We tried a vegetarian indian restaurant called Shanti Vihar for the first time last night, as recommended by our friend Pete Abrahams. It was my birthday so my wife agreed (with some trepidation I think) that I could pick where we went to eat.
The restaurant is situated at 3, Havelock Road in Colombo 5 and is around 15 minute walk from the Cricket Club Cafe. We got a Bajaj there and back and paid 100 rupees each way, which was probably over the top (50-70 rupees is a suggested payment) but I didn't have any change.
A polite waiter approached us as soon as we went in and after asking for a table for two we were immediately ushered in the A/C room at the back of the restaurant. We spent a few minutes looking through the extensive menu and the waiter appeared a bit put out when we asked for a few minutes more to make our decision on what to eat. When he returned I started to order but he appeared confused when I started to order a number of different dishes, several of which were apparently not available (take the menu as a guide to what food food is available). I, perhaps, should explain that this is how we do things in English Indians; just order a variety of way too much food so we can try lots of different dishes. Usually we end up taking it home with us and either having it for supper or heat it up for breakfast the next morning. Anyway I digress. The waiter suggested we should try the buffet and escorted us to the upstairs room. Now I am not a big fan of buffets for a couple of reasons.
- If you don't know what the various foods are you end up picking dishes that do not compliment one another.
- A buffet has a much more restricted choice than a full menu.
However, after having a quick look at the buffet I decided it seemed easier to go with the flow so we aquiesented and went to find a table as it was 18:55 and the buffet didn't start until 19:00. The buffet cost was 220 rupees per person and included a drink. The immediate downside was that lassi was not an included drink in the buffet and although I tried explain that I was prepared to pay extra for the lassi I could see my request was falling on stony ground ;-) The buffet was not in an air conditioned room but they did have a couple of stand up fans working so the room temperature was acceptable. My wife did have to check 4 tables before finding one that passed her fairly rigid hygiene standards. After 5 minutes or so a couple of cokes arrived so I passed mine onto my wife and resigned myself to eating the meal with no accompanying drink (I don't like fizzy drinks). Note that there is no alcohol available on the menu. Buffet start times are approximate in Sri Lanka so I never expect the full buffet to be available until at least 15 minutes after the promised start. Shanti Vihar did not disappoint me. However by around 19:10 there was enough food there for us to make a start. And what food. Sadly, I was ignorant to the names of pretty much everything I ate but what I can say it the food was very tasty, the variety was pretty good and most the food would be around medium to hot in an English Indian. A note of caution though. My wife did loose the feeling in her mouth around half way through the meal, after chewing on a chlli by mistake but she soldiered on, bless her, and managed to clear a fair amount of her plate before pleading that she was full. She did like the dhall and the tandori paneer very much. For me, I ate all bar one item from the buffet (something with eggplant in - which I am not keen on) and went up for a second helping.
For some reason we were the only customers in the buffet room for the 45 minutes or so we were there. Downstairs was more lively from what we saw of it. All the other customers downstairs appeared to be Sri Lankans so I doubt whether this restaurant is a hot spot with the ex-pats, which IMHO is their loss ;-)
The waiter working in the buffet area was excellent, was hovering without being obtrusive and produced the bill within a couple of minutes of us asking for it (a rare occurance in Sri Lanka where I allow at least 15 minutes between requesting the bill and when I generally expect the receive it). There was no service charge, or indeed any other additional charges on the quoted price.
This restaurant will join my list of approved Colombo eateries and I hope to eat here many times again and learn some of the names of the wonderful dishes the produce. I think my wife will not be too anxious to accompany me so I'll probably be calling in when she is away visiting friends ;-)