Perera and Sons

Perera and Sons’ Iced Coffee is truly a life saver.  Thanks to having a P&S right next to office, I (Shailee) tend to spend my earnings on Iced Coffee. It’s usually cold enough and is conveniently in a plastic cup with a silver top. However, anyone looking for a fancy cup of coffee will be terribly disappointed by it; you are given a straw you have to pierce the silver top with in order to have the coffee.

Since there are many outlets, we can’t really talk about the place. The one near my office is certainly not a place to sit and sip your coffee while you read a book or people watch. You pay for your food, you eat it and you leave. However, the P&S Iced Coffee isn't something you take minutes to drinks. A few gulps and it’s over.

Price

The coffee is quite cheap at Rs 55 and it is certainly not a waste of money.

Service

It really depends on the outlet and the day. Sometimes the staff is friendly and sometimes it seems like they will bite your head off. In general, the service isn't bad.

Janani

The iced coffee was simple and light. It was good and refreshing, but would have been much better if it contained a bit more condensed milk and less sugar. However it was relatively cheap and definitely worth the price paid.

Shailee

The iced coffee is a bit too watery, and quite sweet. Coffee would be better if it was thicker and slightly stronger. However, it’s worth the price and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a boost of coffee. 

Heladiv Tea Club

Heladiv Tea Club at Dutch Hospital is the perfect place for a cup of tea or coffee on a nice cool morning or evening. If you get there before the crowd gets unbearable, you can enjoy a drink while people watching, reading, typing away on your laptop or chatting with a friend.

Service

They were quick to bring the menus over, and later the ‘drink (alcohol) menu’ almost as an afterthought. The waitress kept hovering over us as we were deciding on what to get, and after making things uncomfortable, went off to serve another table. We then had to wait a few more minutes before our order was taken. This however, was nothing compared to the wait for our food and drinks. At one point, we actually considered leaving.

What was even more annoying was the fact that customers who ordered after us were served before us. They were foreigners, which added to the insult.

Further, the waitress wasn’t familiar with the menu and didn’t understand our very Sri Lankan accent. We had to point to the items on the menu which was quite embarrassing. However, the staff was quite friendly and helpful, which is something not found in many places. They also cleared our table as soon as we were done, which was a good thing.

Price

 

The drinks weren't exactly cheap but they weren't extremely high priced either.

The form we had to fill out at the end was quite nice and we hope our comments are read and taken into consideration.

Janani

The Ice cappuccino was flavorless and watery. The coffee was very bitter and no amount of sugar syrup could completely drown that unpleasant taste. It left an aftertaste –probably due to the use of over-roasted coffee beans – which could only be described as disturbing. Or maybe yucky! The cappuccino was definitely not worth the money and I would not recommend it to anyone. Or maybe that's what you get when you order coffee at a tea club.

 

Shailee

The Ice Americano would have been quite good if not for the bitterness of the coffee. It made the whole drink terrible as the coffee would be sweet (thanks to all the sugar added) and would then leave this bitter aftertaste.  It was extremely weird to have these two completely different tastes from one drink. Also made it difficult to keep the drink down. It would have been so much better if the coffee itself was good. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, unless they love that bitter aftertaste.

Cioconat Lounge

Situated at the point Barnes Place meets Kynsey Road, Cioconat Lounge is not difficult to find. There is enough and more space and the seats are quite comfortable. There also ample parking space. One of the best things about the place is the buzzer on each table. This means you don’t have to rush through the menu because of the waiter hovering by or have to do that awkward wave to get the attention of a waiter. You could take all the time you wanted to order and the staff was quick to respond to the buzzer (however, this could also be explained by the small number of customers Cioconat saw during the time we were there).

The menu offered quite a variety, but as we were there for the coffee, we didn’t bother spending too much time on the various dishes.

Price

The lowest priced item on the coffee menu was Rs 300 and the highest was Rs 550. Our Double Cappuccino and Caffe Latte were priced at Rs 420 and Rs 400 respectively; slightly high priced in our opinion.

Service

Service was quick, except when bringing us the bill, which took a bit too long. However, the staff was quite friendly and weren’t impatient or too eager. They didn't pester the customer and never forgot to smile.

However, a lady was mopping the floor while we were having our coffee. This made us feel a bit uncomfortable. She may have been mopping the place because there were very few customers, however, it isn't proper to mop the area very close to the customers.

Janani 

Cappuccino

Double Cappuccino

A cappuccino is a drink made from a mixture of espresso and milk. It is supposed to be equal parts of steamed milk and frothed milk with a single or double shot of espresso.

However, the "double cappuccino" which was served was very much creamier than what an ideal Double Cap should be. Therefore in my opinion, it tasted more like a latte than a Cappuccino. 

The espresso used tasted strong and bitter, giving it an extra kick which would only be enjoyed by certain people. However, the 1cm layer of foam on top was near-perfect. 

Overall, the cappuccino was good. But there was definitely more room for improvement.
(though I expected more from a cup of coffee which cost me Rs 420)

Out of five stars

 

 

 

Brownie

It was chewy and hard and stuck to my teeth. The brownie wasn't at all gooey or chocolaty and the menu didn't mention it would have nuts in it. It was rich and heavy and there wasn't enough ice cream (an extra scoop was Rs 200, which is not worth it even if the main ingredient for it was gold). The Cioconat version put me off brownies for a long time and I couldn't even eat one third of it.
overall  opinion- horrible

Out of five stars

 

 

 

Shailee

 

Caffe Latte

The coffee was quite strong and lovely. However, if you don’t like that slightly bitter taste left behind by most types of coffee, the Latte may not be for you. There was also a slight toffee aftertaste which was quite pleasant. It could have been slightly thicker, especially considering the price. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I want to pay that price for another Latte? No.

Out of five stars

 

 

 

 

Brownie

Brownie

Huge disappointment. The size of the brownie was quite large, and seemed worth the price of Rs 440. However, it looks better than it tastes. The white chocolate garnish made no real difference and seemed a bit unnecessary. The vanilla ice cream scoop was quite small and it melted quickly, which meant the fork provided could not be used for the ice cream. The brownie itself was thick and heavy but didn’t taste chocolaty or gooey. The nuts in the brownie were a horrible surprise and the brownie itself was quite hard and tasted stale.

Zero stars