44A, Horton Place, Colombo 7
Closed right now
Milk & Honey has impressive healthy food options, and really pleasant ambience. Also some of the best brownies in the city.
Milk & Honey has completely changed its menu - and we really don't mind! Despite adding a lot more breakfast and meat options, this is still quite the vegan, vegetarian, and kid-friendly spot.
We started with a couple of lemonades, a Pink Watermelon & Lemon and a Green Mint & Lime, both at Rs. 350. The green required a bit of kitul treacle, which they provided (but was soon a sticky swamp grave for a fly or two), but the pink lemonade was delicious and fresh. We'd recommend both.
As we'd swung by for brunch, we tried their new breakfast options. The all-day breakfast platter was great at Rs. 950, complete with two fried eggs (they didn't give us an option on this), one homemade chicken sausage which was flavourful but lacking in quantity, a lovely chunk of brioche toast, accompanied by sauteed mushrooms (both oyster and button), baked beans (interestingly made out of black-eyed peas rather than kidney beans), a grilled tomato, and some rather excellent homemade tomato chilli jam. This is definitely one of the best options on their menu, but we do wish there was a bit more meat (either bacon or another sausage).
Unfortunately, their oat waffles weren't available (so let us know in the comments if you've tried and loved it), so we tried their Fish Cakes with Poached Egg, Hollandaise & Green Salad (Rs. 900) instead. With fresh green salad, perfectly executed hollandaise, a slightly runny egg, and lightly crispy fish cakes, this is a wonderful addition to their menu. We'd recommend it if you're a pescatarian or just looking for quality health food.
A friend tried the Spicy Scrambled Eggs on Wholemeal Toast (Rs. 650), but it wasn't spectacular and we didn't think it particularly worth the price. What was worth it however, was the brownie at Rs. 350. While they have lots of vegan dessert options, this wasn't one of them but it was nevertheless delectable. Soft, deeply chocolatey, and thankfully lacking nuts, this was a steal and definitely enough for 2 to share.
We also attempted some of their homemade strawberry ice cream (the other option is Chocolate & Cashew), which was a bit pricey at Rs. 500 a bowl of about 2 scoops, but featured little chunks of strawberry, beautiful lightly creamy and gently sweetened ice cream, and an edible flower perched on top. A perfect hot Colombo afternoon treat.
Service consisted of one very efficient (and very sassy) waitress who took our orders, gave suggestions, and catered to all the tables present seamlessly and solo. I think there might have just been one cook in the kitchen though, so our dishes took quite a while to come out. The fish cakes, for example, took about 40 minutes.
If you're with cranky kids the wait could be tough so watch out because you may resort to taking them around the shop for distraction and then end up having to buy a toy (maybe this is the management's crafty plan?). If you're not with kids, then settle down with a good book and enjoy the sunshine.
The ambience really lends itself to young families and toddlers. There's open garden space, fresh air, no smoking, no alcohol, and they'll provide you with high chairs if needed. It doesn't hurt that the mural is absolutely adorable too. Our only issues were the ubiquitous flies that have now made Colombo their bastion of disease (although this isn't the cafe's fault), and the fact that their thin bench seating is a bit uncomfy for bootylicious Asian butts.
The cafe is actually part of a much larger shop, which has a whole selection of premium imported products for newborns to pre-teens. You'll see all sort of products perfect for maternity, nursing, as well as toys, books, and games for older kids.
We particularly liked their collection of TY toys, nerf guns, and the excellent selection of young literature like Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, and more. Quality kids stuff is quite expensive, but I'm sure you've already made your peace with that. They also have ethical produce like organic tea, locally-made jams and pickles, and coffee. They're pretty reasonable, and beautifully packaged, so I'd suggest them for gifts.
We enjoyed our Milk & Honey experience. It was a cosy weekend brunch with fresh natural light, good breakfast, and excellent dessert options. It's also a superb spot for buying local produce or international baby products and kids toys (heads up, the shop is open till 7 PM, half an hour later than the cafe). If you're a parent or just into breakfast, what's not to like?
Homemade ice cream, full English breakfast, pink lemonade. We're loving Milk & Honey's new menu!
Milk & Honey has some impressive healthy food options, and really pleasant ambience.
Patronised largely by Colombo’s expat and yoga sets, the quiet cafe serves up some of the best vegetarian food in the city.
සිංහල බුක්ෂොප් එකක් පිටිපස්සෙ තියෙන කැෆේ එකක්.
