Issue 47

15 December

Breakfast and Lunch

This can be a stressful time of year for mums: sorting out the presents, the family meals, cooking.... how can you give her a bit of a break? Take her to Brunch at Flow, at the Hilton Residences this Saturday. They have a "Mum's Day Out" festive brunch with an emphasis on seafood and dark chocolate, with freeflow mocktails. And there is a kids' gingerbread house decorating competition, to keep the kids busy and give her some time to chill. 

The following day the focus is on kids, with "Santa's Family Brunch" from 12pm to 3pm with a themed brunch, live cooking stations and cookie making for the kids - plus a visit from Santa, of course.

There's also a new Sunday brunch at The Avenue offering a range of international and local cuisine. The Sunday Brunch is served from 8am to 1pm. 

ME Colombo have introduced two new "Quick Fix Lunch" offers. These are three course, set menu lunches with the "Executive Special" priced at Rs1,850 and the "Quick Grab" at Rs1,350.

Pause Colombo have launched a Lunchtime Combo Offer, with a choice of a main, a dessert and a drink for Rs2,100. The choices include chicken and mushroom or beef and mushroom pie and the desserts include key lime pie or sticky date cake.

Saturday is a Poya day so there will be the monthly vegetarian buffet at Thali's, It's priced at Rs1,500 per person and is free for children under 8 years old.

High Tea and Dinner:

If you like chicken wings, you will probably want to be at Smoking Hearts' WingFest  this Friday evening for "all you can eat"  wings. Two types of wings will be on offer, smoked or fried, as well as beer deals and DJ music. Pre-booking is essential.

For those with a big appetite, the "eat as much as you want" offer is back at Clements'. For Rs1,950 you can order as much as you want from the extensive special menu which includes soups, salads, appetisers, mains and desserts. 

The obligatory burger offer! Burger Boss has a buy one, get one free deal through Uber Eats for the month of December.

And of course there are lots of dinners on offer for Christmas Day and Christmas Eve; you'll find these listed on our website. There are also lots festive menus in the lead up to Christmas and we can't list them all. However we will mention one. The Galle Face Hotel has a limited edition, one week menu available from 18th to 24th December, with a selection of exquisite dishes as well as a nine course tasting menu. 

Happy Hours & Ladies' Night

Fans of "the black stuff", Guinness, Ireland's most famous beer, will surely be delighted to hear that it is now available in Colombo. And where better to try it than The Irish. 

Happy Hours are back at Playtrix with buy one, get one free on a selection of beers, spirits and cocktails from 5pm to 7pm every day.

Darley Road have a special night for ladies on Thursday, with happy hour deals from 5pm to 7pm and a live performance by Luminosity from 7pm.

There's also a ladies' night out at the Re.pub.lk on Thursday. with buy one, get one free cocktail deals from 7pm to 10pm and a live performance by the Singing Potatoes. 

Live Music and DJs

For a complete list of gigs please see the gig guide on our website; it is likely that more gigs for Friday and Sunday will be announced on Thursday. However the highlights so far are:

On Thursday, Magic Box Mixup will be at Curve Bar and The Soul at Drunk Panda.

On Friday, Ohme will be at Allstar, Cold Sweat at SunsetBlu, Link will be at The Joint for a jingle and mingle, Mirage will be at the Irish and Ishini & The Branch will be at the Taj poolside.

For DJ music, there's a Hip Hop party at Butler's on Thursday, with music by DJ Ricardo Deen, from 9pm.  At Level 4, it's Urban Thursday with music from DJ Neco and Thirsty Thursday at R&B with DJ Capital C and the band Dis & Dat..

On Friday there's a Retro Party at Darley Road with DJ Bonnie, while at Lavix the champagne will be flowing, with special deals on bubbly to enjoy along with tunes from DJs Neco and Ace. Over at the Love Bar there will be Trev D, Lunatics, the Music Director and Yarrick, four DJs for the night while Clifford Isaac and Sarini will be on the decks at Ask for Fern, with Dirty Dzn and Mercue at the Chiller Room.

Saturday is a Poya day so there's no music, but on Sunday the Love Bar will have another Naughty Bottomless Brunch with unlimited wine and beer, with DJ Bonnie on the decks plus live music from Ravin Ratnam.

Other Events

Gingerbread houses are unmistakeably Christmas and kid love to make their own. Bakes by Bella have a DIY Gingerbread House kit, and there is even a prize for the best decorated house.

If you prefer regular iced cookies instead of gingerbread, then Ice and Easy Cakes have a DIY Cookie Kit, with cookies and icing, ready for little chefs or artists to decorate their own cookies.

Urban Sketchers are a group who like to sketch, or draw. They meet up to sketch and are meeting this Sunday for a Sketch Walk through Viharamahadevi Park, from 9am to 12pm. Anyone who enjoys sketching is invited to join. 

Justice for Animals are holding a free Spay and Neuter Clinic for cats on Sunday in Moratuwa from 7.30am to 2.30pm. If you have a cat that you want to be neutered, send them a whatsapp to register.

There is salsa dancing again at Playtrix on Thursday; a workshop to improve your moves from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, then the proper dancing.  There's also a Salsa night on Sunday at The Irish, from 7pm onward, including bachata and kizomba.

On Saturday at noon there's a meet and greet with Suresh De Silva, singer, writer and novelist, as he will be at Bakes by Bella at 12pm, noon, signing copies of his new novel, The Eternal Dark: Requiem".

On Sunday, the Ceylon Happy Market is back at Havelock Sports Ground, the last chance before Christmas to pick up some novel gifts, jewellery, garments and more, from local entrepreneurs and businesses. There's also be live jazz from 5.30pm.

Check our home page diary for more information and remember that events are being added to our diary almost daily so keep checking back and see what's new.