Good food at the Paradise Road Promenade cafe.

The Thai Style Fish Cakes were out of this world

Actually great food to be quite honest. I just did not want to be too complimentary on those folks from the heading of this post itself.

For those who don’t know this is the little café which is on the top floor of The Paradise Road Promenade down Dharmapala Mawatha. It is a quiet place which is rarely crowded and is a lovely place to spend a couple of hours with a book or magazine. I go there regularly to fill up on coffee and cake. Yes they have the same legendary double chocolate cheese cake, chocolate cake and carrot cake served at the Paradise Road Gallery café but in addition to that they also serve an amazingly good Passion fruit meringue cheese cake which is NOT available at the Gallery café.

Oops I realize that I am digressing. This post is not about the divine sweet treats that are on offer at this location. You see I just discovered that the promenade café does great mains as well as desserts. Something I have not found out for all this time and I am kicking myself for it. I knew they had a limited menu but I was never motivated to try any of the items there as I have NEVER seen anyone consuming anything other than cake and coffee. What a shame. The other day me and one of my colleagues walked in their for coffee and cake and decided to try some of the food out as we were ravenous.

What a wise decision it was. What I did not realize was that they had a full time chef on duty and he makes the food then their freshly. Since we were the only people here it was like having a private chef prepare a meal of us. Which was a lovely feeling

The food was absolutely lovely. Especially the Thai style Fish cakes we ordered. The subtle flavors were tantalizing the taste buds. Heavenly, exquisite and out of this world were the words my dining partner used whilst rolling her eyes orgasmically as she was savoring the food. We also ordered a vegetable salad as well as a lemon chicken dish which were all good. The portions were generous and the prices were quite reasonable I thought.

Everything was good other than the fact that I am just kicking myself for not having discovered the food side (for the lack of a better word) of the Promenade cafe before. 

The Vegetable Salad - excellent

The Lemon Chicken sandwich with Pesto was good too.

Ships that pass by day…

She walks out of a dressing room after a fit on.

He is seated on a chair, head bent over his phone waiting patiently for someone.

Their eyes lock together and light up and they automatically smile warmly at one another. 

Just like good friends do when they see each other after a long time.

There is genuine affection between them and he nearly stands up to walk over to her and give her a big hug. Just the way he would have done before.

Then a dose of reality splashes all over them both.

They are not meant to be friends. That was a long, long time ago.

They had parted bitterly. 

Shards of jealousy, anger, and betrayal ripping through the bonds that held them together so strongly before.

But now there was no boiling rage.

Just sadness on how two people who once shared such intense feeling that one would know when the other was thinking of her; could have grown so much apart. 

Just like ships that pass one another during the day. Seeing, observing acknowledging and then moving on leaving a cluster of ripples behind which will disappear within minutes.

Have you discovered the “The Base ball’s”?

I just did and thought they were great. They are a bunch of good looking guys who take popular songs and then do a classic American style 50’s version of them. Listen to this version of “Torn” which they have done, its absolutely wonderful and really infectious.  The  most amazing thing however is that these guys are from Germany.

Curry Rice - my favorite dish at Pedlar's Inn Cafe

Pasta’ salad and sandwiches are fine but sometimes a man has to have something hot fiery and ricey which will sit in his stomach like a ball of lead. I am that kind of man who loves his food hot and spicy. Wait that is an understatement. Hot and Fiery is more like it.

 Now I know I have been joining in the chorus of praises which have been sung about the Pedlar’s Inn café. I think they deserve each and every one of them because they really do an excellent job. However I have found one tiny weenie thing lacking in their offering. That is a dish which would fit the need which I have outlined in the earlier paragraph. Till I found this thing called Curry Rice tucked away in a corner virtually hiding away from my hungry eyes in their menu. I ordered a “Prawn Curry Rice” and I can say it is a chilli aficionados’ dream come true. As the name so aptly puts it across the dish consists of a (slightly) wet fried rice mixed with a delicious and tasty prawn curry. They were extremely generous with the prawns as well. To me every mouthful was heavenly bursting with flavor and spice. If there was one improvement I would suggest it would be to serve it along with a salad and some fries as well. The cost was about 900/- but it was great value for money. I just thought I should share it on here just in case there are some people out there who share similar yearnings. But I must confess I can’t wait to drive down to Galle and try it once more. Just to make sure that what I wrote was correct. J

The Illegal Gardner – Another beautiful Read

Sometimes reading books on Kindle has its benefits. Especially now that there are books which are published exclusively for the Kindle app. Not only do you have thousands of options to choose from but they are also only a couple of dollars each. In this case I found this gem of a book by the author Sara Alexi for just 5 dollars which I thought was absolutely great value.

The story is absolutely beautiful. It is about a middle aged English Lady who has moved to Greece to rediscover (and revive) her life and a Pakistani illegal immigrant who she employs as her gardener. I found this book to be a collision of emotions and metaphors. Rich versus poor. West versus East. Male versus female. There was anger there was sadness there was joy. And of course there was also a love which could never be consummated as well as kindness and caring.

But in the end it was a beautiful story which was even more beautifully written.

The good news is you don’t have to own a kindle reader to read these publications. Any person with a laptop, tab or smart phone can read them using the Kindle reading app which is quite easy to install. 

If you don't you are missing out on some great words. Just see for yourself a page capture which I am posting below. 

The real show begins after the CHOGM

Sadly the show I am talking about is not the kind where models strut up and down on the cat walk. Rather a kind where religious persecution and harassment will raise its ugly head. If you noticed the past few weeks the incidents of harassment by the Militanat Budhist groups against other religions have reduced. I actually thought the fire had died a natural death.

But it seems I was wrong.

Apparently it is because of the impending CHOGM. The powers that be do not want any negative publicity which would make some of the world leaders refrain from attending this event. It is believed by most in the religious circles that once the final head of state leaves the island then all hell will break loose and the maniacs will have free reign again to do as they wish whilst everyone turns a blind eye.

Guess the show must go on. No it has to go on.