generally attribute this to being a busy time, if not for the prompt attention all the foreigners got all around us, despite arriving afterwards.
And we were not the only locals who got the same treatment. The food may be good, but who needs attitudes or behaviors of this sort….
Keith
There is another restaurant in the are (Ice bear I think or something that sounds similar) who refused to serve us because we were Sri Lankan. It is an insult that should not be tolerated.
Keith
There is a similar place called Icebear (Or sounds something like that). They refuse to serve us as it was for foreigners only. Very bad and should not be tolerated in Sri Lanka.
sanaya
This restaurant is just overrated.
SP
After having lived in Switzerland for many years and throughly enjoying the cuisine on offer, I was excited to try this restaurant following the review in YAMU…
All I can say is that I was extremely disappointed, just by reading the menu (after which I actually got up and left!)… There were nearly no Swiss dishes on the 7/8page menu! In fact the only one I could see was Cheese fondue…
Even more shocking was that this "Swiss" restaurant had Chinese and Devilled dishes!
I am glad I was passing by Negombo anyway and didn't make a special trip to read that disappointing menu!
gaya
I guess the other commenters have not caught the 'quirky' vibe that Indi's Yamu capturs subtlely and perceptively by this review. I used to live with my Dutch boyfriend while working for MAS during one memorable year 1999. Dolly had been diagnosed with cancer in Switz and instead of spending her years in the western cradle of medical marvels, decided to invest in this resto and have an active and happy life. The woman is a wonderful creature and it is not for the menu that I went there but for the crazy-quirky atmo of a real-live trattoria style place in Negombo where anyone is welcome. We had her cheese fondue 2000 31st night with other friends. Long live Dolly and her spirit. That little resto stands for a lot more than its menu!
Farah
Yamu i don't think your reviews match the standards of the place, unless you're paid to advertise it.
I have had a really terrible food experience there. I had to throw up the food on the table. It was that bad. They gave us stale food. Maybe the owner should be back in Sri Lanka to close the place so at least someone won't get food poisoning.
Please take serious notes, because based on your reviews people visit restaurants, Bijou was one of your earlier reviews and that's the reason we went there. Now i am highly in doubt whether to take any of your reviews seriously!