Siblings to dish out grandma’s Jaffna specials
View(s):This year, Ramada Colombo’s annual Jaffna Food Festival has extra spice- with heirloom recipes from inner courtyard kitchens and the whiff of homemade thuna-paha. For its 18th edition, ‘Yaal Virindu’ hosts an authentic pair born and bred in the sunny peninsula- Danu Innasithamby and sister Thushara.
Thushara and Danu Innasithamby. Pic by Indika Handuwala
The peppy media man and his demure sister from My Sister’s Kitchen will be recreating authentic northern cuisine as handed down by their grandmother (“Mum was not the greatest cook” quips Danu). The spread will be only for dinner, but constitutes a lavish Tamil banquet- including nelli crush, odiyal kool (made the old way, by the pool) served with fried ash plantain, mutton bone soup, sura varai, nandu varuval, fried fish with mango pickle dip and an extensive range of vegetarian, seafood and crab curries.
The halls will be decked with the haunting feel of sunset palmyra and gopurams, and all the spices will be brought over from Jaffna.
As intimate a passage to the peninsula as you can get in Colombo, this year’s Yaal Virundu will happen at the Gardenia from September 23 to 27, from 7 to 11 p.m., and is priced at Rs. 2750 net per person.
Also, this week, the hotel welcomed their new culinary director chef Philippe Wagenfuhrer- a French prodigy who got his first chef jacket at eight and his first Michelin star at 24. With experience around the world, he will- the Ramada promises- whip up some ‘magical changes’ with his continental finesse and his favourite local ingredients- which include fresh seafood, crab and chilli flakes.