Way back in 2009, my friend, who by the way now has a German passport, took me to a restaurant in Frankfurt and summarised German cuisine in one line; steamed pig between the buns and a beer! Clearly, there is so much more to food in Germany that my poor little friend didn’t try. Now in 2017, he understands a lot more about the food. Even back then, there was so much to try in Germany, from schnitzel to street side steak, but I didn’t have a chance to go back to Germany. In Colombo, a German pub has been getting raving reviews and I wasn’t going to miss it.

Pubs, apparently have to be German or Irish. I believe everything else is a derived from these two pub forms. While there is no real way to establish that statement, the Bavarian in Colombo has a distinct German feel to it. The way the tables are arranged to the colour of the dim lights and the (rather expressionless) waiters, it did feel like being transported back to 2009. With the arrival of different beers in different (or rather their respective) beer glasses, the ambiance was complete.

The food was definitely more than steamed pigs between the buns. The fried camembert cheese with stewed apple and chutney was a fabulous start to dinner. This fried gooeyness with sides was so good that we ended up ordering two more for the table of five. That was because the portion size of the mains were yet to be revealed. All of us shared some Beef Goulash soup, a soup with chunky beef in a thick mildly spiced broth.

When we saw a 400g Woodcutter steak on the menu, we knew it was large and decided to share one between us, but our friend said he was hungry and he ordered one for himself. A ‘Tuesday vegetarian’ friend got himself a potato roulade, and beef stroganoff with noodles for the fifth person completed the order.

The beef steak was huge. Our 6’2″ friend who ordered one for himself finished it, but had to be rolled out of the restaurant. The two of us who shared another, barely finished it. The steak itself was beautifully pink, with a thick mushroom sauce to complement it and some veggies to complete the plate. I only had a bit of the roulade and while I don’t remember the flavours I do remember commenting that it was good. I also don’t remember if I really liked it or if I said that to console my ‘Tuesday vegetarian’ friend whose eyes I noticed were staring at all our plates. The stroganoff beef dish was similar to the steak, but the beef strips was well done. The noodles that came with the stroganoff was funny, it felt more like a cross between pasta and potato than noodles and was bland, but to its credit it did complement the stroganoff.

I know we were full, but we binged on dessert here. Crumbled Apple stew was beautifully crusty and the full flavour of the apples coming through with ice cream cutting the heat, was the dessert of the day, followed closely by the Snicker Mousse that was thick and decadent with various combinations of chocolate. A couple of ice creams with macadamia nuts completed our dessert.

Our host foot the bill and so I don’t know what the total damage was, but the dishes were priced reasonably well (for Indian standards). The woodcutter steak at about LKR 1650 (about INR 750) and the starters at about LKR 950 (INR 400), the final bill should have been around Rs. LKR 15,000 (about INR 6500) for five people. With large portions, a German like ambience and nice peppy music, Bavarian should be a must visit while in Colombo.

Bavarian is in Kollupatiya, Colombo. 

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I've never had a jackfruit gravy! I don't think so! With a tanginess from tamarind and some kind of a mango-gravy-ish flavours, the dish, GATA POLOS, was the epitome of our lunch which introduced us to some wonderful Sri Lankan cuisines in Colombo, aptly named Upali, Simply Sri Lankan.

The king coconut opened our lunch. Perfect thirst quencher for a hot day and for the visitors like us, it added a visual element to the meal. With a tinge of lime and the slightly different flavour from our own tender coconut, we were set for the Sri Lankan lunch.

While very similar to our cuisine, specifically Kerala cuisine, there is so much difference too. The similarities and the differences are wonderful for an exploring palate. Like an Indian lunch, rice is the staple! Rice with three vegetables and a chicken or fish gravy was the norm. The differences were in the sides. Like that supremely wonderful jack fruit gravy, the POL SAMBAL, which was like a dry chutney made of chillies and coconut added variety to the meal.

Two fish preps were the stars for the group! A deep fried fish and a mackerel grilled, both of which were certainly not for my palate, but was loved by the locals and my friends!

As travel opens up the brains, I am seeing a lot of similarities in foods but with difference that make the variety, spicy! ;-) I have no idea, what the last part of that sentence means, but that's ok!

