Review: Kolamba, Soho

Typical. You wait ages for great Sri Lankan food, and then two come along at once.

Kolamba is on Kingly Street. That weird back alley behind Regent Street that really should just be full of the wheelie bins and detritus of all the big flagship stores whose staff exits emerge onto it, but instead is lined with some pretty decent places to eat. I’ve a sneaking suspicion Kolamba is the best of them.

You know the deal with Sri Lankan cuisine. BRIGHT flavours. SERIOUS spicing. BOLD colours. HARMONY of sweet/hot/sour/bitter. It’s basically the perfect casual dining cuisine for anyone who just loves their food to explode with flavour. Kolamba does Sri Lankan pretty much perfectly.

We snacked on fried up pieces of cuttlefish doused in a fiery hot butter and served with cool slices of bright green mild chilli. There was an amazing fermented chilli relish that might have gone with this, or with the little mackerel croquettes, I’m not sure.

Oh let me talk about the date and lime chutney! I mean, it’s totally unsophisticated. Mash up dates with limes and chilli. You can go and make some yourself. Doesn’t make it any less brilliant, with everything. I really liked their take on a seeni sambal as well. I’m used to a sticky-sweet onion flavour, but instead this was heavy on the fish paste and somehow came out with a funky blue-cheesey flavour that was very good with a mouthful of curry.

The goat curry was excellent, a very well built curry gravy and sturdy flavourful goat chunks. Jackfruit curry also good, maybe a tad less exciting. Pineapple and aubergine curry another explosion of flavour, maxed on the sweet but with enough hot-sour to balance. Good hoppers. Very good pulau rice.

We basically scoffed everything and went away happy, our mouths singing a spicy tune for hours after. Probably £30 each before drinks (but we guzzled a couple of good cocktails each, which pushed the bill up a notch). Excellent place to know about, for when you’re in Soho.