Follow the great smells and you’ll find Kottuville
View(s):By Smriti Daniel
You wouldn’t normally go looking for your next meal in a parking lot, but the great smells drifting out of the truck stopped in the Nawam Mawatha lot are tempting. The vehicle in fact hosts a mobile, fully equipped kottu kitchen and they’re doing brisk business. On the menu is your traditional chicken kottu but there’s also prawn, bockwurst and hot butter cuttlefish kottu, with a paneer option for vegetarians, all served in cartons that are easy to dig into on the go and priced between Rs.300 – Rs.370.
Sanjeeva
When Sanjeeva and his partners Deshraam Ramachandran, Nishantha de Silva and Rukmankan Sivaloganathan decided they wanted to operate a food truck in Sri Lanka, they realised they would have to practically build their own. With help from experts in different fields, they had a kitchen that could handle kottu especially fabricated and installed in a suitably modified truck.
Unlike most restaurants, Kottuville will come looking for you. Depending on their schedule you’ll find them parked in different places every day – Nawam Mawatha is just one of several locations that include spots on Duplication Road, near CH&FC, in Maharagama and Nugegoda. They also cater for private functions – you can have the whole truck if you’re ordering upwards of a 100 kottus, or you can claim a kottu station for a minimum order of 30.
Whereever they may be parked, they want the taste and the quality of their kottu to remain consistent. Part of the winning recipe is ensuring that all their ingredients are fresh and that they steer clear of artificial flavourings or preservatives. Sanjeeva explains that they’re typically bought on the day and stored carefully. “We hope people will come and celebrate and enjoy a good meal,” says Deshraam, sharing his hope that they’ll win customers by being consistent, clean and tasty. Plus, their one of a kind hot butter cuttlefish kottu is already a hit. “People come just for that dish,” says Deshraam.
Deshraam
While any new business is something of a gamble, this seems a safer bet than most – what’s not to love about Kottu? At Kottuville they consider it the ‘the classic Sri Lankan comfort food.’ Says Sanjeeva: “Everyone loves kottu, people order it everywhere from the roadside eateries to the Cinnamon Grand.
” They eventually hope to expand their business to include a few more trucks, a delivery service and perhaps even a restaurant – all driven by a successful Kottuville brand, one that might even be suitable for export to foreign markets.
Sanjeeva and Deshraam are the most hands on of the four, having given up their day jobs to be on Kottuville 24/7. Though it’s been a challenge, they seem to be enjoying being at the helm of the new business. “It has been so worth it,” says Sanjeeva. “This has given me the chance to stop complaining about things that aren’t happening and just do it!”
Find out where the truck will be by following @kottuville on Twitter or searching for Kottuville on Facebook.
A kottu kitchen on wheels: Going places with a classic Sri Lankan comfort food. Pix by Hasitha Kulasekera
Something different: Bockwurst kottu and below hot butter cuttlefish kottu
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