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our favoritemaalu paan& lamprais

APR / 2015

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Avurudu Times/sweeTs

HAPPY AVURUDU EDITORIALSuba aluth avurudak wewa! We hope you have a peaceful Sin-hala and Tamil New Year (this April 13th). Avurudu is a nice time where everyone can pause, restart and not go back to work for a week, at least.

We have some pretty big features this issue - taste-offs of maalu paan and lamprais. If you want to read more about those or see the videos we made, visit www.yamu.lk, or our YouTube page (youtube.com/yamulk).

We’ve been experimenting with more features and lists like this, trying to post about one a week on our site. Of course, we still cover new restaurants and shops and the like, so check those out as well.

Also happy to say that we finally have a Windows app out (thanks Thilina). We’re working on new versions of our Apple and Android apps in the next few months as well.

Finally, I feel like not enough people know that subscriptions to this magazine are free, if you’d like one just email your mailing address to info@yamu.lk.

Happy exploring,

Indi

EDITORIALIndi Samarajiva

Shifani ReffaiBhagya Goonewardhane

ADVERTISINGDinesh Hirdaramani

779 776 445

CONTACT11 454 4230 (9 AM - 5 PM)

info@yamu.lk

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4

BY BHAGYA

Beach Wadiya is an old school beachside restaurant in Wella-watte. The service is fast and the food is simple and good, if not mind-blowing.

THE FOODBeach Wadiya has been around since the 70s so it’s very popular among Colombars looking to get some seafood. Their menu is actu-ally surprisingly small and entirely seafood based. You generally only get what they’ve bought from the fishermen, in our case this meant only seer fish, crabs, prawns and cuttlefish were available.

We asked them if them if we could get a crab omelette, but apparent-ly they were running short on eggs as well. When it comes to prices they aren’t too bad but a few dish-es like the prawns and crab tend to be bit expensive.

For our carb we had no choice but to go for the fried rice (Rs. 375), which was pretty average since it was just a plain fried rice with no seafood. For Rs. 375 you get a por-tion which is just enough for two which is fine.

The hot butter cuttlefish (Rs. 575) was by far the best dish we had during our meal. Unlike most other spots, they fry the cuttlefish in a thin bread crumb batter which was a great change up from the contemporaries. The seasoning was also on point with a good bal-ance of saltiness and spice.

The garlic prawns (Rs. 1250) were fresh and tasty, but a bit expen-sive at the end of the day. You get seven pan-fried large prawns (with the heads) in a light garlic sauce. We would have preferred the garlic sauce with a bit more seasoning but the prawns themselves were fresh and chunky. This was hon-estly quite nice but we just didn’t

feel it justified the price.

The devilled crab (Rs. 950) tasted good, but we wouldn’t say it’s one of the best crab dishes in town. The problem here was that there wasn’t enough meat in the crab, which can be pretty disappointing when you’ve gone all in with your hands covered in gravy. The gravy, while being a bit oily, had good bal-ance of of flavours with enough heat to be a “devilled” dish.

AMBIENCE & SERVICEThe entire experience of dining by the beach is one of the main draws at Beach Wadiya, but unfor-tunately this time around we came away less than impressed. We dropped in for lunch and took seat in the outdoor section. In retro-spect this was a mistake, since we practically ended up sharing the table with a bunch of crows who seem to think they’re food ninjas, trying to grab stuff off the plates on the table. The beach strip near

THE BEACH WADIYA2, Station Road, Wellawatte | 112 588 568

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Wellawatte isn’t the cleanest, but this is all the beach you get in Co-lombo itself.

If you’re dining during the day we suggest sitting indoors unless you’re prepared to be vigilant. Plus it’s super hot anyways. The place is a bit more romantic at night.

The service is generally fast but not really that friendly. The waiter that served our table seemed ir-ritated when we asked him if we could get that crab omlette and the other one was trying to scare the crows away with a slingshot, but failed spectacularly at it.

CONCLUSIONDespite the somewhat unappeal-ing state of the beach, Wadiya is a pretty good place to get your sea-food fix. Their hot butter cuttlefish in particular is excellent.

7

BY SHIFANI

Brownie Lovin’ is a great home baker that specializes in baking brownies. We just tried two of their concoctions and we abso-lutely loved them, probably the gooeyest brownies we’ve had in a long time.

