Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal
"SO, is it like Indian food, ah?" I couldn't help blurting out in between mouthfuls of a delicious chicken rendang, which a kindly neighbour had sent over to the house just minutes earlier. The tone of excitement lacing my friend's voice from the other end of the (phone) line is palpable.
This must be her fifth attempt at trying to lure me to check out Serendib Restaurant and Bar, which prides itself on serving a vast and delectable selection of authentic Sri Lankan cuisine. "Erm, not completely," she retorts with a knowing chuckle, before proceeding to patiently regale me with the lesser-known dishes of the cuisine from this tiny island nation, formerly known as Ceylon, that lies just southeast of the southern tip of India.
My only memories of tucking into Sri Lankan fare dates way back to my student days in London, where among my part-time work colleagues was a pleasant Sinhalese chap who loved to take us out after work to his favourite Sri Lankan restaurant somewhere in north London.
I remember loving the taste of their many curries — oooh, the spices — and varied selection of sambols (similar to chutney). But would I have been able to tell the difference between Sri Lankan and Indian cuisine or detect the subtleties? I doubt it. I mean, curry was curry!
"Okay, we go!" I exclaim down the phone line to whoops of delight on the other side. I guess it's about time I learn why Sri Lanka is also known as "Spice Island".
BIRTH OF SERENDIB
"So, is it LIKE Indian food?" Once again, I just couldn't help blurting out the question the moment I find myself inside the dimly-lit cocoon of Serendib Restaurant and Bar. I am ushered to a table in the heart of the cosy restaurant, located on the lower ground floor of G Tower in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.
"Well, a little bit," comes the gentle reply, this time from a pleasant-looking gentleman whose eyes seem to twinkle with bemusement by my question. "Everybody asks me this question," he adds, his tone understanding.
Dragging a chair next to me, he calls for one of the waiters standing at attention by the bar counter to furnish us with the menu. "What would you like to eat," asks Dilantha Silva, or Silva as he's better known, before elaborating shyly: "My name is very long. In Sri Lanka, everyone calls me Dilantha. Here in Malaysia, they know me as Silva, which is my surname."
The ever-smiling 30-year-old is the owner of this four-year-old restaurant, which he runs with a team of talented chefs, led by his long-time friend and head chef, Chef Raj, who hails from a family of cooks and has worked under reputed celebrity chef Publis Silva, a maestro in traditional Sri Lankan style of cooking.
"Chef Raj learnt to cook from his grandmothers. One was from Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, and the other came from the South. That's how he's been able to master the two different styles of cooking and learn the trade secrets of traditional Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamil home cooking," shares Silva, beaming with pride.
He was born and bred in Sri Lanka's coastal city of Negombo and worked with several reputed restaurants in his home country before moving to Malaysia nearly 10 years ago. "I was working with one of the larger restaurant chains in this country before I met Chef Raj and decided to start something of our own together. This is my first restaurant. We also have two other partners on board."
The initial plan was to find somewhere in upmarket Bangsar, but they couldn't find the right place. So, they cast their eyes towards the heart of the capital and eventually found this spot at G Tower.
A casual diner within an elegant upscale setting, Serendib offers authentic Sri Lankan food, which, according to Silva, tastes just like how they would be prepared in a typical Sri Lankan home by the matriarchs. The specialty here is Sri Lankan crab, which is the restaurant's signature.
As for the name Serendib? Well, here's a bit of trivia. While Sri Lanka used to be known as Ceylon by the British, the Arabs, however, affectionally called the beautiful island they visited "Serendib". And it is this name that inspired Silva when it came to naming his maiden restaurant.
It's certainly a soothing space with low ambient lighting that washes parts of the restaurant with light while casting shadows in others. Just by the bar is an interesting Sri Lankan door — the type you'd find in houses in Sri Lanka. On the walls are a collection of random pictures and collectibles as well as illustrations of Sinhalese and Tamil letters.
A striking framed picture of dancers performing the Kandyan dance catches my eye. The dance, originally performed by dancers who were identified as a separate caste under the Kandyan feudal system, encompasses various dance forms, which are popular and native to the area called Kandy of the Central Hills region known as Udarata in Sri Lanka.
The sudden appearance of some menus on the table startles me and immediately distracts me from my conversation with the genial proprietor. My eyes widen at some familiar favourites from the past — string hoppers, mutton curry, appam — and I note a look of satisfaction crossing Silva's eyes.