Wattalappam is a must try for dessert!

While our hosts in Sri Lanka paid for the meal, I think a meal for two will cost about Rs. 2500 (LKR) which is about Rs. 1200 INR! 

We've seen Marina! Not the beach, but the restaurant. Lovely place, isn't it?. And then there is Lagoon which is Marina on steroids! While Sri Lanka is known for sea food, didn't except a scene like this in a 5 star hotel. I mean there was a full big Sting Ray on display! Phew. 

Simply the size of the fishes and crabs on display were mind boggling. The restaurant being packed, we were happy to be seated outside by the mini stream filled with fishes and the air with fishy odour. I guess that set the tone for the dinner and the evening. One poor guy who was vegetarian for that night (or month) was stuck with us and while all of us felt sorry for him, no one wanted to give him company.  He did enjoy some Kala Kung with some green curry on his own.

Back to the plot. Our host in Sri Lanka went all out on his orders. Cuttle Fish batter fry, crabs, lobsters and prawns were on the table. I think our friend's heart was also on the table, though we couldn't see it, we all felt it. Our brains didn't, though.  He said that for the torture we were giving him and for his sacrifices, he is surely going to heaven. And he was equally sure that we were headed to hell! Like straight! 

The Cuttlefish batter fry was an instant super hit and was washed down by all! The fish had a slight squid-ish texture which was lovely for a batter fry, so while the batter had the crisp, the fish was chewy and together gave us a nice combination of textures. The prawns and the lobster thermidor were the usual with a nice garlic butter marinade for the prawn and the usual thermidor.

The next hit dish was the crab. The crab was not monstrous, but was large and the photo doesn't do any justice to the size. It was about 1.3 kg and at (LKR) Rs.700/100g, it wasn't cheap. The chilli gravy in which it was cooked had seeped into the crab and lended its flavour a little bit to the crab!

We finished off sharing three desserts, a simple chocolote brownie and two different custard puddings, one with their traditional 'Seeni Sambal' on top! The meal cost our host about Rs. 35000 (LKR) which is about Rs. 16,000 for 7 of us. Yes, expensive! 

Lagoon is at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo at one level below the lobby, by the swimming pool and fishy garden! 

Two fantastic cricketers. One Chef. A noble intention. No ego branding. This deadly combination brings in a fantastic restaurant. The Ministry of Crabs. While it also makes it to Asia's Top 50 restaurant list, it also operates out a quaint little space in the Old Dutch Hospital in Colombo.

A picture speaks a thousand words, but some pictures speak a thousand pictures. This one prawn photo that I posted on instagram went viral (by my standards) and the one question that most people had was, "Is that shell on?" Nope. It was without the shell, but the head was intact."

So, we thought we were not going to Ministry of Crabs. After unsuccessfully trying to get a reservation for dinner, including blowing my trumpet about this blog, I was waitlisted. Our host in Colombo was able to get us a place for lunch and after nearly missing our place because of a delayed meeting, we barely made it, just before they were going to release our table. The place was full with a the board, "Sorry, the Ministry is full today." Thank God.

6 of us. 6 prawns, 3 crabs, 2 bowls of rice and two plates of bread. That's it. The prawns came first with the breads. Oh-My-God. The flavours seeped in well and the prawns were super jumbo. I mean, it could pass off as a baby lobster! Without the shell they were half a fist in diameter and the juices were flowing in the plate that was good fodder for the nice and freshly home baked kale breads. Just one piece each and we thought we were done with the mains. We almost forget the crabs, though this is the Ministry of Crabs.

The crabs came in next with the burnt garlic fried rice. The crabs were just as Oh-My-God as the prawns. I am used to having flavours on the shell and no flavour seeping through the crabs, but here, flavours of the marinade had seeped through, and with the natural flavour of the crabs, were simply awesome.

We finished off with the only available dessert, the chocolate biscuit pudding that is ubiquitous in Sri Lanka.

The meal set us back by LKR 30,000 which is roughly about Rs. 14000! For a premium experience and the size of the prawns and crabs, we thought it was justified. Actually it doesn't matter what we thought, because honestly, we didn't think about it till we got back!!!