With 3 awards under his apron, Darshan is ready to dish out more
Restaurateur Darshan Munidasa lost the plaque but returned home with the title of Sri Lanka’s best restaurant. At the award ceremony of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, two of Munidasa’s four establishments made the cut, with Ministry of Crab making its first appearance on the list at no. 43 and Nihonbashi topping the list of Sri Lankan restaurants at No.31. Nihonbashi subsequently claimed the plaque for Sri Lanka’s best restaurant but the reason why Munidasa only has two to show to the press is because a thief made off with the third at the after-party in Singapore.
Darshan Munidasa with two of his awards
On his return to Sri Lanka, Munidasa joked about the incident with assembled media at a celebratory luncheon. The event was also attended by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Paddy Withana, who took the opportunity to commend the restaurateur and his team. He also emphasised that Sri Lanka would need to cultivate its culinary credentials in earnest if it meant to keep tourists coming back.
Sponsored by S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants throws an annual spotlight on successful chefs from the region. According to a press release, the event is organised by William Reed Business Media and created by the Diners Club Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, which consists of an influential group of over 300 leaders in the restaurant industry across Asia.
In its wake, the awards bring acclaim and attention, as well as more concrete offers for franchises, pop-up and partnerships, revealed Munidasa. It also earned him a kilogram of chocolatier Cacao Barry’s finest offerings made from carefully selected beans harvested on the world’s oldest plantation – the chocolate is so exclusive that it is not for sale and only offered to select chefs.
For Munidasa – no stranger to the list – there’s an obvious pressure to make sure his restaurants repeat the successes of previous years. It’s not getting any easier since the chef expanded his mini-empire to include Kaema Sutra, which serves contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine, and The Tuna &The Crab in Galle Fort, which showcases the best of his earlier two restaurants. His partnerships with celebrities Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and Jacqueline Fernandez have given him an edge in a local market thick with new restaurants.
Munidasa’s successes though need to be credited to more than savvy marketing. The chef tells the Sunday Times that while his businesses have grown, he’s remained true to what initially inspired him – the wonderful quality of local produce. In fact, Ministry of Crab outdid its competitors in Singapore at Asia’s Best. There Sri Lanka chilli crab is sold at a premium and considered a signature dish. Munidasa’s response has been to serve up his own delicacies, accompanied by inimitable local favourites like kade paan and pol sambol.
While Ministry of Crab is still shy of its fourth birthday, Nihonbashi will mark its 20th year in June. The latter’s success has been based on a blend of traditional and inventive dishes. Some items like the tsuknenabe are so much in demand, that customers have been known to fly in from India to sample it. The gloriously slow cooked chicken soup is served with chicken meat balls, vegetables and ramen noodles. The dish, which costs Rs.3680 plus taxes at the main restaurant down Galle Face Terrace, even made it onto Japanese TV where it was hailed as one of the best of its kind. Munidasa also hopes to convert the room we use for our interview into one that houses rare Japanese whiskeys. The latter have now firmly displaced the offerings of Scotland to be counted among the finest in the world.
In the meantime, Munidasa’s most recent restaurant, Kaema Sutra hasn’t done as well as his previous offerings, and while he thinks locals might not be quite ready for his brand of contemporary cuisine, it hasn’t put him off new ventures. In fact, he’s already looking at locations to set up a gourmet grocer in Colombo.
Looking back on a career that has only gone from strength to strength, Munidasa says his greatest lesson has been to never stop learning and expanding his skills. After all, an open mind has allowed him to cross culinary genres with impunity. Here’s a man who keeps his eye on the future.