Roti Café by the Travelling KOMBI

A cute little roti café tucked down Pamankada road!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve surely seen or heard of the Roti Café/ Roti Cart/ Roti Stall. Roti Café has been in the Colombo food scene for sometime now and they’ve appeared at quite a few food events and streets throughout last year. They have quite a pool of grateful patrons and they took up their pleas this year by opening up their very own artsy café, The Roti Café by the Travelling Kombi.

The décor and interior at The Roti Café is absolutely gorgeous. They’ve really gone the extra mile to ensure that your experience at the café is fulfilling and fun. There’s a wall stacked with crossword puzzles, books, little toys to keep you and your friends occupied! It really is a bubble of sunshine from the minute you step into their front porch. With a magnificently restored Kombi parked in their porch, to the warm colourful greeting as you walk through their doors, the Roti Café is really one of the cutest cafés I’ve seen in Colombo.

Drinks

Chocolate Milkshake – LKR 390

What’s not to love about a thick chocolate milkshake bathed in Nutella and ultimate goodness? Served in a mason jar, this milkshake is great to sip to over good company.

Cookie Cream – LKR 480

If I had to choose between the two drinks, I’d definitely go with the Cookie Cream Milkshake. This was a lot better than the chocolate one, it was milkier, and heavenlier!

Appetizers

Chicken Drumlets – LKR 190

If you’d ask me, I think that 190 rupees for 3 drumlets is actually a pretty decent deal. You can pair the drumlets/wings (upon your choice) with a sauce of your choice. They have quite a few options ranging from chilli, sweet chili, creamy, garlic mayo and tomato. If you’re indecisive like me, you can opt for more than one type of sauce; I went with sweet chili and garlic mayo.

Mains

First, you get to pick the type of roti you want to have. You can choose between Godamba, Naan, Paratha, Roti and Tortilla (ask the lady there and she’ll pair the right roti to the filling).

Next, you choose between savoury and sweet fillings. We decided to try the savoury for our mains and then split a sweet as dessert.

Creamy Prawn in Tortilla – LKR 450

I was craving creamy prawn for some time now and I was elated to see this on the menu. The lady at the counter suggested I pair the creamy prawn filling with tortilla, and this was a great combo. Their tortilla is the right texture of crispy and is perfect with a creamy prawn curry inside. The only downside to this was the prawn itself that didn’t taste very fresh. If not for that, the light sauce with a hint of garlic was a winner.

Beef Kheema in Naan Roti – LKR 390
The Beef Kheema filling is a minced beef curry sautéed with onions and spices. If you aren’t a fan of strong flavours, then this isn’t for you. Although the curry was flavourful, the traditional flavours in it were too overpowering for me.

Hot Butter Mushroom in Godamba Roti – LKR 340

This was my best pick out of all 3 rotis I tried and something I would definitely go back for more. I tried out the Hot Butter Mushroom because I wanted to try out a veg filling (they have about 4 savoury veg options) and the Hot Butter Mushroom roti a show stopper for me. The mushrooms were fried till golden brown and smothered in hot butter sauce, sprinkled with chilli (like they do a HBC) and this filling paired perfectly with the godamba roti.

Dessert

Chocolate Crepe – LKR 290

The Chocolate Crepe was everything I was hoping it would be. Slightly crunchy around the corners, smothered with Nutella inside and drizzled with chocolate sauce on the outside.

Have you been to The Roti Café by the Travelling Kombi yet? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?

Tip: You have to try out the Hot Butter Mushroom Roti. Pair it with Godamba Roti – tasted incredible!