14 Rheinland Place, Colombo 03
This place has closed down
You've heard of Sri Lankan Chinese food, but Sri Lankan Japanese? Well it exists and using the island's abundance of fresh sea food, Sakura has been serving up consistently good and affordable Japanese dishes since 1983.
Sakura is no longer at their old location. You can now find them at Kinjou on Amarasekara Mawatha.
Sakura is quite possibly the oldest Japanese restaurant in Colombo. It's not the best nor the most authentic Japanese we've had, but they're affordable and it was actually better than we expected.
Sakura has a special place in the food scene Colombo, known to be the pioneer of Sri Lankanized Japanese cuisine. Basically, classic Japanese dishes with modifications to suit the local palate. The menu is as extensive as it can get, with pretty much any essential Japanese dish available. The prices vary quite a bit, but you won't find yourself spending more than Rs. 1500 per head and they've also got some pretty great value meals for lunch, priced between Rs. 900 - Rs. 1200.
The sushi teishoku (Rs. 1100) was the lunch deal we tried out. It comes with a assorted platter of nigiri shushi, tekka maki and avocado maki, along with a miso soup as well as a kaisen don. Overall we'd say this is well worth the money since you get plenty of bang for buck.
The assorted sushi platter comes with 3 maguro nigiri (tuna), 1 ika nigiri (squid) and 1 shiromi nigiri (white fish) along with 3 each of tekka maki and avocado maki. What we really liked here was that all of the seafood was very fresh, and the sushi had a good wasabi hit to it. However, the main problem that we came across was that the rice was quite hard in texture.
We also enjoyed the kaisen don we got in the teishoku. The usual kaisen don is a large bowl of rice with assorted seafood, but you get a much smaller version in this. It comes with tuna, squid, omelette, lettuce and shimp which makes for a great array of textures and flavours. The rice in the kaisen don was fine, and the addition of the diced pickled daikon to the rice further enhanced the taste.
The katsudon (Rs. 980) was pretty good, but definitely had that Sri Lankanized taste to it. Having tried the katsudon at Cafe Japan (which is run by a Japanese family), the difference in seasoning was quite apparent, with this one being a lot sweeter and saltier. The portion size is large and they didn't skimp on the pork. Also another thing that really caught us by surprise here was how great the caramelized onions tasted. Once again though, the rice had the same hard and lumpy texture.
From the outside Sakura looks like a pretty small restaurant, but after you step in you see that it extends quite far inside. They've got private rooms, a normal seating area in front of their pseudo sushi bar, and a pretty nice area with tatami mats. The latter of the three is probably the best seating option since it's both comfortable and authentic.
We dropped in during the lunch service, when there weren't many other customers, so our food was ready in no time at all. But we have experienced slower service in the past during more crowded times.
Thirty years down the line, Sakura is still holding strong. It's not the most authentic Japanese you can get in Colombo, but it's still a good choice for a casual Japanese dining on a budget.
Address
14 Rheinland Place, Colombo 03
Directions
From Galle Road, it's the left turn just past Alfred Place (Durdan's Hospital). Rheinland place is on the sea side.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyThis place has closed down
Cuisine
Price Range
Dish Types
Ratings Breakdown
Colombo's beloved sushi restaurant is now in Kandy.
The tiniest Japanese resto that gives you value for money.
A Japanese Bar in One Galle Face.
I absolutely love this place. The food is great for the price, but it's ambiance that takes the cake. And it's great to walk into a restaurant in colombo that isn't drowning in its own faux-sophistication, or in the case of nihon bashi pseudo-Zen .
Naniyori (Steamboat's Japanese offering), is now consistently good enough to be real competition for Sakura. They are less expensive too.
This used to be the best place for affordable Japanese food. Quality is ok. However, the sashimi sushi are not the freshest at times; especially the Ika is dodgy most of the time. The katsu-don is the best and most reliable dish. Naniyori sashimi and sushi are very much better… and the prices are amazing!
Buthaniku豚肉 means pig's meat, so you're telling me you're the only restaurant in the world who serves Halal pigs? Well done
Very Very disappointed :-( Staff was almost rude, place is very run down and food really was average. Yes value for money but who wants to by cheap price for cheap food ?!
Anyone wants to tryout what Japanese food is like, I think, it's best to go to Sakura and try dining-in, the Sushi / Sashimi assortment they have for Rs. 900+
Used to be good but in the last couple of years the quality of food and the place itself has deteriorated alarmingly. We went to dine in and could stand the musty/cockroachy smell. Another seating area close to the toilets was worse. So we asked that the food to be packed up to go instead. Even the glasses were dirty. Food was only so so. Katsudon being nice and the Sashimi not so much.
This place is slightly cheaper than some other good Japanese restaraunt. However the service was poor and need a new renovation. Watch out when you pay your bill, the staff would charge you a 10% service charge then charge you all the taxes including the service charge. So you are paying another 13% for your service charge. We highlighted this to the supervisor but they just said this is the common practice. Never return!
Yes, as you say it's probably a Sri Lankanized japanese. I visited in Nov 2014, may be things have improved now but according to what i saw back then, they really need a good interior make over. I happened to visit a similar restaurant in Shanghai (China) and found the same foods are priced lesser and quantities were bigger per plate. So value for money wise, I would warn you against going to this place. Not all of us get the chance to go to Japan, but if you get the change to travel to Singapore/China etc, please try a Japanese Restaurant there. So, go to Sakura only if you desperately want to try out Japanese food. :)
Went there on Saturday and very disappointing in the service and the food. This used to be one of our all time favorite spots but was sadly disappointed.
the Japaneses tea was cold, they didnt have most of the sushi and the ones we ordered we very small, literary tiny. after we complained we end up getting the next batch which were almost the size of oreos… the main meals were very bland and dry. very sad !
Date: 23/08/2016
1 x Chicken Katsudon 1100
1 x Miso Shiru (Soup) 350
Total with tax + SC 1450 (13-14 AUD)
Katsudon was better than Tsukiji Uoichi's (http://goo.gl/JzGzKW), although the meat was cooked the exact same way.
This place is quite EXPENSIVE. 1100 bucks for a small Chicken rice bowl is IMO kind of daylight robbery. The place seems run-down a bit. When I went at around 7:30 in the night there was NO ONE else. It was deserted and was kind of odd eating all alone in a restaurant.
I don't think I will be going to Sakura very soon.
The Rheinland Place venue has now shut down, but they are supposedly re-opening in Havelock somewhere. Does anyone know the new address? Thanks
3/5
JohnTEC
Rated 3/5