We have been trying to find some good cookies for Christmas. There's dozens of places offering Christmas treats but you never know how good they actually are. Some look too good to be real; others are expensive. Some seem to be both.
Somehow we stumbled upon some pictures posted by Kantina and they looked good so we decided to try a few. And three out of four of them were great!
Address: Ground Floor, Innovation Tower, 477 R A De Mel Mawatha, Colombo 00400
Phone: 071 493 9438
Email: kantina.cmb@gmail.com
Facebook: @kantina.cmb
Instagram: @kantina.cafe
Website: https://kantina.appigo.co/webstore/
Menu and Ordering
Very simple. The menu is on their website which also handles online ordering and payment. It is divided into the usual coffees and a small selection of flavoured teas. The breakfast selection offers bagels, quiche or yoghurt and granola. The bakes and cakes get more interesting. The have several cookies, muffins, brownies, brookies (which seem to be a cross between a cookie and a brownie) and more. They have a few cakes and cheesecakes too, available by the slice or as a pre-ordered whole cake. They also, helpfully, have sections for "healthy snacks" as well as a category for "gluten free and vegan" so these can be quickly identified.
There are also a couple of seasonal sections: a small selection of Christmas themed drinks and a much larger selection of Christmas bakes including gingerbread, butter cookies and toffee cookies.
Each section has photos and ordering is simple, just click and update the quantity. At the end you can select whether to collect from the store, or to have it delivered.
As for the delivery, we ordered one afternoon and it arrived the following morning!
The Food
We ordered two different kinds of cookie, the butter cookies and Christmas gingerbread cookies. They certainly looked good, so we went ahead and started!
Clockwise from top left: Double chocolate chip cookies; chocolate chip cookies; Christmas gingerbread cookies; Norwegian butter cookies.
The double chocolate chip was where we decided to start. It was soft, slightly sticky, and also a little crumbly. When we picked one up, little crumbs fell onto the plate. Taking a bite, there was no crunch at all, it was just soft, slightly gooey and very chocolatey. We could taste both the chocolate of the dough and the chocolate from the chocolate chips. There was a brief thought, "how many calories?" but the thought didn't last. It is Christmas time, after all!
As we went to taste it, there was a moment of concern. "How will the regular chocolate chip taste after the double chocolate?" but there was no need to worry. The regular chocolate chip cookie was slightly larger, not so sticky or crumbly, but just as soft and just as delicious. The taste was not quite so chocolatey but the regular cookie still tasted good and the chips could definitely be tasted. Another winner!
We moved on to the butter cookies. These were smaller and drier than either of the cookies that we had tried before. Taking a bite, they didn't crumble until we got to the inside which was quite dry and flaky. They tasted quite buttery but, after two rich chocolate chip cookies, they tasted rather bland. Not unpleasant at all, they tasted better than most of the butter cookies in tins that are in every supermarket, but they just didn't register after the amazing chocolate chip cookies!
Finally the ginger. We waited an hour or so, for our taste buds to calm down (and to feel less full!) then tried a couple of these. These were a little harder than the chocolate chip cookies and no stickiness. Taking a bite, the first taste was of the sugar icing, which also gave it a little crunch. Then, after a couple of the chews, the ginger flavour came through, not overpowering but very noticeable. They were sweetened by the icing sugar but not overly sweet otherwise, with a mild but clear taste of ginger.
Prices:
The choc chip cookies were Rs300 each, so not cheap but, in our view, worth it! The butter cookies cost us Rs450 for a bag of about six or eight pieces. The gingerbread cookies cost Rs450 for a box of seven or eight pieces.
Other than these, cake slices are typically around Rs350-Rs450, muffins Rs350-Rs400 and healthy bite balls Rs100 each.
Summary
We were very happy to have found some exceptional cookies here, though sadly they didn't last long - they were gone within a day! While the butter cookies were not exceptional, the chocolate chip cookies were great and we are looking forward to trying a few more things from their menu. Recommended!