&Co Pub and Kitchen: Diverse delights!

By Shiran Illanperuma

The Steuart is the latest hotel by Citrus, the first to be located in central Colombo. What brings us here is not the 5-star rooms of this boutique hotel or the quirky Scottish deco that peppers the walls with clan insignias. No, we come in search of grog and grub at The Steuart’s pub, &Co Pub and Kitchen, rumoured to be one of Colombo’s up-and-coming hangouts.

One thing we immediately noticed upon glancing at the menu was that &Co features both local and British dishes but does not dabble in fusing the two. In fact, The Steuart General Manager Sash Dayal adamantly resists the seemingly-pervasive pressure to localise global cuisine and globalise local cuisine with infusions both genius and absurd.

“For me good food will always be the authentic kind made at home by your mother, fusions and flavours come in and out of fashion but classic traditional recipes are timeless,” says Dayal.

Price-wise, &Co is far more inclusive and accommodating than its posh exterior and location in central Colombo would suggest. Dishes range from an affordable Rs. 300 to an astronomical Rs. 5,000 and above. Restaurant creator Sash Dayal sensibly states food should be available to everybody. “I wouldn’t want anybody to walk past my restaurant think they couldn’t afford anything,” he says.

The grog

The Steuart doesn’t have a mixologist. What it does have is an experimental bar staff, guided by Dayal’s ad-hoc ideas. What the bar serves is up is a diverse menu of surprising, comforting beverages laden with generous quantities of alcohol. There’s no pretension here, just lovely colours, textures and flavours meant to be shared with friends over good food and a good conversation.

We ordered three drinks, a Blue Pinacolada, a Mango and Passionfruit Mojito and a devious little concoction called ‘Brain Dead’.

The Blue Pinacolada was – true to its name – an ostentatious shade of turquoise-blue, contrasting nicely with the yellow slice of pineapple and bright red cherry, wedged into the glass. The texture of the drink was thick with coconut shavings, a little too much for my liking. However it took immense self-restraint to avoid gulping down the thick, syrupy pineapple nectar laced with coconut and rum. Not too sweet, a little too thick, rich with rum and a charmingly quirky colour make this an excellent, if imperfect refreshment.

On to the mojito. A staple in every bartender’s repertoire, mojitos can be a predictable and tiresome affair. Yet Dayal’s genius admixture of mango and passion fruit packs a punch of flavours that screams Sri Lanka. “I came up with the idea for this when I was living overseas and wanted to drink something that would remind me of home,” says Dayal. With its clear golden hue offset by the crisp green of fresh mint leaves, this mojito adds a little local magic to a usually boring bar staple.

Sufficiently lubricated by two stellar cocktails, it was time to tackle the forebodingly named ‘Brain Dead.’ Looking like a test tube straight out of Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, the shooter consists of a layer of Baileys Irish Cream, over a layer of clear alcohol, over a final layer of blood red Grenadine. With cloudy tendrils of Baileys and Grenadine reaching out across the clear centre, this drink hits the spot visually. Taste-wise, it lives up to its looks, the layers of creamy Baileys, crispy booze and syrupy Grenadine fading into each other as one progress.

The grub

Flipping through a diverse and fairly extensive menu while being distracted by the wafting scent of lamprais and glimpses of titanic stacks of club sandwiches is no easy task. But sticking to our guns, my dining partner and I choose to go with our personal favourites and rumoured specialities at &Co: The seafood platter and the rack of ribs.

Seafood is a frequent fixture in Colombo’s culinary landscape, and for good reason as Sri Lanka’s seas are home to some of the finest fish and crustaceans around. With the plethora of options already available, from the lowliest buth kade fish curry to exquisite resort lobster, it’s hard to find a spread that truly makes you do a double take with its sheer flavour and generosity. &Co’s seafood platter manages just that.

Arriving in a sumptuous platter crowded with piles of fried fish, grilled prawns, battered calamari and a leviathan-esque lobster split in half, my first impression could only be summed up in expletives. Upon noticing the generous buckets filled with mussels, salad and French-fries, I moved on to taking in vain the names of various deities.

Each item on the platter was cooked to perfection. Calamari that were crispy but not tough, prawns that were firm yet creamy to chew, and a lobster seasoned just enough to emphasise its natural flavour and texture; this was a seafood lover’s paradise. You can tell that Dayal’s meticulous design of this dish is meant to evoke awe.

It is perhaps unfair that we moved on to the ribs after the euphoria of the seafood platter. Comparatively it felt much humbler, with two racks of ribs slathered in a sweet sauce and served on a rustic wooden chopping board. Accompanying it was a pot of gravy that was a little too watery but tasty nonetheless, a pot of purple coleslaw and a bucket of fries. At this point I should really emphasise how great &Co’s fries are. Not too fat, not too thin, crispy on the outside, mushy on the inside and exquisitely salted.

Back to the ribs. Upon first bite, I was slightly overwhelmed by its tanginess, the result of a little too much vinegar in the sauce. Yet despite being coated in the stuff, the meat itself lacks moisture and is a little too tough to pull off the bone. Between the tough dry meat and the overabundant sauce I found myself licking my chops to offset the vinegary burn. It is by no means a bad dish; despite a dry texture the flavour of the meat shines through and with a little more balance the sauce too could be great.

As our plates were taken away, we were confronted with an age-old question. Dessert or no? Being impressed with the fare so far we decided to finish on a sweet note. The dessert menu was notably humbler and cheaper compared to the selection of bar bites and mains. While my dining partner went for the classic chocolate brownie, I decided to gamble at the apple pie, or rather apple crumble.

The dishes arrive looking as humble as they sound. The brownie was a dense juicy block topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fantastic as far as brownies go but nothing particularly new or outstanding. 

The apple crumble was similarly innocuous looking with a scoop of vanilla ice cream over a bed of crumble. Cutting through crumble layer I scooped up the filling that had an intense flavour of caramelised apple spiked with generous amounts of cinnamon. The filling also contained raisins and slivered almonds that add needed complexity to the texture. However the ratio of ice cream to crumble to filling was not perfect with the apple-cinnamon flavours slightly overpowering. Still the dish was an overall winner, particularly given the difficulty of finding good apple pie or crumble in Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

&Co is a no-nonsense pub to get well-prepared, reasonably well-presented options that aren’t mired in any sort of elitist pretension. Cocktails are there to look colourful, taste good and get you tipsy. Food is there, to be eaten, shared and enjoyed with your hands if need be. It’s a place for family, friends and colleagues to get together over hearty food and drink.

Though the venue may at first exude an air of colonial authority with its Scottish inspired deco, and location in posh central Colombo, the true spirit of this pub is far more egalitarian. Dayal has done a great job so far with a menu boasting flavourful selections from East and West, resisting the urge to experiment and staying true to the spirit of each dish. With the additional benefit of a broad price range, the pub has something to offer for everyone

With an updated and expanded menu coming up soon, &Co is certainly a place to keep up with in Colombo’s restaurant scene. Under Dayal’s direction, &Co strikes a neat balance between 5-star quality and earthy authenticity.