THE MENU & SERVICEThey do a handful of special reci-pes that seem to work well, us-ing favourites like strawberries, coconut, cookies and M&Ms. It’s all priced at around Rs. 700, for six pieces in a box. We got this menu off their Facebook page where you can stay tuned for menu updates. We got their classic and popular ‘Talk Dirty To Me’, an extra gooey choco-latey brownie, and the ‘Funfetti’ which incorporates M&Ms and sprinkles (Rs. 750 each).

This is a home-baker so unfor-tunately they don’t deliver. You

have to order a day in advance and go to Wellawatte to pick your order up.

THE BROWNIESBesides Brownie Lovin’ the only brownies I really love are at Skrumptious and Yumi Cake (both make ready-to-go brownies), but Thush’s is also known for their killer brownies. Let us know if you’ve had amazing brown-ies elsewhere.

Our brownies came sur-prisingly very warm (the best way to have your brownies). The Talk Dirty To Me brownies are a goo-ey mess, in the best way, with a creamy thick, sweet chocolatey layer on top, and a squishy moist cakey center, and everything is thoroughly drenched in choco-late. It’s one of those things you wake up from hours later, after passing out from a sugar coma.

The Funfetti is a lot of fun to eat, and ideal if you’ve got a kid you want to surprise with brown-ies. Again, sweet, gooey soft brownies, covered in colourful sprinkles and M&Ms. This is much sweeter than the ordinary brownies for obvious reasons.

CONCLUSIONBrownie Lovin’ is a legit choice if you’re looking for excellent, soft brownies slathered in obscene amounts of chocolate. Consid-ering quality and quantity, their prices are good too.

BROWNIE LOVIN’1, Harischandra Mawatha, Wellawatte (Home Baker) | 779 648 354

8

BY SHIFANI

The Dodol House is an awesome venture in Kelaniya - they not only make great dodol but they also deliver it to your house. Good dodol is very hard to find in Co-lombo - it’s very well done down South like in Hambantota - we’ve heard some Bombay Sweet Marts serve some up (the one at the Dehiwala junction is not bad), but nobody really does a great dodol.

Dodol is way up there with wat-talapam in the awesome Sri Lan-kan desserts list, but believe it or not, dodol is actually not just Sri Lankan: it’s popular in the Phil-lipines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia even has a durian fla-voured dodol (WHY?). Anyway if you’re not familiar with dodol (aka my favourite dessert ever and a big deal among Muslim aunties in Sri Lanka among oth-ers), it’s basically a fatty, sticky

gelatinous mound of rice flour, coconut milk, jaggery and cash-ew nuts. It’s made by stirring the mix gently over a fire.

THE DODOLIt comes to me from reliable sources (aunties) that the art of making good dodol is quite hard to perfect. Different people enjoy different consistencies of dodol though, but personally the best are the heaviest, darkest, sticki-est ones.

The Dodol House makes their dodol at home and it tastes amazing. It’s very, very chewy and sticky though, so you need to go at it a bit with a knife, and it’s quite packed and concen-trated so you get a strong lovely fragrance of the coconut milk with the jaggery, and as you sink your teeth into it the little sugary cashew bits break the flavour up. Extremely oily and sticky, yet im-mensely satisfying, so this is only

for people who are prepared for the possibility of someday trans-forming into a happy, fat uncle or aunty.

PRICE & DELIVERYThe Dodol House just kicked things off this year and they have a Facebook page, You can either message them on Facebook like we did or call them up, but do it a day in advance - and they deliver it on time, to your address. It’s Rs. 950 for a kilogram, which is a perfect quantity to get at a time, probably makes up about 15 pieces, not to mention affordable.

CONCLUSION In a city where great dodol is hard to find, The Dodol House is a relief to have around, especially since you can just get it delivered. We’d recommend it for party or festival orders, or if you just have a sudden craving for this awe-some local dessert.

THE DODOL HOusE317/1, Gemunu Mawatha, Kiribathgoda (Delivery) | 771 175 521

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BY BHAGYA

Foodie Adventure is a home cook in Nawala that does take away and delivery. We tried a bunch of her stuff and pretty much all of it was amazing. Which isn’t something we say often.

