The ever-so famous all-prawn-crazy-café of Colombo recently opened their new outlet in Colombo 3. Isso, an initiative by Apinash Sivagumaran, Fawaz Fassi and Shuaib Yussog, opened to the public two and half years ago, solely with the hopes of the providing Colombo with a new and a fresh dining experience centered on Isso a.k.a prawns. The new store is spacious and can provide seating for almost 30 people at once, be it couples or groups of four-six people. The ambience is very nice and calm with music playing in the background to help you get lost in the world if Isso. They are equipped with a very efficient open kitchen facing the customers. The staff was very polite and ready to assist us through the menu to pick the three dishes of our liking.
Now to talk about the food. Though the focus of the menu is centred on prawns, they have managed to provide the customers with quite an extensive menu. Varying from starters, from soups to mains, Isso screams prawns wherever you look. Though we entered into the café to try just three dishes, we ended up trying out four items on the menu.
Dish no 1: Isso Vade
We started off with the Isso Vade under the starters section of the menu. All the starters come in pieces of two, four and eight and everything has got to do with the main concept of the store. Two pieces of Isso Vade came in a strainer with chutney on the side. We expected the vade to be like those at Galle Face, but were pleasantly surprised by their uniqueness. The vade was oval shaped, with one whole jumbo prawn inside, with its tail sticking out. When paired with the chutney, which was made of roasted coconut, it was quite tasty.
Dish no 2: Catalan Shrimp Stew
Moving on to the soups section on the menu, we tried the Catalan Shrimp Stew, which did not come in a soup bowl, but in a garlic bread bowl. The soup was very flavourful with a lot of Asian gourmet ingredients such as basil and garlic in it, giving it an excellent taste of Sri Lankan goodness whilst spicing it up. There were about six small prawns in the stew and the garlic bread was also of the perfect texture. The stew was hot and mildly spicy. It was a rich broth with small pieces of carrot in it to accompany the prawns. A very tasty experience indeed!
Dish no 3: Jumbo Prawns cooked with a Northern Twist
Then came the big deal; the mains. At Isso, you get to select your main with the base, style and side. We tried our luck with the Jumbo Prawns cooked with a Northern Twist a.k.a Jaffna style, with a side of roast paan. The main arrived in a steaming dish of about five big prawns with one whole loaf of roast bread with polsambol (coconut sambol) and an onion sambol on the side. The gravy was thick and golden brown, filled with spices and rich in aroma. This was quite spicy and we were literally breathing fire afterwards (delicious nevertheless). The roast paan was crunchy and was the perfect side for the Jaffna Style Jumbo Prawns. Everything was flavourful and filling; interesting to note was the added touch of Sri Lanka to every dish which was being prepared.
Bonus: Iced Milo
As recommended, we tried their signature drink; Iced Milo. It came with Milo powder on top and the bottom, with milk in the middle. We had to stir and make our own drink, so stir we did. It was not too sweet and not too watery, but just the perfect drink we wanted, to fight away the spiciness of the meal. We simply loved the taste and the fact that it came with a reusable metal straw.
Cheers to a good meal!
- The quality and the quantity at Isso are unquestionably good for the price
- A person can easily eat to their heart’s content with just Rs. 2000 in hand and all the prices are inclusive of taxes
- They have parking space, washroom facilities and also Wi-Fi
- Isso offers the option of substituting mushrooms for prawns, for vegetarians
- Isso has come a long way from when they started off in Jawatte with The Isso Express.
- Our heartiest wishes go out to the management to keep up the good work.
Review by Anjalika Abeykoon
Pics by Indika Handuwala