Romantic dinner in a colonial mansion
The Fort Printers Restaurants is one of the most romantic restaurants in Galle Fort proper. The restaurant is located in the Fort Printers Hotel which is in itself an 18th-century colonial mansion originally built by the Dutch but later modified by the English. The interior is exactly what you’d expect of a centuries-old colonial building in South Asia: white-washed walls, antique wooden furniture, Asian antiques, and plenty of sunny, flower-lined courtyards.
The restaurant itself offers a curious mix of fresh local seafood and Middle Eastern-inspired mezze dishes like hummus or grilled eggplant spread. They also have a pretty decent wine list but the wines are exorbitantly priced (as is the case throughout Sri Lanka). We ordered tuna tartar with a mint yogurt sauce as an appetizer that was pleasant and refreshing, but nothing out of this world. Then, for mains, we got a mango-lime grilled lobster and a breaded chicken cutlet served over ratatouille with a harissa sauce. The lobster way small but fresh and flavorful and the chicken was tasty but not overly spicy. All in all, it wasn’t one of the best meals of my life, but we were more than satisfied.
