I was a digital nomad from 2013 to 2017, building a digital agency, working as a creative strategist and exploring as much of world as I could in my spare time. It was during this time that I wrote an extensive piece about Colombo being a hidden hotspot for digital nomads, sharing my favourite places in town.
One of the problems with writing a post with specific recommendations is that no place stays the same for long. Look up any list of favourite cafes anywhere in the world that’s more than a couple of years old and you’ll find that most of them are gone or have changed significantly from their original offering. In Sri Lanka, this is even more obvious, where many idealistic business owners come and go, frustrated by differences in work culture, struggling to be good managers, and most importantly, failing to build a viable business model in a volatile economy.
Repeat wins
My original post contained quite a few places that still exist in some shape or form. But I’d like to add a cafe that’s been around for at least four years now. They have consistently offered the best eggs Benedict and best coffee on the island, verified by my visits every year since 2015. Black Cat is a B&B in the heart of Colombo 7, and on their ground floor sits their cafe.
Seduction through books
More than their coffee though, I absolutely love their book collection which is brilliantly curated by their team. The collection focuses on Sri Lanka, and from what I saw on their bookshelves, didn’t focus on any one era, demographic, or point of view. I discovered and willingly paid a premium on for an out-of-print (such a shame) book about Leonard Woolf (Virginia’s husband) and his time in Sri Lanka as a civil servant, by Sri Lankan-born-Canadian-adventurer-entrepreneur-Olympian athlete Christopher Ondaatje (brother of ‘The English Patient’ author Michael Ondaatje). I also picked up a traveler’s handbook about Sri Lanka written in the 70s, pre-civil war. What a beautiful read. It made me appreciate what a treasured island it was, and what a treasured island it can be.
I also love that Black Cat’s team are engaged. They respond to you on Instagram, keep you in the loop of any new books, have maintained a consistent service and product, and every time I’ve visited on holiday, have seen at least one of the owners on site. They deserve every bit of customer loyalty they get. By continuing their hands-on management of the venue, menu, and collection of books, I think Black Cat’s owners are creating an iconic Colombo establishment.
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