“If you want to come to Sri Lanka, come now before it gets crowded,” says chef Dharshan Munidasa.
He’s the owner of popular Colombo restaurants including Nihonbashi, a Japanese restaurant that debuted in 1995, and Ministry of Crab, opened in 2011. The latter in particular has become a cultural touchstone for the city and country, with Munidasa estimating that during Sri Lanka’s 2018 tourism peak, about 5% of the 2 million foreign tourists to the country dined with them.
Sri Lanka was in the midst of a tourism boom unparalleled in its history, when a crushing four-year span ground the country’s economy to a halt. “In 2018, we never saw such tourism, but then the [2019 Easter terrorist] bombings happened, Covid, some political glitches, and now everyone is trying to get back to that period right before,” Munidasa says.
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The country is beginning to rebound now that pandemic era restrictions are in the rearview mirror, and tourists are returning to find eager entrepreneurs such as Munidasa welcoming them with open arms.
“At the end of the day, we all want you to have an amazing experience in Sri Lanka, that’s the bottom line,” he says. “We’re absolutely safe, everything is working, and we are still, as a country and as the city of Colombo, way less touristy than most destinations.”
When the half-Japanese, half-Sri Lankan chef returned to Sri Lanka after a period in the U.S., and prepared to open his first restaurant Nihonbashi, the mission was to be true to his heritage while showcasing Sri Lanka’s bounty of local ingredients from its bustling capital.
“Colombo is an amazing city,” Munidasa says. “We have the Indian Ocean right at our doorstep, fishermen catching amazing fish in there. Nature is intact, natural resources are intact, and that’s how we get our main ingredients. All of those things define my restaurants, and define me: what’s available in Sri Lanka.”
Munidasa, 53, spoke with Penta to share his favorite things to do and foods to eat in and around Colombo.
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Stay
“The Galle Face Hotel, definitely, is the place to stay in Colombo,” Munidasa says. “It’s an amazing location, it’s an amazing property, and it’s steeped in history.”
The property opened in 1864, and is named for its locale, the Galle Face Green, a large park that runs along Colombo’s seafront. In addition to that heritage, Munidasa is a fan of its standout little details. “Everything from the heights of the ceiling. When I walk into a hotel today, one of the things I look at is the height of the ceiling—these rooms are still enormous,” he says. “It evokes the colonial era. … You get that old charm.”
Eat & Drink
“Walk right across the Galle Face Hotel to the Galle Face Green, there’s a lot of street food there,” Munidasa says. “That would be our best representation of our spices and seafood, and street food itself. That’s my top recommendation.” Munidasa has even been known to partner with tour operators such as Abercrombie & Kent to provide food-focused visitors with an inside look at his own restaurants, along with a personalized street food tour to his favorite stalls.
Elsewhere in Colombo, Munidasa recommends Cafe Francais, an all-day and night cafe, restaurant, and lounge, as well as Uncle’s. “Uncle’s is a bar that opened about a year ago, it’s a good place for cocktails and a nice space.”
Sri Lankan Specialties
The two quintessential Sri Lankan dishes Munidasa suggests everyone tries are hoppers and kottu roti.
“Hoppers are fermented coconut crepes, a crispy crepe in the shape of a bowl, which is kind of unique,” he says. While the dish originally comes from South India, it has gained international acclaim in Sri Lanka, where it may be served with an egg within the bowl of the crepe, and topped with an assortment of curries and spicy sambols.
“Kottu roti also came from South India, but it’s a wheat-based, thin bread that gets chopped up on a steel plate with curries, egg, and condiments,” Munidasa says. “It has become the most democratic dish in Sri Lanka, you’ll get it from the northern tip of Sri Lanka in Jaffna to the southern tip, using different proteins, and every town will have its own version. I think you should try all of them.”
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The Sri Lankan mud crab is another must-taste. Over the past decade the ingredient has enjoyed a renaissance in its home country after a star turn overseas in Singapore with famed restaurants specializing in chili crab and black pepper crab, with the signature ingredient sourced from Sri Lankan shores.
“I’m very grateful that Singapore made our crabs famous, but we’re proud to bring more of Sri Lanka into it with our spices and flavors, showcasing these crabs that come from our island,” Munidasa says, adding that his restaurant has “the biggest” crab, including rare finds up to 4.5 pounds in size.
Sites & Shops
Start your touring in Colombo with a visit to the Pettah Market. “It’s a wholesale district, and it has a lot of amazing shops selling just about everything you could imagine,” Munidasa says. “It’s bustling, busy, colorful, with temples and churches, and it shows how old this city is. To have that amount of commercial activity around that kind of space is unheard of.”
For a souvenir, consider a visit to the Anuradha Ceramics & Pottery Shop, from potter Ajith Mohan Perera. “I started working with them, well I bought my first plates there 28 years ago when I opened Nihonbashi,” Munidasa says. “He’s become this legendary artist, and it’s something that is connected to my cuisine.”
Exploring Beyond the City
Improved logistics around the country have made it easier for visitors to expand a trip beyond the capital without necessarily needing to dedicate 10 days or two weeks to a journey across the country. “From Colombo, with all the new roads and road systems, you can get to some interesting places within two to three hours,” Munidasa says. “Within that amount of travel from Colombo, you get to see amazing, different landscapes, seascapes, mountainscapes, and I think that’s unique to Sri Lanka.”
Munidasa recommends heading to the southern tip of the island to take in its beaches and unique position in the world. “Looking south from the tip of Sri Lanka, there’s nothing between us and the South Pole, it’s a dream,” he says.
While there, be sure to pin the cocktail bar Smoke & Bitters, in Dikwella, on your map. “They’re a hometown group, trying to raise interest in what’s available locally,” Munidasa says. “It’s probably one of the most beautiful bars in the world. It’s not in a building, it’s more of a shack by the sea in an amazing bay, and it’s an easy day trip.”
For a longer excursion, Munidasa’s must-do is to make it to the mountainous interior where tea plantations dominate the environs. “It’s more than a day trip going to tea country, but you won’t see that kind of landscape with so few tourists anywhere else,” he says.
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