Hola Bonjour | Restaurant Review

Hola Bonjour is a cloud kitchen that specialises in Croque Monsieur sandwiches and Empanadas that mix French, South American and Sri Lankan flavours to bring you a delightful fusion experience. Though they don’t have a physical space, you can get their food delivered to you, through various mediums like appiGo, Pick Me, Uber Eats and even their own delivery service. You can get in touch with them via WhatsApp or their Instagram page @holabonjour.club.

Their servings are hearty, the food is rich, and the flavour experience is new and exciting. Hola Bonjour has found that sweet spot of introducing new food and flavour profiles, while also incorporating and embracing our local flavours and ingredients.

Mains

Their menu focuses on a few select items, and as such, what few items they do, they do incredibly well!

So, we tried almost everything on the menu! Their curated menu means that choosing options for lunch or dinner also becomes easier. It’s also noteworthy to mention that they a have options for vegetarian diners as well!

CROQUE MONSIEURS

A Croque Monsieur is easily explained as a delicious French style ham and cheese sandwich topped with a béchamel sauce, which is toasted. This brunch classic is hearty, creamy and delicious.

Hola Bonjour combines French and Sri Lankan flavours, using local bread as their base, and layering each sandwich with nutty Gouda cheese and gooey mozzarella, topping it off with a béchamel. It is then toasted to perfection.

All the Croque Monsieur options are available in spicy for those of you who want a little extra kick!

Monsieur Croque (LKR 935)

This is basically a traditional Croque Monsieur – ham, cheese and béchamel. The perfectly toasted bread was softened by the creamy béchamel, and the melted cheese and the cured ham filling was thick, sweet and slightly smoky. They were very generous with the distribution ensuring every mouthful had ham in it.

 

Monsieur Beef  (LKR 935)

This was the crowd favourite! The beef mince had a slight creeping heat that wasn’t masked by the thick béchamel and gooey cheese, and the beef was juicy and soft. The flavour profile of the beef lent more to a Sri Lankan flavour profile with distinct notes of spices like cumin and coriander. The spice added excitement and really made the sandwich stand out from the others.

 

Cheesy Monsieur (LKR 1065)

Loaded with cheese, this was creamy from the béchamel and salty from the goat cheese. This is the only vegetarian option for the sandwiches, and it doesn’t disappoint – this was basically an elevated grilled cheese with a slightly lighter, cleaner flavour due to the sharpness of the goat cheese. The strong goat cheese flavour paired so well with the chimichurri, I basically poured it on the sandwich.

 

 

EMPANADAS

The empanadas at Hola Bonjour come in servings of 4, and are easy to handle, generously filled, pockets of joy. Somewhat similar to the ever-familiar patty, an empanada is a buttery turnover filled with a savoury meat/veggie mix that is either baked or fried. The ones from Hola Bonjour are baked, and come to you served with a side of their chimichurri sauce.

The pastry of the Empanada was divine, it was slightly sweet and very buttery. Texture wise, it was crisp on the outside but still soft on the inside. Baked to perfection and golden, they were also generously filled, leaving no empty pockets of air inside the empanada.

 

Goat Cheese Empanada (LKR 690)

One of the vegetarian options, the goat’s cheese was mixed in with various greens that tasted like spinach and leeks. The salty creaminess of the cheese balanced out the savoury earthiness of the greens. This particular empanada heroes the cheese and greens, meaning that the vegetal flavours are strong, and the salinity of the goat’s cheese is not masked either!

 

Chicken Empanada (LKR 690)

This was essentially a delicious chicken curry that was encased in their signature empanada wrapping! The pieces of shredded chicken were thick and juicy, the curry flavouring itself was mild in heat but packed full of flavour – spicy, savoury and just ever so slightly sweet from the dough. The balance of flavours left us quite pleasantly surprised. Mixed with the tart and herbaceous chimichurri sauce that accompanied the empanadas, it was delicious.

 

Beef Empanada (LKR 720)

The flavours in the Beef Empanada again veered towards a more South Asian/Sri Lankan flavour profile, and the filling tasted like a samosa filling but milder, which truly allowed the flavour of the beef to shine through. The beef mince was savoury and very well spiced with flavours of coriander, cumin and cardamom coming through. There also weren’t too many filler ingredients taking away from the meaty interior.

 

Mushroom Empanada (LKR 665)

The Mushroom Empanada was filled with hefty, juicy chunks of wild mushroom, leeks and almonds. Because the mushroom pieces were not blitzed into miniscule pieces, they became explosions of juiciness and flavour when bitten into. The contrast of the soft chewy mushroom to the bite of the almonds made sure the filling wasn’t boring or monotone, and the leeks added a slight sweetness to it all.

 

Chimichurri Sauce

A Chimichurri Sauce is a South American vinegar and herb-based sauce that’s the perfect accompaniment to meats, or anything quite rich in flavour. Made with green herbs like parsley, oregano and coriander, and garlic, shallot, olive oil, red pepper flakes and vinegar, a chimichurri has a wonderful brightness to it.

Hola Bonjour’s chimichurri is the perfect accompaniment to their rich hearty dishes. Bright, light, fresh and highly addictive, it truly goes well with anything – I even dipped my sandwich into it!

 

Desserts

The dessert options we got were like night and day, both came in take away containers as quite generous single servings.

Torta De Limão (LKR 690)

A buttery layer of crushed up Marie biscuits acted as the base for this dessert and was topped off with a rich almost cheesecake like mousse that had a bright lime flavour! The combo of crumbly and smooth provided a delightful textural experience and the lightness of the zesty, creamy torta was perfect for a warm day! If you don’t have a sweet tooth this is the perfect dessert choice to end your meal with! This crowd pleaser had everyone smiling and digging in for more!

 

Mousse De Chocolate (LKR 690) 

The mousse was rich and thick. The deep chocolatey flavour had a slight bitterness to it, which complemented the sticky, sweet, salted caramel. Each spoonful brought out audible moans of happiness from everyone who tasted it. This rich dessert is a must-try for all those with a sweet tooth or any chocolate lovers out there!

 

Fun fact

You definitely wouldn’t want to miss the events hosted by Hola Bonjour once a month. Keeping things exciting, they vary the theme of the event each time. Follow them on Instagram to keep an eye out for their events.

Tip

A special mention goes to the Chimichurri sauce – try it! Buy it! Put it on EVERYTHING!

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