THE FOODFoodie Adventure is a somewhat new, Nawala based home cook that offers quite a varied list of dishes for delivery and take away. Home cooks generally tend to offer smaller menus revolving around a single specialization. That wasn’t case here with the Foodie Adven-ture menu having grilled meats, rice, quinoa dishes and even a good selection of salads and healthy drinks. The prices are also quite reasonable with everything priced between Rs. 350 - Rs. 1500.One thing that really impressed us

straight off the bat was how well all of it was packaged. Even though she’s a home cook, she runs a very professional operation.

The baked tortillas were a great way to start things off. It comes with a tomato salsa and an avo-cado dip which is quite heavy on the garlic. These were like thick na-chos with a sprinkling of salt and chili flakes. They taste pretty great on their own but the dips make it even better. Particularly the avo-cado dip, which is creamy with the flavour of the garlic really coming through.

Quinoa is a rarity in Colombo, so we were quite surprised to see a home cook offering it. The quinoa burger (Rs. 380) was a first even for us, but it turned out be quite tasty. The burger is constructed with bread buns, tomato, cucumber, lettuce

and a quinoa patty with a slice of cheese draped over it. The grilled patty was seasoned and packed perfectly with the tomato adding a very subtle sweetness. I’m not too big on vege burgers but I’d gladly have this one.

The prawn and avocado salad (Rs. 580) was fresh and light with a good balance of flavours. There isn’t much of a twist to this one but we’re fine with that since the fresh greens and vegetables make for an excellent garden salad which is very filling. The avocado also adds a nice creaminess and light sweetness which complement the prawns well.

As a rice option we tried out the Mongolian fried rice (Rs. 960). It’s prepared in the classic Mongolian style, which ironically happens to be something Sri Lankans came

FOODIE ADVENTuRE41, Malwatta Road, Nawala (Delivery) | 773 880 585

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up with. This was undoubtedly one of the best renditions of Mongolian fried rice we’ve had with light long grain basmati, chicken, prawns and good amount of chillies and spice. The great thing though is the fact that despite having a good amount of heat, it doesn’t over-power the other flavours.

Next up we tried the grilled pork chops with mashed potatoes (Rs. 1100). First off the grilled pork chops were cooked and seasoned very well and we had no com-plaints. However, the hero of this dish was the mash which was creamy and buttery with the cara-melized onions adding some tex-ture as well as sweetness.

ORDERING & DELIVERYFoodie Adventure can be con-tacted on 0773880585 to place your orders. Ordering one day in

advance is all that’s required. She delivers orders of 5 or more items with no delivery charge. For small-er orders, the pick up address is No. 41, Malwatta Rd, Nawala.

CONCLUSIONWe really couldn’t find fault in any of the dishes we tried from Foodie Adventure. This is one home cook we’d definitely recommend.

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BY SHIFANI

Dolce Italia is a simple, charming Italian restaurant and bakery on a busy square on Havelock Road. It’s run by a few Italians, and is surpris-ingly affordable. Our last review when they just opened was of their range of soft buttery pastries, but they now have Italian favourites like pasta and ravioli for grabs, and these authentic dishes get two thumbs up from us.

AMBIENCEJudging by the ambience of Co-lombo’s typical authentic Italian restaurants (Santore, Pranzo, La Trattoria), you would not at first expect Dolce Italia to serve up the same fare. The main bakery space is very casual, cafe-like almost, with a cheerful window seat and a few simple chairs and tables.

There’s an upstairs dining space too though, for busier times in the evening. But overall, this is casual Italian dining, at surprisingly un-assuming prices (Rs. 500 - 700), which is pretty new.

In case you missed our last review, we’ve got to mention Dolce’s chef Manuella and director Samir, the two Italian brains behind the en-terprise. You’ll see them around a lot, and they’ll be happy to come sit and have a chat with you if you say hi. Manuella has been in the restaurant business since she was 16, and is an excellent cook, re-sponsible for everything from the fettuccine to the ice coffees.

THE FOODCheck out our previous review to read about their bakery menu of croissants, cornettos, et al. They’re

good. But this time we tried the mains.The shrimp fettuccine was our fa-vourite from what we got, and we recommend it. It was a very filling and satisfying lunch that cost Rs. 700 - plenty of thick ribbony pasta as you can see (fettuccine means ‘little ribbons’ in Italian), tossed about in a killer creamy, tangy to-mato shrimp sauce. I don’t know what Manuella put in that sauce but it was perfection (I wish there had been more shrimp, but that’s just because I’m greedy).

