We've been buying Jagro Strawberry Jam in the supermarket for some time now and are big fans - it is one of the best strawberry jams available. We knew that the Simply Strawberries shop did cakes but then we heard that they did meals and snacks too. Then we heard that they did delivery. Well, then we could not resist and had to try!
Phone: 0112 877 533
Instagram: @simplystrawberriesbyjagro
Facebook: Simply Strawberries by Jagro
Menu and Ordering
Finding the menu was a bit of a mission. There seems to be two actual menus.
One is the cafe/restaurant menu of soups, salads, savoury and sweet crepes, pastas and some other hot dishes. This is not on their website; it's on facebook but not on the Kotte branch page, only on the head office page. On Instagram, it's on the "Hot Menu" tab, with a few items on each page.
The other menu is for the desserts; there are around twenty strawberry based desserts such as strawberry sundaes and parfaits; there's also whole cakes, beverages and of course just punnets of strawberries and their superb jam. These are on Instagram under "menu" but they don't seem to be on the facebook pages while the main website is more about the strawberry farms and mentions only the outlets, fresh fruit and the jam.
If, like us, you want a hot meal and a dessert you'll have to look at both the café menu and the dessert menu, the latter being just on Instagram.
We sent a message via facebook and got a reply instructing us to order by phone, giving the branch phone numbers so we did that and waited.
The Food
Clockwise from top left: Curry Chicken Crepe; Seafood Marinara; Vanilla Sandwich; Strawberries and Cream.
The food all arrived packaged in the standard cardboard boxes which are fast becoming the norm - and probably a good thing as they are better for the environment than plastic.
The box with the crepe seemed to have a bit of oil at the bottom. We flipped the crepe out onto a plate and, opening it up a little, it seemed like the inside was a little oily and some had oozed out. We were a bit surprised; we have ordered this once before and we didn't remember it being oily. However, we decided to tuck in.
The Curry Chicken Crepe was excellent. It's the second time we've had it and we thoroughly enjoyed it both times. The filling was plentiful, made up with juicy pieces of chicken, cubes of potato and was multi textured with the softness of the potato offset by a little crunch in the carrots. While the curry sauce was only very slightly spicy, it was still full of flavour, with a hint of sweetness. The crepe itself was thick enough to hold this all together but still light and nicely cooked, neither crispy overdone nor rubbery underdone. All in all excellent.
The Seafood Marinara too was good but not on a par with the crepe. The marinara sauce was nice but the flavour very mild, almost bland. The pieces of fish, too, added little flavour though the taste of the prawns did add to it. Not bad, but just needed a bit of extra flavour to make it really good.
Once the mains were over we tucked into the strawberries. The first dessert was a simple classic: Strawberries and Cream. This was a pot with a good sized helping of strawberries mixed into several scoops of whipped cream. The strawberries were excellent, large, red, ripe and with a delicious fresh taste to them. The cream was a bit more mysterious. It was did not seem to be a fresh whipped cream; it was thicker than spray cream but not as thick as fresh cream. It was fine, if a little sweeter than fresh cream, and it clung to the strawberries and overall was very nice, but real fresh cream would elevate this to excellence!
The other dessert was a Vanilla Sandwich comprising vanilla cake, with whipped cream and strawberries of course and Jagro's own topping. Again this was, as expected, really good. The softness of the strawberries and the cream contrasted with the harder cake while the vanilla contrasted with the strawberry so it was not too sweet. All in all a great mix of flavours and really tasty.
Prices
The soups are mostly Rs500-Rs700, salads Rs700-Rs750 and crepes Rs450-Rs550. Other main dishes range from Rs700 to Rs1200 and the desserts mostly from around Rs400-Rs700.
The Curry Chicken Crepe cost us Rs550 and the Seafood Marinara Rs950. The strawberries and cream was Rs500 and the Vanilla Sandwich Rs700.
Summary
All together this was a nice meal and good value. The curry chicken crepe was delicious and great value at Rs550. The desserts too were great and the pasta not bad. We have ordered a couple of times and always been happy with what we have received. Recommended.
We would just urge that they simplify the menu and make it available on both facebook and Instagram, to make ordering a simpler process.