Friday, February 17, 2012

Independence Day/Weekend Galore!!


 Best Jaffna Crabs in Wellawatta- Yarl Restaurant

Jaffna Crabs
Yarl Restaurant- wellawatta

Jaffna Crab with Vege. Meal


Thai Meal by Chef Nilanka 

Authentic Thai  Meal

Fried Fish with Mango Salsa for Appetizer


Slow cooked Sweet infused Pork belly

Crab Omellete

Kangkung

Chicken Green Curry

Butterscotch Souffle


Oh what a weekend it was where we celebrated 64years of Independence as an Independent Nation!! It was my first time after 3 years not organizing any event for the High Commission in KL.. i actually missed the stressing part of organizing such events!!

while everyone made it an excuse to go out of Colombo for the long weekend i stayed back to relax and celebrate our Independence day with family and friends...

Started the day off having the buffet at the Taj in Colombo and then had a Picnic at my friends place with everyone bringing a dish of their own.. well at least i took the famous pineapple gateaux from green cabin.. but we had home baked butter cake, asparagus sandwiches and much more but i must say i was too full to try anything out....

the day continued to my friends penthouse which is on the 38th floor and the view is to die for drinks and chit chat! i kept thinking of KL while sipping my wine!

all the talk made us hungry and at midnight we left to cinnamon lakeside for the midnight breakfast which is a must try by all!!  the milk rice, chicken buriyani, stir fried noodles, kotthu, chicken curry, dhal and fish curry with the accompaniments such as lunu miris ( spicy onion sambol) and pol sambol ( coconut sambol) and seeni sambol ( sweet onion sambol) was a few thing available and all for just rs1100 or so... all worth it!!

but we added 2 fried eggs and mutton curry as extra to our palates!!   this gives you the feeling of been home and its a good example of how Milk rice is not necessarily for the mornings!!

my weekend continued when i left to Galle on Sunday morning with  my 2 aunts and cousin on our new southern highway.. we left in the afternoon and reached Galle around 2 and by that time my aunts were impatient to have lunch so we missed out on the good rice and curry place called "mama's" in the fort and instead had lunch at the Sea liners in Galle town. But i must say  the seafood rice had  plenty of cuttlefish and prawns and it was good or i guess at that time any food would have been good as we were too hungry... the Pork curry was a disappointment bu the Prawn deviled was full of spices.

we left to Galle fort to walk around and  then to Unawatuna but didn't stay on for long as we went on to Fortress to have evening tea/ cocktails! met our friends who were there for the weekend..  the cocktails are known to be good at the fortress and i wanted to try it myself.. ordered a strawberry daiquiri and it was delicious.. had bit sized pieces of strawberry and enough of alcohol to make it a perfect cocktail...

my cousin's "Burnt Almond" is a definite try for people who like Baileys, Amerreto and ice cream... and then we tried out a dessert which was not on the menu and they made it specially for us.. it was banana's wrapped in a pancake and almond flakes used as garnish and chocolate sauce with home made almond/coffee ice cream! it was good but they should have added more chocolate sauce.. which they kindly brought separately for me when i suggested and poured over my pancakes!!

Monday was a day of experiencing new dishes!! one of my friends and i always makes plans to go for evening walks after work as we need to cut down on our weight but it never happens.. and on Monday we decided to go eat "Jaffna Crabs" from the famous Yarl Hotel in station road in Wellawatta. and for my luck my cousin and her husband was also making dinner - Thai!!

So i had to balance it out.. went for crabs in the evening.. they opened at 6pm for dinner.. we were the first.. actually we had to wait for an hour at the Bombay sweet house as we were early... the place is a small decent place serving non-veg Indian food. I would recommend to get take away. however, i enjoyed my experience having jaffna crabs on my banana leaf! had paratha, dhal curry, spicy sambol and brinjal curry and the signature dish "crabs".

One portion equals one crab. these crabs are sea crabs not large in size but enough for one person. maybe 2 portions for a crab enthusiast. I limited myself to one as i had another dinner to attend.
i must say the spices of the crab curry was unique and rich and full of flavour. I loved the curry as you can eat it with plain white rice. the crab itself was full with crab meat and the garlic and ground spices were rich.
Its the best Jaffna crabs i have tasted so far and its all worth it... very reasonable just Rs.250per portion. A must try for everyone and anyone who loves Crabs!! and very friendly atmosphere as well... i was so impressed i had to take 2 potions take away for my cousin to try out too!!

I headed to Akki's house (my cousin) where her husband was busy preparing for our Authentic Thai meal. An WOW!! it was an amazing meal with an appetizer which was fried fish with mango salsa, and mains were steamed rice, Thai flavoured kang kungomelette. and all of it was prepared by Chef Nilanka! my cousin's husband.. the presentation of the food was excellent.. although i have stuffed myself with Jaffna crabs i couldn't resist the amazing Thai food!! 

The green curry chicken and sweet infused slow cooked pork belly was my favourite 2 dishes for the night with each dish bringing out its exquisite flavours of the night. Well done Nilanka!

the night ended with my cousins's "Butterscotch Souffle" with fresh cream which was rich in flavour but a perfect end to our Amazingly Thai meal!! :)

As the long weekend ended with food adventures and new experiences i must say  it was good to be free and Independent to savour the best in the culinary world!



Pancake Dessert at the Fortress - Galle




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