Maharaja Palace is one of the few fine dining Indian restaurants in Colombo. The prices are high but the portions are actually quite large now. Their food was always pretty good and it seems they've made some necessary improvements.

The Food

We've actually been to Maharaja Palace a whole bunch of times, albeit with some mixed results. One thing we do like is the fact that their management does seem to take customer feedback seriously and make the necessary changes. The prices haven't changed much over the past couple of years but this is still one of the more expensive Indian restaurants, but also one of the classier. Their portions have actually gotten larger, so we'd say three people could manage for around Rs. 1800 per head.

Last time we tried out the mutton dum biriyani (Rs. 1200), and we weren't huge fans of it. This time around though it was far better. They still have the tender chunks of mutton, but this time both the rice and the meat was seasoned well. The rice was light and fragrant with the taste of the spices coming through without overpowering the other flavours.

The cheese naan (Rs. 300) was a new addition to the menu and a fun little twist on the classic butter naan and it works quite well. This probably won't work with all of the usual Indian curries but the soft cheesy center does add a nice contrast of flavour and texture.

The crab meat bhuna (Rs. 1100) sounded pretty interesting on the menu so we thought we'd give it a shot. There's a lot going on in the dish so personal preference will play a big part. The flavours and the spices are intense, which works in some cases, but for me it overpowered the crab meat which should have been the hero of the dish. However, like I said, those who like abundance of spice will probably go for this one.

The dish of the day was easily the chicken korma (Rs. 900) which ticked all the right boxes. I think what we loved most about this dish was how different is was from the usual chicken curries. This had plenty of boneless chicken which were cooked just right, in a well seasoned, thick and creamy gravy which I would have happily just eaten with a spoon.

Maharaja Palace was next up on the chopping block in my perpetual search for good kulfi in Colombo. Their kulfi pista (Rs. 450), unfortunately, was on the same boat as the one we tried at Amriths. Not creamy enough, and served too frozen to hack with spoon.

Service & Ambience

Service is one area that Maharaja Palace has consistently impressed us with. They've got a pretty huge staff so there's always a manager and waiters on the floor to take your orders. They're professional, well mannered and seem to have a good knowledge of the dishes.

The ambience at MP is probably best described as extravagant on the outside and classy on the inside, which is to say that the exterior can seem a gaudy with the coloured windows, and lights. The interior on the other hand is much simpler in comparison and works more in line with a fine dining restaurant.

Conclusion

Maharaja Palace seems to be heading in the right direction with the changes they've made. The food is good and the service is excellent, so all that remains is to work on those desserts.