We also got the spaghetti carbon-ara (the chicken-bacon or ‘fakon’ as we like to call it), for Rs. 700 again (all the pasta mains are priced this way). This tasted good, but was the least exciting of the lot, very lightly garnished with grated cheese and plain strips of fakon.

DOLCE ITALIA147, Vajira Road, Colombo 5 | 112 559 900 / 112 559 901

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The beef lasagna was another win, coming in a close second to the fettuccine. Wonderfully cheesy (all hail Italians, the gods of cheese), creamy, baked to just the right point, with the minced beef subtly infused and blending in nicely. Brilliant that this costs just 700 bucks - considering the quality of the ingredients, the care put into the recipe and how filling it is, you’d spend probably double the price for this at any other Ital-ian place.

We also got two tall fresh glasses of iced coffee (Rs. 250) and picked the tiramisu from their collection of refrigerated desserts. At Rs. 300, this is good takeaway-tiramisu, which again you don’t easily find at other bakeries. It isn’t the best tiramisu, but with its soft, coffee

layers and plenty of sugary cream, we have to say it works.

CONCLUSIONDolce Italia is definitely a place we’d go back to, both for their au-

thenticity and their affordability (it came to less than Rs. 3000 for three mains, dessert and drinks). It’s a pleasant, casual space that can work both for a heavy dinner or an evening snack.

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The Great Lamprais Taste OffLamprais is a classic and beloved Sri Lankan meal - the appropriated history of the Dutch empire on a plate. Or a banana-leaf, more ac-curately. This is our 2015 taste-off of eight-contenders for the best lamprais in Colombo (in our opinion).

In our review, what we looked for is taste above all. A good lamprais is a flavor of symphonies, all working together, nothing out of place. We also looked for authenticity, but as

THE BOTTOMWe start with the ‘meh’. While these might be OK rice and curries, they’re not good lamprais. None of them had the harmony and balance of the top contenders.

long as they pulled off the feel of a good lamprais we weren’t strict.Please note that we only covered lamprais you can get over the coun-ter. There are excellent cooks that

take orders in advance (like Jean and Jennifer) but we will cover those in a separate article. These are lamprais you can get on any given morning.

8. Green Cabin (Rs. 350) - 1.5/5

Green Cabin has been doing lamprais for a while now, but what we got was disappointing. It was missing key elements like the blachan, and came with yellow rice more than something cooked in stock. The chicken was also bland and chalky.

The biggest turn off of all though was the sheer amount of oil in this one. It was literally drip-ping and Indi managed to spill it all over his shirt (112588811)

7. Perera & Sons (Rs. 320) - 2/5

Perera & Sons has great distribution and this was the cheapest lamprais on the list, but it fell flat in terms of taste. This dish sorely missed a salty blachan and a balancing ash plantain, and the rice was oddly spiced with tumeric.

The only real positive is that you get a pretty chunky piece of chicken. Besides that it was a bit of a weird biriyani/lamprais Frankenstein. (112565742)

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The Great Lamprais Taste Off

THE HAPPY MIDDLENow we’re getting to the good contenders. These won’t leave you unhappy. These are good lamprais which we happily recommend.

6. Sugar Bistro (Rs. 866) - 3.5/5

Sugar Bistro’s lamprais was the most generous and looked quite appetizing. When it came down to taste, however, they didn’t quite deliver enough for the Rs. 866 price tag. If you order this, however, you won’t be unhappy. It’s a good lamprais.

The positives here were that they hadn’t skimped on any of the elements. The rice was pretty good, and the ash plantains were quite tasty. It lacks a bit of bal-ance but still made us happy. (112446229)

5. Pol Sambolaya (Rs. 350) - 3.5/5

Pol Sambolaya is a humble buth kade at Colpetty Junction, but their lamprais can hang with the big boys. The rice had the right texture and was well-flavored on its own - essential for a good lamprais.

This balanced out well with their blachan which had a bit of chili in it. You also get a sizeable piece of well-seasoned chicken. We enjoyed this lamprais and for the price it’s a great value. (115985500)

15

"A cheese fondue is surely the stuff of dreams"

- Nigella Lawson

heese fondue is a traditional Swiss dish that originated in the Alps, mainly in and around the

canton of Valais. Contrary to popular belief, it did not originate as an après-ski snack; it’s a hearty peasant dish, using ingredients that were available in the winter: cheese, wine and coarse peasant bread. White wine or kirsch are the perfect accompaniments to cheese fondue.

available at Chesa Swisscall 112573433 for reservations

4. Don’s Deli (Rs. 475) - 3.5/5

Don’s Deli offers a mixed meat lamprais from a sweet little lady named Mrs. Flogesteen. It’s not entirely pre-made so you need to wait 10 minutes. This actually turned out be one the best one of the lot, falling just a little short of DBU and Mrs. W’s. We’d gladly have this for a lamprais fix.

