Kolamba East - Sri Lankan Restaurant Liverpool Street

We had the Feasting menu at Kolamba East, where we pretty much got to try most items in the menu. I loved the unique flavours in all the dishes, especially the roasted pineapple, soft shell crab and the hopper and white pol sambhol combination. Loved the caramel pudding in desserts and the ginger root lemonade. Prawn biryani without the rice was unique. Tomato sambol was a let down. At £75pp, we felt the feasting menu was expensive for the price, compared to other similar places, but their tasting menu didn’t have many of their favourites. Staff who served us were kind and helpful.

Very good restaurant. Great food and lovely staff. The best dishes were the fish and soft shell crab, the least tasty surprisingly were the okra and the papaya salad- but the level of everything was great. Have to say the staff were the best part. They were thoughtful, helpful and wonderful.

We enjoyed the Saturday Island Feast, and the portions were incredibly generous. The dishes perfectly suited both my carnivore diet and my friend’s vegetarian preferences. We ended up taking home nearly three-quarters of the food! Emile was a fantastic host — he went above and beyond to accommodate us, even though the restaurant was meant to close between lunch and dinner service. We never felt rushed; he took the time to explain each dish in detail and made thoughtful recommendations and adjustments to fit our needs. I’ll definitely be back to try more of their dishes!

I so wanted to give Kolamba East 5 stars and the savoury dishes really deserve it. It’s flavourful, generous with spice and herbs, just the right portions and truly surprising with its use of ingredients. I highly recommend the savoury options. My husband had the soft shell crab and thought it was incredible. All the options we tried were vegetarian and really I have no complaints. We were super full but we decided to try one of the desserts which was touted as a mango trifle. Unfortunately it lacked texture as well as flavour. Skip the dessert or seriously the kitchen needs to rethink their rather uninspired dessert menu!

Loved my visit here!! The food was full of spices, flavour and really authentic, especially the curries and the whole rib jaggery beef, which tasted amazing! I also really loved the vibes and aesthetic, it was the perfect night out for me. Highly recommended and I’ll definitely be back.

Amazing flavours - every dish was delicious. Favourites were the jaggery beef which was so soft & tender, as well as the soft shell crab and monkfish curry. The coconut chicken also had an amazing curry sauce. Beautifully decorated restaurant - love the booths!

Kolamba is excellent. Our server was very attentive and made great recommendations: we each started with a coconut rum cocktail which were delicious. The set menu was fantastic and left us full, though we had space for the cardamon and pistachio rice pudding. There were many vegan options available, and our server was careful to navigate other allergens. The daal, and the breadfruit curry were standout. The whole experience was fantastic from start to finish. We all left thinking about when we will return.

Positives: restaurant is beautiful, very atmospheric, food is good (for what I could taste) Negatives: Service - I have low-ish spice tolerance so we asked, where possible, to have the sauces on the side so I could regolate. Plates arrived with sauce on the side that was immediately poured on, making it pointless. Wine prices: I’m sorry but some Italian wines which in Eataly and actually Italy are sold for £30-50 are here sold for £210? Honestly, shocking. Also 13.5% service charge is above normal, for below-average service. Overall compared to Sri Lankan food, it wasn’t quite what we expected.