405 Gloucester Road
Bristol, BS7 8TS
0117 942 0250
Georgia agreed to take Jaki and I out for dinner as a Birthday present (or it might have been a Fathers Day present, I cant remember) so I booked the Kandyan for Saturday night.
I haven’t eaten Sri Lankan food before so I was keen to give it a try.
Georgia and Fraser were more familiar with the food having spent 5 weeks in the country Christmas 2018.
Their report suggested Lankan food was interesting but it soon became repetitive and they were bored with the menu by the end of the holiday, in fact they sought out fast food like Burger King and Pizza as a way of varying their diet.
Our experience of traveling round India was completely different, in the area we stayed it was predominantly vegetarian due to the religious beliefs of the people but we rarely had two meals the same.
It was a bit strange to be eating spicy food for breakfast but we soon got used to that.
So, Booking the Kandyan was a bit of gamble but I guess thats the job of a food blogger, ‘to boldly go where no Man (or Woman) has gone before’ and seek out new Life forms food.
So I ‘Googled’ the restaurant and looked at its web page which looked promising and then read some of the reviews which confirmed this as a place worth visiting.
I made a bit of a hash of the booking as it only opens on an evening so when i called to make the booking, they were closed and stupidly i forgot to write down the phone number. But the contact details are all on their web site so I gave them a call one evening and made the booking.
I put the entry in the diary on my phone but again forgot to enter the time of the booking so when inevitably I was asked “What time are we booked for” my phone told me half past five.
School Boy errors.
Not a mistake Jay Rayner would make.
Since I’ve given up drinking I seem to have become the resident Uber driver for the Hendy Family so I was pleased to accept Frasers offer of a lift in his new super duper Mercedes, though I did have some fears about his driving.
The Mercedes has an ‘Eco’ setting and a ‘Sports’ setting.
If it were my car it would be permanently in ‘Eco’ however Fraser prefers the ‘Sports’ !
The first issue with this restaurant is its location on the busy Gloucester Rd in Bristol and as a result, the parking. There is always somewhere to park but it might not be outside the door and in the winter even a short walk can be a pain.
We managed to park relatively closely (5 minute walk even for me) though predictably there was an available space almost opposite the restaurant!
Gloucester Rd was busy as were many of the Cafes and restaurants that vie for trade in this area.
We walked past Jeans Bistro, a great Thai restaurant and The Drapers Arms both full of customers who seemed to be enjoying the warmth and atmosphere, like plants in a Terrarium, on this wet and miserable night.
Even outside was busy with the usual street people, arguing amongst themselves whilst sharing some White Lightning or a can of Special Brew.
When we got to the restaurant it was extremely busy and most tables were full, with people sitting at high stools in the window.
I had emailed earlier in the day and confirmed the booking so i was a bit concerned when they didn’t seem to have us on the list and then when there was obviously some confusion about our table.
I think there was a party sat at our table who were expected to leave before we arrived and hadn’t so we were seated at another table, which was probably in a nicer position at the front of house.
The venue inside is comfortable with good seating though the space between tables was a bit tight so getting in and out to the loo required some delicate manoeuvres.
The walls were hung with Lanka art works some of which were quite attractive though I don’t know if it was for sale?
There were a lot of people coming and going and unfortunately several groups were turned away for not having booked.
It took some time before one of the waiters approached ( think perhaps it was the owner Sam who seemed to be a bit stressed, perhaps success has come with some baggage) and provided us with menus.
There was the standard menu, a specials menu (that was slightly more expensive?) and a drinks menu.
We ordered a bottle of Long Coast a Cabernet Sauvignon (£21) which was a bit too rich for me and I preferred to water it down with some drinking water plus a bottle of Chalk Bay a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (£21) which the girls drank.
Interestingly this sells at £7.99 a bottle from Majestic wines.
We didn’t finish either bottle so we brought them home with us.
Bottled water was on the table free of charge.
It took us quite a while to decide on our choices which worked out well as there was quite a wait before the server came back to take our order.
