Dinu's Food Palace

Foodies abroad and locally who wish to savour all types of food outside the city of Colombo, must head straight to Nugegoda. It has as much as hundreds of restaurants, cafes, bakeries and stalls catering to different markets.

Down Church Street Nugegoda, from the Nawala junction, there are a number of restaurants and cafes facing the Nugegoda Supermarket complex. One such place is Dinu's Food Palace. Located adjoining Muluthenge, this place is not visible from the junction until you reach the entrance.

The Kothu kitchen is placed on one side of the entrance while food warmers are placed along it till midway. Since I visited this place for lunch, I can only speak of what was available for lunch. As far as cleanliness goes, I would give them a 9 out of 10. Service was also quick.

At the time I went - around 1.30 p.m, the place was choc-a-bloc with students and I had to wait for sometime to get a table to dine in. However, by 2 p.m. the place cleared up and I was able to place my order and have my lunch. These pictures were taken after lunch, when most of the crowd had left.


With regard to food, one food warmer consisted of Fried Rice, and it's accompaniments along with curries like, chicken, Soya meat and fish, while the other consisted of rice, vegetables and greens.

  

My order was rice and curry "Vegetables". Usually a person who takes non veg has a choice of 4 vegetables and 1 curry. Since I was going vegetarian, I had to choose 5 vegetables. I'm touched by the fact that they had greens as a choice. They already have my vote for this. Being a daughter of a doctor, I know the importance of having greens in our diet, so I highly appreciate anyone who offers them. The meal on the whole was great, except for one small defect - 2 of the vegetables had slightly excess salt.

 

There is one thing this medium sized restaurant does that others don't, and that is offer Chicken Kothu for lunch. The normal rate for Chicken Kothu at night is Rs. 230.00.  However, since students like this item, they are offering it at a special price of Rs. 190.00. and I'm not surprised. Almost all the students who came here today, ordered only Chicken Kothu. According to the owner, Chicken Kothu is a hit among students. 

 

Another unique aspect that I witnessed is the placing of small bins at strategic places between tables, to dispose the polythene sheets and the food remains. Based on what I had experienced, this is one place I will definitely recommend.

Spice & Ice - Omega Regency

I came here to dine and have my lunch. It was 3 p.m. and it was very difficult to find a place that still had lunch at that time. So I am immensely grateful that there was something I could take. At that time, Rice and Curry was over and only Biryani and Lamprais were available.

Ambience and appearance

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The place was very neat and clean. They were frequently cleaning/sweeping / mopping the floor. The decor on the walls served to increase the appetite even though such food stuffs were not available. They did however, have quite a lot of bakery items displayed in glass showcases.

Customer Service

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Terrible to say the least.  I had to go in search of the staff at the takeaway counter and ask what they had for lunch. No menus. When the meal was served I asked the serving person what they had for dessert. Her response left me a bad taste in my mouth. She said, only those in the chiller/freezer are there for dessert. Now I'm supposed to go to the freezer and select my dessert. Ha????

When a person goes to dine, they expect to be cared for. We expect them to be concerned about us and ask us whether we would like anything else? etc. And if we ask what they had , they must tell us a list of items available (if its just a small number) or give us the menu card.  Anything else is bad service.

Food

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Chocolate Mousse

Since they had only 2 items, I ordered Chicken Lamprais and for dessert- Chocolate mousse.

The Lamprais had the usual curries that you would find in a Lamprais, but with a small difference. Everything had Indian flavours - I mean they tasted like Indian curries. However, the ash plantain curry was stale.

Chicken Lamprais

The chocolate mouse was the saviour. I usually don't like anything with chocolate, but this mousse really made by day. In fact, the taste and feeling stayed in my mouth for a long time afterwards

Price

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I'd say they were reasonable. The same price you would find elsewhere.

Despite the lackluster experience, I will definitely recommend the food.

Tom Yum

Tom Yum is a small Thai Restaurant specialising in Thai Street Food. It is situated at #330, Galle Road, Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4 opposite St. Peter's College. I visited this place today at 7 p.m to take home some of their celebrated dishes.

Ambience

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At first glance, it looks like a small cafe, but it has all the trappings of a modern restaurant. The place has air-conditioning and the table decor is very simple and pleasant.  They also have a provision for a baby feeding chair for families with babies.

                                                                                                 

Customer Service

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The staff at this place is quite helpful. The local staff will suggest the food you should order if you have difficulties in selecting them. If you have any doubts about the items in the menu,the lady chef who runs this place and cooks the food, will oblige you by explaining the menu items patiently in her halting English. She has bowled me over with her demeanour and her pleasant conversation.

Food

Tom Yum Soup

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Food here is available in vegetarian, beef, chicken and seafood ranges. For my takeout, I ordered Tom Yum soup and Seafood Fried Rice with Basil -(small portion). Our takeaway order was packed in microwave safe containers, which was a first, when we consider other restaurants give takeouts in aluminum or disposable plastic food containers.

Tom Yum soup is a spicy soup available in chicken or seafood. My order was for chicken Tom Yum. It is a soup cooked in coconut milk with tomatoes, lemon grass, galangal  and mushroom. It was really yummy and the portion size was quite large. 

Hot green chillie sauce

The Seafood Fried Rice had cuttle fish, octopus and prawns. accompanied with a hot sauce made with fish broth, vinegar and chopped green chillies. Even though it was packed in a container, I quite liked the way the food was presented. It was garnished with freshly sliced cucumber wedges and spring onion. Unfortunately, the Fried rice had too much soya sauce and just ONE prawn. The hot sauce was also TOO SALTY. Other than this my overall food experience was OK. 

Seafood Fried Rice with Basil

Price
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The prices of the food were somewhat higher than the usual restaurant charges. More like 5 star hotel rates. I felt the price for the soup (Rs. 990) was too exorbitant considering it was just chicken broth in coconut milk.  I was also charged separately for the microwave safe containers,


Will I recommend?
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If you feel like you have some money to splash and you need to enjoy what you eat, then this is one place you should give some serious consideration.