Restaurant & Kitchen
Our kitchen offers typical Sri Lankan food, rice and curry of high quality standard. For dinner we have a set menu of 5 or 6 different curries plus rice, papadam and chutney. The selection of curries changes by the day, so you can eat 2 or 3 time rice & curry without eating the same thing. As a dessert we offer a choice of 3 or 4 different sweets and fruits: banana or pineapple fritters with ice cream or curd, caramelized mango with ice-cream, sometimes watalapam or other Sri Lankan pudding, fruit salad or fresh fruit. Finally coffee or tea. The team invites you after 5 pm to come into the kitchen to see how rice & curry is prepared.
Western Dinner
It doesn’t have to be always rice & curry: fried fish or pepper chicken, garlic prawns after a soup, together with vegetable and rice or potatoes and a side dish is also nice. As dessert again you have a choice of 3 or 4 different sweets and fruits: banana or pineapple fritters with ice cream or curd, caramelized mango with ice-cream, sometimes watalapam or other Sri Lankan pudding, fruit salad or fresh fruit. Finally coffee or tea.
Breakfast
In the morning we serve Western breakfast at any time you want it. Almost everything is available – and if anything is missing, that can be rectified. Sri Lankan breakfast (string hoppers with dips) you have to order the night before
“Excellent curries are brought to your table at a time of your choosing: pumpkin, green been, aubergine, with sambals of onion or coconut, chutneys & pastes made from coriander and curry leaf and sweet, heavy mango.” Mimi Spencer, East in Eden, The Guardian, 22 October 2005.
Sri Lankan Dinner
Rice & Curry
The traditional cuisine of the island blends many influences to create its own special dishes: Indian, Arab, and Malay. Altogether these influences form the experience “curry”. The “colonial masters” also left influences in the preparation of Sri Lankan dishes; the British brought new varieties of vegetables to the island and the people integrated them into their menus. “Rice and Curry” is the name of almost every local dish.
Curry is not the instant mix of spices, sold under this name in €ope or elsewhere in the world. Curry is prepared using a subtle mix of roasted and ground spices – and it is also, mentioning the main ingredients, the name of a dish: chicken curry, fish curry, beef curry. You also find colours in combination with curry dishes: white curry, red curry – depending on the colour-determining ingredients such as coconut milk or red chilli.
Most of the curries contain toasted coriander, cummin, fennel and different quantities and varieties of chilli – very often red chilli, known as cayenne pepper in the West. Using roasted spices and herbs adds a special taste and makes the difference between Sri Lankan and the curries of neighbouring countries, mainly India. The basic spices will be blended with additional spices, according to the taste of the chef, like garlic, cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg. The curries will be served in small dishes at the same time together with white or red rice. It is important to balance hot curries with mild curries. Meat or fish will be always just one of many curries served as one side dish – but not as the “main dish”. So you take one or two pieces of fish or meat together with other Sri Lankan food will never be served at a very high temperature. The traditional way to eat is with your fingers. To eat with your fingers there are specific techniques but you use only the finger tips of your right hand!
We can adjust in Villa Rosa fully to your requirements – and you will get hot food where and when you want it. You will have the opportunity to prepare a few dishes together with the kitchen team – and, if you like, we can go to the market together.
Enjoy discovering the culinary side of SriLanka as well in Villa Rosa!
