Recommended cafés in Colombo

Whether it is time for your daily coffee-fix, catch-up with friends and family or even have quick meal while reading your favourite book; Colombo’s Cafes ensure a quality of comfort, no matter the situation.

As you head into The Cafe, the calm atmosphere is ready to welcome you. The bamboo blinds and seating, split in between by glass paintings, are pleasant to watch. This rooftop cafe is an ideal location to have an evening view. A suitable place to have a romantic conversation, or right after a swim, to spend the evening. As you indulge and have a snack, the atmosphere is set to give you a calm and relaxed ambience. If you wish to have a healthy snack, then you can surely get it at The Cafe. The chef will even make a healthy salad just for you, on request.

Above Colombo’s busy streets, atop the Colombo Courtyard Hotel is an unusual alfresco restaurant, Cloud Café. This rooftop restaurant is spacious and contemporary, with long sleek tables evenly arranged and a few couches scattered here and there. It’s usually a peaceful and serene environment surrounded by Colombo City’s skyscrapers and twinkling lights at night. Cloud Café is host special evening events like Classic Hollywood Movie nights, Live Jazz Nights on Fridays and Concept Evenings. A range of starters, snacks, sandwiches, desserts, cocktails, mocktails, fruit juices, tea, coffee and other beverages are served here.

Located in the Galadari Hotel Colombo, Café 64 is a bakery with a scenic open air dining area and wooden and steel furnished interior. The scent of freshly made delicacies are strong as you enter the premises of the welcoming shop, making you feel right at home, in the mellow and homey atmosphere. At Café 64, you find a selection of sweets and desserts including handmade chocolate and a range of cakes, and savoury options like pastries, sandwiches and breads along with lunch and dinner meals. They also offer fresh juices, beer and several flavours of ice cream.

The Gallery Café, has been developed by local style arbiter, Shanth Fernando, from the old town office of Sri Lanka’s most renowned architect, Geoffrey Bawa. Since opening in 1998, it has become THE place to see and be seen by the local cognoscenti and justly deserves its worldwide reputation as a fascinating place to wine and dine. The menu has not gone through any drastic changes since the Café’s opening as it seems to satisfy everyone with its variety of dishes, matching all purses. The menu includes grills and seafood and it has won many hearts with its delicious desserts especially the Jaggery-infused ones introducing local sweet flavour into western favourites. As well as its patio restaurant; Gallery Café includes an art gallery featuring exhibitions by local artists and an offshoot of the owner’s famous Paradise Road lifestyle and design store.