The Hilton Colombo is known for being fabulous, and a visit to any of its restaurants is guaranteed to be a gourmet experience – from the setting to the service to, of course, the food. Brunch found ourselves at the Hilton’s pâtisserie, Cafe Kai, on a somewhat rainy morning sampling their diverse range of snacks and meals.
Cafe Kai stays true to Hilton Colombo’s culinary vision – using the finest ingredients that bring out the best in each and every single one of its dishes, and Cafe Kai’s selection of delicate gourmet savoury and sweet delights do just that. With a wide range of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options paired with an expertly curated coffee and beverage menu, Cafe Kai provides a casual version of the exclusive experience of the Hilton Colombo.
Cafe Kai’s mantra is ‘gourmet on the go’ and takes shape in the form of a wonderfully arranged coffee bar located in a spacious, private corner of Hilton Colombo’s lobby that allows visitors to pop in and back out again with their favourite treats or if they have time to spare, provides a versatile casual space for business meetings, setting up your own temporary office for the day or just meeting friends over good food and watching the city go by. The hotel shared that Cafe Kai had become a popular base for young professionals, both as a place to work from during the day and as a place to host small meetings, but because of the layout of Cafe Kai, this doesn’t limit the pâtisserie as a place of casual leisure.
The setting of Cafe Kai is calming, with cool brown tones carrying a feeling of relaxed elegance, and conventional tables, sofa settings, and high tables mixed together across the space to accommodate any manner of guest. It offers views of the Hilton Colombo’s entrance garden and of the lobby itself, which makes it perfect for people-watching.
In terms of food, Cafe Kai has an in-house menu, an online menu, and a wide selection of grab-and-go meals like sandwiches and pastries to suit the needs of any customer. It also boasts a wide range of handmade chocolates made fresh each day, and a selection of delectable full cakes to uplift any occasion.
We started our foray into Cafe Kai with a few of their sandwiches – the tandoori chicken sandwich, the tuna and kochchi sandwich, and the pulled beef sandwich, which we had alongside a huge slice of vegetarian quiche lorraine.
The breads used for each sandwich (the tandoori chicken sandwich was similar to roast paan, the tuna and kochchi sandwich was made with white sandwich bread, and the pulled beef came with sourdough) were of excellent quality and all made in-house by the pastry chef and their team, as are all the other pastries, delicacies and chocolates, with some dishes coming from the hotel’s main kitchen.
The tandoori chicken sandwich was very flavourful without crossing the line into spicy and also very moist. The tuna and kochchi sandwich can be underwhelming for spice lovers because the kochchi is a subtle element of the sandwich that weaves its way through a hint of heat, but not the hit of spice one would normally expect. Our runaway favourite sandwich was the pulled beef sandwich with chunks of roast beef paired wonderfully with mustard, pickles and gouda cheese.
Another standout was the quiche lorraine. While we had the vegetarian version, we in no way missed out. The serving of quiche was very filling and came with a layer of cheese inside as well to give a lot of texture to the quiche.
Our main dish, Eggs Benedict, came with perfectly poached eggs (the yolk ran just a bit but not enough to be messy), a creamy hollandaise sauce with a hint of coconut and excellent smoked salmon that gave the dish a saltiness that could be a surprise to some but was very well-liked.
We also looked at Cafe Kai’s dessert options, which included an eclectic selection of dessert jars (coconut and pineapple, salted caramel, strawberry lover [strawberry compote with vanilla sponge], and tiramisu and black forest), all of which were absolutely delectable.
With Cafe Kai being a pâtisserie at heart, we had to try a few pastries – the danishes absolutely do not disappoint. We tried the blueberry danish and the chocolate danish, both of which were deliciously flakey and filled with chocolate and blueberry goodness without being overpoweringly sweet. We also had the jam doughnut which we found just a hint too doughy, but the jam filling more than made up for it.
To round off our expedition, we also had coffee and chocolate – Cafe Kai’s handmade chocolates more than rose to the occasion, with a wide selection of milk, white, dark and liqueur chocolates to suit any mood. For drinks, despite it being a less than warm morning, we went with cold drinks – the chocolate milkshake and the iced latte, both of which were very well made. The latte was stronger than most, so that is something to remember if you’re not very big on coffee.
On the whole, our morning at Cafe Kai was immensely enjoyable. The cafe and menu were well-thought, the staff were warm and welcoming, and the food was most definitely a cut above the rest. Cafe Kai’s ability to maintain quality through these challenging times is very commendable, and this will be far from our first visit.