While some elements weren’t quite as good as higher rated places, their mixed meat preparation was fan-tastic. Nice mix of fatty pork and leaner beef and chicken. If the meat is one of the most important ele-ments in a lamprais for you, then this one won’t disap-point. Quite satisfying. (112055606)

3. Mrs. Warusawithana (Rs. 400) - 4/5

Mrs. W’s malprais ticks all the right boxes - each el-ement sings. While some of the other places had stand-out elements, Mrs.W’s is just solid all around, which makes it an excellent choice for a small get-together.

It comes with fragrant rice, two sizeable frikkadels, lightly peppered boneless chicken curry, ash plantains, brinjal and seeni sambol as well. It’s also quite afford-able at Rs. 400 and you get the satisfaction of order-ing from a (admittedly sophisticated) home cook. You can place your orders by calling 112573908.

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"A cheese fondue is surely the stuff of dreams"

- Nigella Lawson

heese fondue is a traditional Swiss dish that originated in the Alps, mainly in and around the

canton of Valais. Contrary to popular belief, it did not originate as an après-ski snack; it’s a hearty peasant dish, using ingredients that were available in the winter: cheese, wine and coarse peasant bread. White wine or kirsch are the perfect accompaniments to cheese fondue.

available at Chesa Swisscall 112573433 for reservations

2. DBU (Rs. 500) - 4.5/5

In our blind tasting this lamprais looked the least impressive, but our opinion was quickly changed when we tasted it. This one is very well balanced and probably the most authentic of the bunch.

The rice here looks ordinary, but it’s full of flavor. Their mixed meat of chicken, beef and pork is de-licious, but if you like large portions you may be a bit disappointed. An authentic lamprais is not sup-posed to be big, but be forewarned. That being said, the elements- frikadels, blachan, ash plantains and brinjals are all spot on. This is a classic experience, coming from the source. (112584511)

1. Fab (Rs. 370) - 4.5/5

Fab does a nice modernization of the lamprais - an authentic flavor balance but with modern innovations like boneless chicken, bigger portion size and a deep-fried egg. At just Rs. 370 this one is also affordable, and widely available.

The rice was well cooked, flavoursome and not too oily. The chicken was spicy and well seasoned with the blachan adding a bit more saltiness. This also comes with a seeni sambol that adds a bit of sweet-ness. Only the frikkadel was a bit meh, but that still wasn’t enough to knock this out of our top spot. (112573348)

17

It was not easy sampling 14 maalu paans at a stretch, but we did it anyway... for science. Most maalu paans were just okay, which is the general tendency, some were evil and deceptive (is there anything sadder than a malu paan with bare-ly any maalu in it?), while a few were superb. Here are our highlights.

The Meh - 2/5

Most of the contenders got a 2 out of 5 rating, either disappointing in terms of quantity or in that elusive fish:potato ratio of tastiness.

Chariot (Rs. 60) These are maalu paans with hard bread and a very buttery filling. The filling to bread ratio was so-so and overall you’d get a maalu paan if you were visiting the place anyway, but we wouldn’t go out of our way.

Little Star (Rs. 45) The fish filling here was nice, but the downer was that this was one of those maalu paans with a horri-ble filling-to-bread ratio. When you opened the big bun all you got was a tiny smidgen of filling, it was just rude.

maalu paan

T he maalu paan is one of Sri Lanka’s most beloved kade short-eats. Although it’s just a semi-triangular bun full of fish, it’s still a huge fa-vourite at bakeries, but it’s usually hard to trust which shop has the best maalu paan. So we’ve put together the top 14 maalu paan contenders in Colombo for a final showdown.