"Why don't you order for me? What are your signatures?" I ask him excitedly, as a small rumble begin to threaten from somewhere deep in my already-ravenous tummy. Silva, whose father is Sinhalese, and mother, Tamil, beams again before pulling the menu towards him and inviting me to run through it with him.
CULINARY JOURNEY
Sri Lankan food, I'm assured, isn't really for the timid eater. Or at least if you happen to find yourself in the country known as the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean". The fiery curries, sweet caramelised onion in sambol and sour lime pickle are pretty unapologetic, especially if you're not used to strong flavours.
This tropical haven is a melting pot of diverse cultures, housing people from different races and religions. Its inhabitants comprise the Sinhalese, Tamils, Malays and the Burghers — all of whom celebrate their various traditions harmoniously.
Blessed with a rich history and a civilisation that's believed to date back to at least 125,000 years ago, Sri Lanka was once colonised by the Dutch, Portuguese and eventually the British before regaining its independence in 1948.
The country was an important stop for foreign traders from Asia, Arabia, Africa and Europe because of her deep harbours and strategic location in the midst of the ancient Silk Road. These traders brought with them the spices and foods from their home countries. It is this rich history, diverse cultures and foreign influences that became the shaping force behind the spicy, exotic, and flavourful cuisine of Sri Lanka.
At the heart of Sri Lankan cuisine are rice and coconut, in addition to native tropical fruits and vegetables. Coconut, incidentally, isn't just for drinking. It seems to permeate everything, from rice to curry, to the sambols, a scraped coconut condiment that varies in spiciness, and of course, the sweets.
"So, in answer to your question whether our food is the same as Indian food…," resumes Silva, a small smile on his lips, "well, it's different in that ours is spicier and we use a lot of spices. For example, when you eat Indian cinnamon and Sri Lankan cinnamon, you'll find that when you bite into the latter, your tongue will feel as if it's burning!"
Sri Lankan curries tend to be thinner than its Indian counterpart, he adds. Despite that, they're more heavily spiced and contain many non-native ingredients as a result of international trade moving through the island.
Black pepper, which is native to the island, used to be the most powerful spice in Sri Lankan cuisine. Until spicy peppers arrived on the scene brought by colonial-era trading ships, that is. From then on, these chili peppers, which offer a completely different type of spiciness, took off. Today, more than 60 types grow on the island.
When it's not chili peppers, it's coconut that makes up a significant part of Sri Lankan cooking. "At least 90 per cent of our food contains coconut," shares Silva, adding that their national dish and a regular staple during celebrations, known as Kiribath, is prepared by cooking rice with coconut milk and has a rich coconut flavour. Tradition and simplicity make it a symbolical dish for any type of celebratory occasion and a great breakfast option too.
"It's like nasi lemak?" I blurt out, and his head bobs in reply. "Similar," he says, before scrolling to a picture on his phone and pointing to a picture of what looks like rice cakes shaped into diamonds. "It's like this. It normally goes very well with Lunumiris, a very spicy Sri Lankan sambal paste and chicken curry, or even with simple jaggery (palm sugar) for a sweeter option."
SIGNATURE FAVOURITES
What's a best seller here? I ask Silva, my eyes scanning the menu in my hand and getting hungrier by the minute. "Crab curry," replies the father of two immediately. Sri Lankan curries feature sizeable chunks of fresh protein swimming in vibrant, fragrantly spiced broths.
It's along the coasts that you'll find fish, shrimp or crab; the high hills of central Sri Lanka would feature more pork. Meanwhile, beef, chicken, goat and lamb can be found island-wide.
Serendib's crab curry is truly a sight to behold, if the pictures are anything to go by. "We use live crabs," shares Silva, beaming proudly. Adding, he says that they offer both Negombo crab and Jaffna crab.
Traditionally, the latter is an authentic seafood dish prepared in the northern part of Sri Lanka
using freshly caught mud crabs. It's the sauce or gravy that forms the main part of the dish because of the explosion of the seafood flavour from the crab. Darker in colour and slightly drier, the Jaffna-style crab is cooked using roasted curry powder.
Hailing from Negombo, Silva, who cites cooking as his great passion, grew up eating his mother's crab curry. Fortunately, Chef Raj knows exactly how to cook this dish to perfection. The restaurant sources live, fresh Sri Lankan mud crabs for its customers.
