Prima Taste A Dining Odyssey

Joe Berger follows good advice religiously and got a great tip from a friend whose passion is fine food and luxury travels. This led me to dine at what is easily the only authentic Singapore style restaurant in Colombo. The Prima Taste restaurant in Rajagirya has been open for a little over four years and offers a comprehensive menu of Singapore favourites that range from appetisers to meat and poultry dishes, seafood, noodles, rice, soups and deserts.
Singaporean cuisine is a subtle blend of Malay ingredients, Indian spices and Chinese methods that give the unique taste to Singaporean food. Prima Taste proudly boasts that it offers true Singapore cuisine and maintains this consistency across its restaurants by having all the spices and pastes imported from Singapore, thus ensuring the true authenticity of taste. The chefs are all trained by Prima Taste in the art of Singapore cooking and work under the eye of a master chef from Singapore. And yes all its chicken and some of its vegetables come from their own farms – doing their bit for Sri Lanka’s development no doubt. (and helping with the bottom line of course)
The restaurant is well laid out, clean, spacious and inviting with an elegant ambience and a definite Singaporean look and feel to the decor. Almost Sanitary looking white dining areas with minimalist décor and furnishings. The staffis friendly and could have been a bit more attentive. The food is very good, with the signature dishes being nothing short of superb. The restaurant may be more popular if they created a few dishes to be more agreeable to the spicy Sri Lankan palette but that is another matter altogether.
The menu is very extensive and features all meats, vegetarian selections, a variety of noodles and rice-based dishes, wok fried preparations and separate soup and appetizer menus. Our meal started with chicken satay, a particular favourite of mine, and crispy spring rolls, these were filled with prawns, bamboo shoots, sweet turnip and carrot, and served with a homemade sweet sauce.
The chicken satay’s were very good and the crispy spring rolls the ideal accompaniment. Following the appetisers we selected three of Prima Taste’s signature dishes.  Singapore Chilli Crab and Black Pepper Crab, followed by Laksa. The crab was very good and we had a rustic baguette to eat with the chilli crab, the black pepper crab was even better and very well presented.  The only place Crab is served better is at a private residence in Kotte. The crab was simply ‘fantastic’. Following the crab we had Laksa with prawn noodles. This dish was excellent and easily the best dish of the meal.
For the meat course we chose Haisanese Chicken rice and Crispy Chicken rice. These dishes are served with fragrant rice and a bowl of clear soup. Both dishes were very good.
For desert we had Almond bean curd and Mango Ice-cream. The taste was light and proved to be the ideal way to end the meal.
The food could not be faulted.  Each dish was very tasty and true to the tastes and flavours of Singapore.
To accompany the meal the restaurant offers a selection of beers, wines, and soft drinks. The wine list is not extensive but has a good selection of red and white wines.
The restaurant has seating for approximately 115 split into several small open plan room each holding 30-40 seats. This gives the diner a feeling of a restaurant of a more modest size. In addition to the inside rooms there is also a veranda where meals can be taken. There is ample parking for 70+ cars.  The staff whilst being friendly and helpful could have been a little more attentive and must really attend further English language classes. But the food was superbly authentic indeed true to the Joe Berger notion, “Good Food Served Well”.
Prima Taste is located next door to LOLC at 50, Sri Jayawardenapura Mawatha Rajagiriya (2883311) average cost is likely to be in the region of Rs 2,000 per person. Open for lunch and dinner and Private functions located on a separate floor.