Cafe Ceylon - overpriced and stressful

We have heard lots of positive vibes about this up-end restaurant in Negombo. Let’s face it, Negombo is not a Mecca for up-end restaurants.

It's located a bit away from the main strip in a delightful house converted into a restaurant. Quaint and spacious for the number of tables. The staff are very welcoming, smart and impressive.

We have brought our own wine as they don’t have a liquor license but have to pay a corkage. This begs the question why am I paying a corkage when the establishment can’t provide wine? The situation deteriorates as on our initial call to book the table, we are told the corkage fee is LKR 1,000. Then the owner rings and says it is LKR 1,500 and it’s to cover the cost of expensive broken wine glasses.

The Whinging Pome Random Rule No. 311: "If it? ain’t broke don’t pay for it."

We say if we break any glasses we will pay. The owner is not amused, we find the whole conversation bizarre.

There are fourteen starters, a bit excessive and makes it difficult to retain the ingredients. Six main courses and 3 desserts, all more than ample but some are not available. Product availability and excessive purchasing prices can have an impact, e.g. follow the expensive carrots story, prices have rabbited up.

Our initial order therefore needs some substitutes.

The oysters are the smallest any of us have seen, the flesh is less than half an inch long with a streaky thinness. A plate of five wedge chips is LKR 1,500. The small whitebait starter arrives, and 9 tiddlers are served for four of us. On the main courses, I have the seafood cream pot, an excellent dish but my three friends are not so impressed with what they ordered. One of our team goes into the kitchen to tell the owner about the unacceptable meal and the price, LKR 28,000.

We are still hungry. We inform the owner and she brings a cheesecake dessert to console us.

The staff handles the matter well but the owner/chef on the night gets a little aggressive and under pressure, though only two tables are occupied in the whole restaurant. The chef however we are told resigned the day before. We head to the Negombo main strip to party. Before ?I leave the restaurant I check out the very expensive glasses, they are all intact and look like they are from Arpico Supermarket.