The Exchange Pub

The Exchange is a pretty unique theme restaurant in a crowded theme restaurant space. The premise is to make the transaction like it works at an exchange. Unfortunately, unlike a real exchange, the prices for the orders aren't really based on market dynamics of supply and demand, but rather, just the supply, but hey, what can you do? 😀

The unique pub is the work of former employees of MillenniumIT, the theme instantly familiar to those of the industry. The location is interesting too, just across the street from the WTC, housing the Colombo Stock Exchange, one of MillenniumIT's first clients. Naturally the CSE is there as the Fort, in the Commercial Capital of Sri Lanka, is the epicenter of financial activity of the country. The choice of location is inspired, in my opinion.
The decor is typical pub, but the screens displaying item prices like a stock market ledger interface is somewhat different. The effect is interesting.

I landed there in the company of some friends working closeby, the place suggested on whim. The prices are not cheap, but fairly normal for the area near Dutch Hospital. The portions seem pretty generous, specially on the rice my friends ordered. The food seems quite good too, worth a shot.

My Beef Burger with potato wedges. There actually is a patty in there, tho it seems like some cheese topped with a lot of lettuce 😁 It's not bad, even though I would have liked a bigger patty. Also, the burger bun got quite soggy quite quickly, but there was a decent mix of condiments and patty in there. Worth a try.

De Vos Cafe - Oh for Fox sake!

De Vos Cafe, off De Vos Road in Bambalapitiya, has been creating much buzz on social media, specially after a Yamu review that it seems not many people agree with. Who ever is in charge of social media at De Vos is also doing a fantastic job with some sharp wit and a good sense of humor. So much so that I had to check it out for myself.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so no pictures of the place, but I decided to take some food pics off my phone. This wasn't a planned stop, just joining my wife and her friends when they took a break from shopping to have lunch. The place will have to wait for another time (which will happen as I want to try the French Dip Sandwich, hilariously featured here)

For now, first thing on the list - English Pub Breakfast

Made a slight mistake, this comes with toast with butter and jam, but that came after a slight delay and I had already dug into this, so I didn't retake pictures including that. Pulse has pictures if you want to look into it. This looked way too good to sit around and wait. (I was right about that.) It IS a bit on the pricey side, (Though normal for the Colombo cafe scene) but at least you are getting a lot for your money, so can't really complain. Not something I would order every time (cholesterol is too high to be having all this bacon and hash browns) but it can definitely be recommended as a good solid meal. Going by the pics on Yamu, this has definitely improved in quantity.

The wife went on a more traditional route, rice and curry, called Lankan Delight. Once again it seems a ridiculous thing to go to a cafe and spend this much money on a rice and curry which can be had for approximately 1/4 of the cost from a place much closer to home, but as an experience, it's good. Quantity, check. Taste, check. Slightly too much spice for my tastes, but my wife is more of a fan of chillie, and she liked it just fine. I will add that there are certain meals worth sweating to eat and this would be worth the sweat from eating the spice.

I didn't try the other food, which was a chicken taco with penne alfredo and a vege and cheese sandwich, but the reactions were quite positive, and I can tell you, the portions were more than generous. The fries are interesting, they had a flavour I couldn't identify, not sure what it was, but whatever it was, I'm a fan.

We had drinks, which I didn't take pictures of, but quick summary. I had iced tea, which was nice, came with sugar syrup separately (which I appreciate) and also in rather large mason glass (which is also much appreciated). The girls had some coffee and something called a lemondrop. The one who ordered it apparently didn't read the description and wasn't a fan of the strong lemongrass flavour, but I, who love the lemongrass flavour, loved it and recommend it highly.

Definitely a place I would stop at to have a tea or lemondrop and read a book when I need to kill some time.

Calorie Counter

I'm not a health nut by any means, but I have heard plenty of good things about Calorie Counter, and  since I was working in the area that morning, I decided to drop in at the Ward Place branch and see what all the fuss is about. 

The restaurant is a nice space. I like the decor, specially the large wall mounted menus with accompanying pictures. It's a nice place to sit and work for a while. It does, however, lack WiFi (with signs saying there is no WiFi, talk to each other :) ) and no charging outlets, so it's not aimed at that kind of coffee shop clientele.

The founder's story board is a nice touch, but it's partially hidden. They should really find a better place for that.

The menu is quite wide, and I spent a long time trying to make a choice. Fortunately the staff is quite attentive, and the guy behind the counter pointed out the mains, as I had only been looking at the wraps and sandwiches. At that point I saw the Peri Peri chicken and that was immediately my number one choice. 

They did give a nice big hunk of chicken accompanied by vegetables and corn. It was quite good. It was well spiced, and quite sufficient in quantity. It wasn't quite like the Peri Peri Chicken that is found in Nando's restaurants but still quite good. A nice Nando's Peri Peri sauce would make things quite feisty, but then, this was about counting calories.