සිංහල බාන්ස් පෙදෙසේ ළදරු පාසලක් පිටුපස සැඟවුණ කිරි හා පැණි හෙවත් Milk and Honeyකියන්නේ කොළඹ රස රහසක්. ලංකාවේ ජීවත්වන විදේශික ප්රජාව හා යෝග කරන්නන් රැස්වන මේ නිසංසල කැෆේඑක පුරවරයේ තිබෙන හොඳම නිර්මාංශ බොජුන්හලක්.
Address
Directions
It's right next to the Indian Summer restaurant, opposite the Saskia Fernando Gallery. You'll see a children's store that says 'Milk' - the cafe is right inside at the end.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyI read this review and being a vegetarian myself, I was excited to try out Milk and honey. The verdict: Below average. I think the prices are steep. I had a pesto, tomato, "rocket leaves" and mozzarella wrap. Probably healthy, but didn't taste good. Instead of rocket leaves, it was packed with lettuce and the pesto was runny and tasted medicinal. However, the mushroom and cream cheese focaccia sandwich was alright, but wasn't worth 450 considering it was just 'normal' mushrooms and the cream cheese probably being ricotta.
Picked up a goody bag today and was pleasantly surprised !! Yummy stuff without the guilt ;) Very helpful staff. Ideal for busy mums.
Agree . One of the best places in town and not only for Vegetarians. Love the fallafel wrap and the spicy roast pumpkin paneer . Some of the dessert items, cookies are great as well . Not a major fan of their juices.
This is one of my favorite lunch places in colombo! I've had great salads, the pumpkin-feta wrap and my favourite the beetroot falafel wrap. I've always enjoyed the array of sweets and cakes too. It's a bit on the pricey side fir sure, but the feel-good factor definitely makes up for it!! Definitely makes for a happy happy tummy afterwards!!
Went on 23/2 (Sunday lunch time) and they were closed. Bit annoying as it says on Facebook they are open on Sundays.
so I went to the good market outlet at lakpahana, bought a vege quiche from milk and honey… it was cold but didn't bug me, I only saw the fungus on the bottom of the crust when I ate it…. SO NOT DONE! barf as a baker I know that baked goods dont go bad in one day (it was supposed to have been baked on that day). DISAPPOINTED!
Hi Weera, the Good Market team remembers the incident well, and we're sorry we didn't see this comment on the Milk & Honey page earlier. Everyone felt terrible about it. We worked with Milk & Honey to figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. There was a mix up with the supply and a new batch got mixed with old stock. The Good Market shop gets fresh daily deliveries from Milk & Honey and there haven't been any further problems. Milk & Honey was one of the first healthy vegetarian cafes in Colombo and they do great work. We highly recommend checking out their new space on Horton Place
PROS:
1. Cute and charming vibe. Love the furniture and the 'secret garden' feeling
2. Flavourful food, sampled two wraps.
3. Portions are smaller by Sri Lankan standards but I actually appreciated that.
4. Brownie is DELICIOUS! Moist, chocolatey goodness though thinner than I would like it :P
CONS:
1. Ordered the spinach fritter wrap…got something with paneer and spicy brinjals and no explanation (had double checked order)…I already complained about the smoothie (see below) so I kept quiet since it was very tasty regardless.
2. They do not know the fundamental difference between a smoothie (made in blender, contains the fiber from ingredients, ie. Not strained) and a juice (extracted liquid content with no fiber). I tried to explain said difference but felt it was received with the typical resistance to change/constructive criticism. In their defense they omitted the charge for this.
3. Chocolate peanut cookie is dry, chalky and flavourless. Might be OK if dunked in milk/tea/coffee but no good as a stand alone dessert.
The food tastes really good. I loved the pumpkin and paneer wrap! A bit on the pricey side though. XD The atmosphere was great. Service could be a bit faster.
Absolutely horrible service. Went there the other day and nobody even wanted to take our order. Left after a little while because the whole deal was actually pretty hilarious. They really need a few lessons in customer service. However, the uncle at the good market stall is really nice.
Um it's bad enough that the "healthy" place is serving sausages, but you ask for bacon too? On top of the pigs who'd have to be murdered for it, pigs being more intelligent than dogs and just as sweet too at that, processed meat like sausages and bacon are classified as a carcinogen- in the same category as smoking by the World Health Organization. Seriously?
Really sad that a vegetarian/vegan place started serving this meat.
4/5
Eduardo Llovera
Rated 4/5