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taste off

Maalu Paan Price Weight Length Fish % RatingYumi Cake 130 127 11 81% 5

Fab 60 81 11.5 58% 4

Tasty Caterers 50 112 11.5 70% 4

Klassy 50 117 11.5 65% 3

Family Baker 55 93 11.5 52% 3

Chariot 60 78 10.5 53% 2.5

Little Star 45 84 10 40% 2.5*

Paan Paan brown 80 69 10 67% 2

Paan Paan regular 50 74 11.8 45% 2

BreadTalk 70 81 10.5 60% 2

Lanka Hospital 50 114 12 65% 2

Colombo City Hotel 60 125 10.5 57% 2

Sponge 120 99 9.5 67% 2

Sen Saal 55 77 12 63% 1

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Paan Paan (Rs. 50) Paan Paan’s regular maalu paan fill-ing tasted sort of dry, onion-heavy, and odd. That said, after our review they actually changed it. It’s moist and flavorful now, we’d actually move it up to a 3 or 3.5

Colombo City Hotel (Rs. 60) These maalu paans didn’t look ap-petizing, the bread was dry and the filling was very oniony - but not too bad. It’s served across from the World Trade Center and next to Fri-days. Sort of like a typical canteen maalu paan.

3/5: The Good

These are good malu paans. If you stopped for one of these you wouldn’t be unhappy and they stick pretty closely to a winning formula.

BreadTalk (Rs. 70) The paan of the BreadTalk maalu paan was the softest of the lot. It was like soft bread filled with a moist fishy potato curry. Tastes okay, but low on the list of maalu paan standards as it barely fits the definition.

Sponge (Rs. 120) Sponge’s maalu paans are for some reason more expensive than your average. It was okay but had those fat chunks of potato in it that I’m not fond of and the weird linger-ing flavour of leeks. Not very spicy, if you’re into that.

Klassy (Rs. 50) Klassy is usually a reliable bet when it comes to short-eats. They are a solid choice if you’re looking for an average good, traditional maalu paan - very spicy, fishy, and with plenty of potato minced in nicely.

Lanka Hospital (Rs. 50) It’s not often you go to a hospital for short-eats, but Lanka Hospitals has a reputation. But in the case that you do, Lanka Hospital serves up some okay-ones, the filling is fishy and average, but the bread was quite hard.

Sen Saal (Rs. 55) Sen Saal actually got a 1/5 rating from us. They might be good at other stuff, but maalu paan is defi-nitely not their forte. The potato to fish filling was all wrong, but mostly these ones had an overwhelming weird flavour of cinnamon.

Family Baker (Rs. 55) These guys also do a good solid maalu paan, though not as spicy as the Klassy ones, with a lovely fla-voursome ratio of potato and fish.

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4/5: The Great

These malu paans are worth going out of your way for.

5/5: The Greatest

This newcomer was our favorite. If you want maalu paan taken to the max, this is it.

Fab (Rs. 60) Fab makes some very good maalu paan, this is one of the few places I’d head to for it since the place is easily accessible and consistent. Lots of chunky minced fish in this, and I think that’s what a good bun is mostly about - the abundance of fish in it, since our more lackluster contenders seem to try to compen-sate with potato.

Yumi Cake (Rs. 130) In the end, there can only be one bun to rule all buns. From the beginning of the taste-off I kept referring to Yumi Cake’s probable victory despite the skepticism of other fools, but in the end, it turned out to be true. This one is made out of kurakkan flour which is healthier than ordinary bread, and weighs

ConclusionSo that was the showdown between the heavy-weights of Sri Lanka’s favourite kind of bunnis (the picture above is the re-arranged pyramid of maalu paans, in order of awesomeness). In the end we were queasy and kind of grossed out with ourselves, in need of much mouth-freshener, but it was worth it. If you feel we need to check out maalu paan elsewhere, don’t forget to let us know in the comments on this article online.

the most of the lot since it’s abso-lutely packed to the brim with a wonderful home-made fishy filling. Of course, Yumi is the only one on the list that isn’t an average bakery or hospital, but follows a baker’s pri-vate recipe instead. If you are crav-ing great maalu paan, this is worth the price, but order early since they sell out fast.

Tasty Caterers (Rs. 50) Tasty Caterers is my personal favourite for all my short-eat crav-ings (especially for eclairs). So it’s not much of a surprise that it’s up here with the best of the maalu paans: good bread, well-spiced good minced fish with a bit of po-tato, very light and pleasant unlike other maalu paans that tend to be overwhelming with aroma and chunkiness.