As the menu was new and unfamiliar we wanted to try as many items as possible so Georgia and I ordered the Plain Hopper:(£3)
The most famous Sri Lankan snack.
It’s a bowl shaped crispy pancake, slightly soggy in the middle made from a fermented mix of Coconut milk and seasoned Rice flour.
It comes served with ‘Seeni Sambol‘ or ‘Sugar Sambol’ (thinly sliced onion with Tamarind, salt Spices, chilli powder and lots of sugar) and ‘Lunu Miris‘ made from Red Onion, Chilli powder, crushed Red Peppers, smoked and dried Maldive Fish and Lime Juice. In Sri Lanka each Family has its own special recipe for making this relish.
One of these pastes was very hot (chilli wise) so the expectation for the main course grew considerably given the menu itself suggested most curries were mild!
Jaki went for the Fish Cutlets (£3.80) and Fraser for the Chicken Cutlets both of which can come shaped as balls, Triangles or rolled. When they arrived there was some confusion about which dish was which and they were passed back and forward between Jaki and Fraser until they were happy they had the right one (which was how the server had delivered them in the first place) with Jaki having Fish Balls and Frasers Chicken Triangles.
Both are made using spicy potato, onion, fresh veg crumbed which is deep fried.
My Hopper was interesting, like a cold pancake and the filling was tasty but now Ive tried them, I probably wont be rushing back for seconds.
The Cutlets were far tastier.
The main course was a real problem to chose as it all looked good.
Fraser knew straight away he was going for the Devilled Beef (£9.50) with Devilled Potato which he remembered from his trip and he was keen to sample again. The waiter seemed excited by this choice which suggested it was going to be really spicy, which, as it turned out wasn’t the case. It was very good and with Hindsight was probably my favourite of all the choices. Fried with bell pepper, onion, capsicum and spices it certainly delivered on flavour but I was a bit disappointed with the Devilled Potato (£3.50) which reminded me of the Bombay Aloo they give away free with our Indian Take away.
Jaki and I chose the Pork with Mango curry and perhaps we should have taken advantage of the offer (on the menu) to make any dish hotter on request. Sadly this didnt do it for me.
The chunks of Leg of Pork were nicely cooked and very tender but the sauce (Curry) was weak and watery (Georgia tells me all the curries were like this on their trip) with almost no taste and I just couldn’t get the taste of fresh Mango?
The rice though was good and I really enjoyed my Aromatic Rice £3.20 (with Cinnamon and Cloves) though it had plenty of cashew nuts mixed in so be ware anyone with a Nut allergy. Jaki’s Plain Basmati Rice (£3.00) was fine but it was a bit plain given the lack of Flavour in the curry.
Georgia went for the Brinjal and Pineapple Sweet Curry. (£9.20)
Fried Aubergine with Fresh Pine apple with Jaggery/ Palm Sugar. However, this was very sweet and on its own it was very sickly. Luckily these dishes were made for sharing so she mixed hers with some of the Pork and Beef which took the edge off it.
This dish was too sweet on its own, however as a compliment to other curries, it was fantastic.
On the down side, I asked for some Chutney but I didn’t realise they would charge £1.75 for what was a desert spoon full, which seems a bit mean spirited?
Fraser also ordered Mallung of the day (£5.50) which is a mixture of various greens and salad leaves finely chopped with raw onion though I thought his dish had a few chopped nuts and some Coconut too?
These dishes all come in small bowls and when they first arrived I though the portions were a bit small however, none of us took up the offer of extra Curry or Rice at no extra charge. We were all stuffed full.
So how do I feel about Sri Lankan food and the Kandyan Restaurant in particular?
I enjoyed my visit, I enjoyed the food.
I like the venue and we will go back again.
However, the Jury is still out for me on Sri Lankan food.
I think I prefer the deeper flavours of Thai Food,.
Sri Lankan curries for me are a bit thin, a bit too weak, but next time I will ask for extra Chilli and that may make all the difference.
In search of a great Breakfast 