Flavours of an island nation

Wholesome spread

What’s better than getting to taste the authentic food of another nation without
having to fly down to that country? With the growing popularity of global cuisines among foodies, Bengaluru sees many food festivals being organised every month.

The recent one is the Sri Lankan food festival, a 10 day food festival celebrated at Café Mozaic in Vivanta by Taj in MG Road.

Executive Chef Ramasamy Selvaraju along with Chef Kalinga Lalith and Chef M A Palitha Chandana from Vivanta by Taj, Bentota, Sri Lanka with their culinary team will bring to life the authentic feast.

So, if you are one of those with a soft corner for food and don’t mind exploring different tastes, this is the place where they can taste some of the exotic and traditional culinary items of the island country.

The hopper with chicken curry or finely fried chicken is what one can start their meal with. Sri Lankan spiced marinated grilled fish and cuttlefish, devilled prawns and mushrooms and Lunimiris (onion chilli sambal) are a few starters that people can enjoy.

This is followed by an array of main course dishes, and the delectable savouries
like ‘cashew garlic curry’, ‘Malu aba curry’ (fish cooked in mustard curry), ‘Elumas ala curry’ (mutton curry with potatoes), ‘Kukulumas koththamalai curry’ (chicken curry with coriander), ‘tender jackfruit ambula’ (sour jackfruit curry), ‘Kukulumas siyambala’ (chicken curry with tamarind), ‘Kakulu curry’ (crab curry) and ‘Lunudehi bath samaga elumas’ (mutton and lime pickle rice) will surely tingle one’s tastebuds. All the dishes are explained in english for better understanding.

“We have put forward the dishes in the most traditional way possible. Back in Sri Lanka the food is prepared in clay pots and we have done the same here. This gives a unique taste to the food cooked which is the best part,” says Chef Ramasamy.

As no meal is complete without treating the sweet tooth, this festival has given the much needed attentin to the desserts section too.

With an enticing  assortment of desserts like ‘sweet athirasa’ (rice cake with
jaggery), ‘sweet aluva’ (semolina with milk, cashew and ghee) and ‘kokis’ (deep-fried crispy rice flour cake) to name a few, foodies from across the city can feel the
authenticity in every bite they take.

And the best part of the festival is the array of cultural performances lined up for
the evening performed by talented and renowned ‘Budawatta Dance Troupe’ from Sri Lanka.

So if food was not enough to mesmerise one, this talented group will  surely do so.
One can relish the authentic flavours of Sri Lankan cuisine till August 15 from 7pm to 11 pm.