Latest opening: Kolamba East
What: A slick Sri Lankan just off the northern end of London’s Liverpool Street where The City, Spitalfields and Shoreditch meet. Kolamba East is the younger (but much larger) sibling of Soho’s Kolamba which launched in 2019. While the ‘inspired by the bold flavours of Sri Lankan home cooking’ food concept is essentially the same the menu has been completely reworked with not a single dish repeated verbatim.
Who: Kolamba is led by husband and wife duo Eroshan and Aushi Meewella, who have been UK-based for some time but both grew up in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The pair have a background in property and interior design and continue to run luxury design agency WhiteBox London together. At Kolamba, Eroshan is focused on the food and funding while Aushi oversees design and marketing. The group’s executive chef is Imran Mansuri, an alumnus of top London Indian restaurants including Tamarind and Jamavar.
The food: A much bigger space and new location has seen the pair expand and reconceptualise their menu. There is now more of a focus on sharing dishes including whole rib jaggery beef; and Jaffna lamb shank. New smaller dishes include Idli with Sambar; sea bream in coconut; roasted pineapple curry; and hot butter soft shell crab (a take on a classic Sri Lankan dish that is usually made with cuttlefish). Eroshan says that while the new menu is a little more premium due to the catchment Kolamba East is still affordable with the most expensive dish - king prawn string hopper biryani - priced at £33 and designed for two people to share.
To drink: It is hoped that the presence of a prominent bar will help drive drinks spend (drinks sales aren’t as high as the pair would ideally like at the original Kolamba on Kingly Street due to the typical customer profile and the need to turn tables quickly). Cocktails include the Pol Mezcalita (Amore Verde mezcal, coconut, citrus, spicy tincture, pol sambol rim); Lychee Martini (Mikolasch vodka, lychee fenugreek purée, cranberry juice, citrus, apple and ginger foam; and Spiced Mango Iced Tea (CaneRock rum, mango oleo, Ceylon iced tea). The 50-or-so bin wine list starts at £7.30 a glass for still wines or £40 a bottle. There is also a small Coravin section which tops out at £33 for glass of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
The vibe: Working with Annie Harrison of London studio FARE INC, the pair have “infused a contemporary Sri Lankan aesthetic” into former warehouse within the recently launched Norton Folgate development. The 90-cover space echoes the design of the Soho original (which pays homage Tropical Modernism-pioneer Geoffrey Bawa) to some extent but is “more refined and grown up as befits the location”.
And another thing: When the pair started out in restaurants they were warned that a single site would be a lot of work for very little return. They have found this to be the case, especially when they compare their original Soho site to their design business. With this in mind, it’s unlikely to be that long before the Meewellas are on the expansion trail again but the duo are clear that they don’t want to create something that could be thought of as a chain with each site set to “have its own identity and be independent in terms of menu development”.
12 Blossom Street, London E1 6PL
www.kolamba.co.uk
