313, Galle Road, Colombo
Open until 02:00 AM
Qahwah is Almonds Exclusive's own coffee station, but really it's just a part of the restaurant. There's nothing that sets it apart from the place itself other than some rather interesting coffee options.
Qahwah is the Arabic word for coffee. So it isn't surprising to know that they serve, well, coffee.
They use a certain brand of coffee creatively named 'Beans' and they do their own grinding, roasting, etc in house. We were informed that they've brought down a Rancilio espresso machine, which is considered the 'Rolls Royce of all espresso machines.' I'm no coffee afficionado, so I really can't comment on that.
The cafe isn't really different in terms of ambience from Almonds, the restaurant. You can read our review of Almonds here.
They serve a variety of coffee based drinks in addition to the basics. We got an Americano (Rs. 500), a 'Srifogato' (Rs. 490 for a single scoop), an Iced Hazelnut Latte (Rs. 570) and a Cappuccino (Rs. 570).
The Iced Hazelnut Latte (left) was a surprisingly balanced and flavourful drink. A little heavier than your average iced coffee and with strong, rich, hazelnutty notes, I'd recommend this one if you're looking for something simple and nice to drink.
The Americano (right) is served in a tall glass as opposed to a cuppa. I really don't know why. This is a bit of a difficult drink to get through in such large quantities. The coffee was very light, probably because of the high water content, so unless you're specifically into that I'd suggest you get something else.
The 'Srifogato' (which I'm assuming is a sort of Lankan word-play on the actual drink) comes with a range of ice cream flavours to choose from. We stuck with cardamom flavoured ice cream because we thought it'd be interesting and it actually was. The coffee was a bit over-roasted but the cardamom flavour justified it by diluting any unpleasant bitterness. Not bad.
The Cappuccino came with a bit of chocolate on the top, which added to the overall flavour. Still, this wasn't a very impressive drink. The foam was frothier than what I'm normally used to, very light and with way too many bubbles. The drink itself was more milk than coffee and I feel like it could do with an extra half a shot of espresso.
For bites, we got a Mousse Cup (Rs. 200) and three cookies: White Chocolate and Almond, Pistachio and Ginger each priced at Rs. 100.
The mousse cup is tiny, extremely sweet with lots of chocolate. The 'cup' is made entirely out of dark chocolate and the bottom comes with chocolate chips. Paired with the ultra-chocolatey mousse filling, this is a great choice if you're a chocoholic.
The cookies were all chewy soft and while our favourite was the pistachio, the other two weren't bad either. The ginger cookie was strong and made for a great pairing with plain coffee and the almond cookie was a nice, buttery thing with chunks of almond and chocolate embedded into it.
Service was fine, although having people constantly hovering over you can get a bit tedious. The waiters knew their way around the menu and even gave us a few tips on how the 'Srifogato' is best enjoyed.
The coffee is good, not exactly 100% but still okay if you're close by and want to drop in. Try the 'Srifogato'.
Open until 02:00 AM
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