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9:06 AM

SOUTH LIGHTGREEN

HISA THEL GAAMA

6:02 AM

EAST

BACK TO WORK

1:47 PM

7:23 AM

2:05 PM

EAST RED

NEKATH UDAWA (FIRST HALF)

AAHARA PISEEMA (UYAMU)

2:42 PM

8:11 PM

KAMU, GANU, DENU

END OF SECOND HALF

START NONAGATHA

APRIL

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APRIL

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APRIL

22

AVURUDU 2015Avurudu marks the true New Year in Sri Lanka, when the sun passes from Meena Rashiya (Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (Aries). This is based on an astrological border, if you track the Sun’s movement using apps like Night Sky (iPhone) or Sky Map (Android) it takes a bit longer for the Sun to actually enter the con-stellation Aries.

Culturally, it’s a time of family, community, new clothes, games and, of course, food. Everything is cen-tered around auspicious times, which we provide here. Subha Aluth Avuruddak Weva!

Wednesday is the time to cer-emonially apply oil to ones head. The auspicious color is light green.

Wednesday is when you cer-emonially go back to work (most return earlier).The color is light green and direction is East. You leave after eating kiribath and sweets with hakuru and sesame seeds.

7:23 AM: The Punya Kalaya (Nonagatha) begins. Light no fire and draw no water. Can go to temple, but no work, read-ing, etc.

1:47 PM: Nekath Udawa, the dawn of the New Year.

2:05 PM: Aahara Piseema. The time of lighting the hearth and preparing food. Tradition-ally kiribath. You face east and wear red as you begin.

2:42 PM: This is when you can eat. This is also when people exchange gifts and go visiting.

8:11 PM: The Punya Kalaya ends. The sun is safely in its new house and you can offi-cially start the New Year.

Saturday is the last bath of the old year. Make it count. It’s rec-ommended to mix some woodapple leaf extract with the bath water. This day (a Monday) is a holiday. Note that public trans-port will be packed.

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www.yamu.lk

Pisces

Sun starts leaving Pisces

Sun ishalfway

Sun enters Aries

Aries

LIGHTGREEN

9:06 AM

SOUTH LIGHTGREEN

HISA THEL GAAMA

6:02 AM

EAST

BACK TO WORK

1:47 PM

7:23 AM

2:05 PM

EAST RED

NEKATH UDAWA (FIRST HALF)

AAHARA PISEEMA (UYAMU)

2:42 PM

8:11 PM

KAMU, GANU, DENU

END OF SECOND HALF

START NONAGATHA

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AVURUDU 2015Avurudu marks the true New Year in Sri Lanka, when the sun passes from Meena Rashiya (Pisces) to Mesha Rashiya (Aries). This is based on an astrological border, if you track the Sun’s movement using apps like Night Sky (iPhone) or Sky Map (Android) it takes a bit longer for the Sun to actually enter the con-stellation Aries.

Culturally, it’s a time of family, community, new clothes, games and, of course, food. Everything is cen-tered around auspicious times, which we provide here. Subha Aluth Avuruddak Weva!

Wednesday is the time to cer-emonially apply oil to ones head. The auspicious color is light green.

Wednesday is when you cer-emonially go back to work (most return earlier).The color is light green and direction is East. You leave after eating kiribath and sweets with hakuru and sesame seeds.

7:23 AM: The Punya Kalaya (Nonagatha) begins. Light no fire and draw no water. Can go to temple, but no work, read-ing, etc.

1:47 PM: Nekath Udawa, the dawn of the New Year.

2:05 PM: Aahara Piseema. The time of lighting the hearth and preparing food. Tradition-ally kiribath. You face east and wear red as you begin.

2:42 PM: This is when you can eat. This is also when people exchange gifts and go visiting.

8:11 PM: The Punya Kalaya ends. The sun is safely in its new house and you can offi-cially start the New Year.

Saturday is the last bath of the old year. Make it count. It’s rec-ommended to mix some woodapple leaf extract with the bath water. This day (a Monday) is a holiday. Note that public trans-port will be packed.

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www.yamu.lk

Pisces

Sun starts leaving Pisces

Sun ishalfway

Sun enters Aries

Aries

LIGHTGREEN

Avurudu 2015The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is this month. Here’s a quick litha (list auspicious times) and some places to get traditional Avurudu sweets. This is the one day Sri Lankans are on time, so the litha is good to know. Best wishes from us at YAMU.

