The main restaurant at Kolamba East. It's a great-looking restaurant with a mix of the classic East London vibe (love that brickwork) with more industrial touches.
What can you tell us about Kolamba East?
This is the second Sri Lankan restaurant from the team who launched the Soho Kolamba. This time they've come to the City/Spitalfields for a slightly bigger restaurant, with a new menu to go with it.
Where is it?
As anyone who's been in the City of late will know, there's been a lot of new development in this area. Kolamba East is in the centre of the big new Norton Folgate development that's between Commercial Street and Bishopsgate. You'll find the new Xi Home dumpling restaurant directly opposite it, with plenty of space for more new openings to come. It's a little tricky to find, so we'd suggest locating it on Google Maps first - then zero in on the restaurant (which is exactly what we did). Shoreditch High Street or Liverpool Street are the closest stations.
Where should we go for a drink first?
The most obvious recommendation is the bar in the basement of Hawksmoor Spitalfields which is just around the corner. Alternatively, there's a big Vagabond nearby on Bishopsgate if you're in more of a wine mood. Kolamba itself is also a pretty good shout thanks to a central bar space in the restaurant as well as a deft hand on the cocktail front.
The main central bar
So what's on the menu?
If you've been to the original Kolamba, the approach here will be familiar to you. Once again, it's all about Sri Lankan food and while you might see a few dishes from the original restaurant, by and large there's a brand new menu at Kolamba East. Here, there's a focus on dishes remembered from the childhood of founders Eroshan and Aushi Meewella specifically concentrating on the Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burger (Dutch) and Malay communities of the capital Columbo.
They're also making a big thing of their larger sharing plates. Even if you've been to the original Soho Kolamba, you're going to find a lot of new things on the menu here. Some dishes definitely veer towards the hotter end of things spice-wise and those are clearly marked on the menu so you can either zero in on them or steer clear depending on your tastes. Here's a taste of what to expect.
First of all, we'll start with small plates and snacks.
Black Pork ‘Mas Paan’ (£9.50) - not our finest hour on the photo front, but you'll want this bun filled with pork.
Hot butter soft shell crab (£10.90) - They tell us this is an an evolution of the 'hot butter cuttlefish' dish at Kolamba Soho, with soft shall crab fried whole with onion and spring onion, finished with chilli and a generous helping of butter. It's a must-order, we'd say.
Jaffna spiced lamb chops (£17) - beautifully spiced chops with a kick of heat. There's also a larger iteration of Jaffna (Sri Lankan curry powder) spiced lamb shank on the menu as a sharing dish.
Then it's on the larger sharing plates. The majority of these dishes are meant for sharing, so don't think about hogging any of them to yourselves.
Ceylon Moor king prawn string hopper biryani (£33) - This replaces the rice you'd perhaps be more used to in a biryani with string hoppers and there are lots more prawns buried at the bottom of this.
Sea bream in coconut (£21) - beautifully flavoured, probably our favourite dish of the night.
Roasted pineapple (£13) - This is pineapple, sautéed with cardamom and mustard seeds, and while it may not look the prettiest, the mix of sweet and savoury in this dish works wonders.
With all of this, you're going to want extras, with sambals, rice and roti available - but you'll definitely need one of these:
Cacklebean egg hopper (£5.50)
After all that - desserts might be something of a reach, but if you do make it this far, we'd recommend the following:
Payasam (£7) - A Sri Lankan version of a rice pudding, something that's been popping up on a lot of menus.
Caramel pudding (£7)
What about the drinks list?
As mentioned already, the cocktail list is well worth a look, with the majority of drinks their own takes on classics using Sri Lankan ingredients. So there's a lychee martini (mikolasch vodka, lychee fenugreek purée, cranberry juice, citrus, apple & ginger foam, £15) and we'd happily recommend the following:
Banana Manhattan (Ceylon Arrack, Banana Liqueur, King Coconut Water, Vermouth, £13) and the Spiced Mango Iced Tea (CaneRock Rum, Mango Oleo, Ceylon Iced Tea, £13).
There's also a good selection of mocktails (like the ice tea minus rum) and soft, with Brooklyn Brewery's lager being the low-alcohol beer option. As for wines, it's a predominantly European list with the entry-level wine being a Spanish Tempranillo Blanco at £40.
Overall thoughts
Kolamba East's City opening is a little larger than the original and brings a taste of Sri Lankan cooking to an area that hasn't seen much of it. If you're a fan of Kolamba, you'll find much to enjoy here and if you're new to them, this is a perfect place to start.
More about Kolamba East
Where is it? 12 Blossom Street, Norton Folgate, London E1 6PL
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @kolamba.ldn.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Kolamba East. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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