Chuckling, Silva tells me not to bother ordering Negombo crab if I ever find myself in his home country. It doesn't exist. "It's a style of cooking crab that we created here," he shares, adding that they wanted to recreate something that was familiar to them from their childhood. "It's also coconut-based and cooked with Sri Lankan spices, chilli, cardamom and comes with gravy."
Another signature item but one you may not be able to find in Sri Lanka is Serendib's Kandyan Packets. Another creation? I ask Silva. And again, he nods enthusiastically. "It's basically oven-baked rice wrapped in aromatic banana leaves. You can have it with either chicken, mutton, mixed seafood or vegetarian style. We like to say it's a bit like a healthy fried rice because it's mixed with vegetables and your choice of meat."
Silva recommends newcomers to order the set dishes under the Ceylonese Combo category to get an idea of what Sri Lankan cuisine is like. The portions are big, he assures, so sharing is ideal.
One of the best sellers is the Chicken Varuval set, which is served with vegetable of the day and sambols. This dish, which is a dry version of the chicken curry, is more commonly found on the Jaffna side, explains Silva, adding: "The chicken is cut into bite-sized pieces and we use a lot of onions and roasted curry powder to cook this."
If you prefer mutton, he recommends the Mutton Paal Poriyal set. It's a hearty dish made with slow-cooked tender mutton mixed with fresh onions, chilli, lime and various Sri Lankan spices until dry. Best eaten with string hoppers, rotti or rice and curry, the taste is a bit like the Malaysian rendang, says Silva.
The Fish Sothi also comes highly recommended. Elaborates Silva: "We use a marine fish for this, which we get from Sabah. Do you know the sailfish? It has a strong flavour. We marinate this fish with Sri Lankan spices and cook it with coconut milk turmeric, tamarind, and fresh onions, which gives this dish its yellow coconut gravy."
If you like soups, check out the Odiyal Kool, a spicy and sour seafood stew that is one of the signature dishes of the Jaffna region and a favourite dish among the Tamil population. It combines tamarind-based broth with various seafood such as cuttlefish, prawns, crayfish, crabs as well as other types of fish.
"The base for this kool is Odiyal, which is a healthy and nutritious root that's dried before it's made into a flour," explains Silva, before adding that as this soup takes a rather long time to make, it's advisable for customers to pre-order it before coming.
And certainly, don't forget the Puttu, a dish native to the south Indian states of Kerala as well as northern province in Sri Lanka. Puttu, which means 'portioned' in Tamil and Malayalam, is made of roasted rice flour mixed with coconut and steamed inside a bamboo. "People like to prepare the red rice flour puttu for breakfast or dinner. But these days, it's also eaten for lunch together with mutton curry," says Silva.
SWEET ENDING
What about the desserts, I ask, enthusiastically scanning the menu for my favourite part of any meal. Silva smiles again before leading my gaze to the sweet finale. "We have Watalappam, which is a traditional coconut custard pudding made of coconut milk, jaggery, cashew nuts, eggs and various spices," he offers, noting with bemusement my excitement.
I tell him that I've always loved the sweet appam, the bow-shaped thin pancakes made from fermented batter, which I normally make a beeline for at my local pasar malam. Does he have that? Again, his head bobs happily in response. "Try our sweet appam," suggests Silva, before explaining that it's made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk with dissolved jaggery.
Adding, he shares: "Our appam is different from what you get out there because we don't use a non-stick pan to make it. When you use that, the appam doesn't taste as crispy." There are also three other types of appam — plain, with egg, and with coconut milk. They taste great eaten with either sambol or chicken curry."
By the way, Serendib isn't just about the food. Using his knowledge in wine pairing, gained from working in various Italian restaurants through the years, Silva has put together a special selection of wines from Spain, Italy, Chile and Australia to pair with the Sri Lankan offerings.
Suffice it to say, there's much to choose from. And with my tummy threatening to mutiny, I hastily reach for the menu again before sheepishly turning to Silva and telling him that I'm ready to make my orders. It's time to get to know Sri Lankan cuisine and find that answer I'd been looking for!
Serendib Restaurant & Bar
G Tower, LG07 & 08, 199, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.
Opens daily from 11.30am to 3pm and 5.30pm to 9.45pm.