Good Market (at Racecourse and Waters Edge), Dunhinda does the best pani kavum ever, and Achcharu Kade usually has special products for the New Year. Also try their perma-nent shop in Lakpahana (770 208 642)

Lakpahana (across from the Racecourse) takes orders for the whole range of Avurudu sweets. Literally, everything you know and some stuff you don’t. They’re a reliable bet, especially for larger quantities. (112698211)

Nandi’s Milk Toffee are delightful, indulgent treat and good gifts. A lot of people don’t actually like traditional Avurudu sweets, but these are a safe bet. The cost about Rs. 100 each, but one is enough for two people. Call 777636386.

Foodie Colombo is a home baker that will be having a line-up of rasakevili for this Avurudu season at some very reasonable rates. It’s a big list with unconventional stuff like Weli Thalapa on offer as well. (773 842 330)

Mount Lavinia Hotel will open up it’s Avurudu Kevili Kiosk from the 10th - 13th of April, right throughout the day from 10 am to 8 pm. We’ve had the rasakevili at Mt.Lavinia hotel in the past so we can definitely vouch for it. (112711711/436)

Odel will be having a sort of fair from the 8th to the 13th with Avurudu sweets as well as traditional activities.

Paan Paan platters are good value for money and they’re do-ing kiribath versions for the season. Call 114388488.

Bakeries - Most of the bakeries will be having Avurudu sweets on offer, but not all of them will be very good. A few places we suggest are Paan Paan, Perera & Sons, The Fab and Little Star.

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BY INDI

Island Craft connects traditional craftspeople to modern designers. The result is some cool and crea-tive home furnishings and fabrics at quite affordable prices.

THE STUFFWe normally start with the stuff. For example, these are woven bears on a Dumbara style chair.

What’s unique about Island Living, however, is that each piece has a story behind it. These bears, for ex-ample are hand-woven by women from Mullaitivu who had been weaving smaller pieces (socks and those hats Sri Lankans put on ba-bies) until people from AOD had the idea to make bigger pieces like this and wraps, etc.

These masks (Rs. 1,000) are takes

on the traditional Sri Lankan demon mask style. The ones below are ac-tually boxes that you can keep stuff in. These are made by the Hirukira-na Folk Art Center in Bentota, basi-cally a father and son operation.

Painted elephants are a classic Sri Lankan gift, but they’re usually a riot of colors. These ones by Nirmala Handicrafts of Galle tries a differ-ent stroke - painting them all solid. Through Island Crafts connections they’ve also started selling these on SriLankan Airlines. You can get them in store for Rs. 370 to 1,925.

This is a close-up of a wastepaper basket (Rs. 2000-3000) made by Earthbound Creations from Perad-eniya. Sagara, the owner, collects old newspapers and magazines and works them to create solid and fascinating boxes, bowls and even elephants.

The shop also has a range of saris from Rs. 6,500 to 8,500 from hand-loom weavers in the Divulapitiya vil-lage in Gampaha. They have more expensive (around Rs. 10,000) batik saris and beach wraps, throws etc.

In terms of goods and prices alone we think this is a nice place to gift shop, especially for tourists, but what sets Island Craft apart is the story. Which we’ll get into more be-low.

THE SERVICENormally this section covers cus-tomer service. In our case Michele, who does business development was showing us around. The gen-tleman who seems permanently in the shop knows the prices bet-ter but he may not be able to relate the stories as well. We’ll ask them if they could maybe put some written

IsLAND CRAFT29 Duplication Rd, Colombo 4 | 11 586 7772

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material next to things, because the sourcing and origins of these items is the most interesting thing.

What we’d also like to discuss here is the service to the commu-nity. People all across in Sri Lanka make amazing things, but they may not be able to market them to the maximum. Island Craft steps in by A) connecting craftspeople with designers and B) connecting those products with local and internation-al hotels, shops, etc.

At the shop you see the results, but the real sales are in bulk to hotels and the like. If this process keeps growing, Island Craft can really contribute to gainful employment across the island.

THE LOCATIONThe Island Craft shop is just next to the Academy Of Design on Duplica-

tion Road, just past Bauddhaloka Mawatha. It’s a small space but it’s full of interesting stuff and fun to wander around.

CONCLUSIONIsland Craft is a fun place to shop because there’s a story behind

every piece. They work with local craft-people and trained design-ers to produce creative traditional houseware and fabrics. The main business is actually sales to big hotels and shops, but you can get individual pieces at pretty good rates here.

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