Celebrity Chef Peter Kuruvita at The Fortres

Celebrity Sri Lankan Chef Peter Kuruvita from Down Under will be in action at the Fortress Hotel in Koggala on Wednesday, 10 and Saturday, 13 January.

Chef Peter is world famous for his wine dinner preparation and he will arrange a special degustation wine dinner at this luxury resort for special invitees and guests. The dinner is priced at USD 120 will be at the resort's wine cellar Wine3, a glass caved cellar with over 2,000 bottles of the finest wines.

Wine³ celebrates the experience of wine through the ages, bringing together wine and fine food in a breathtaking setting. This will be further enhanced by the simple yet elegant glass cutlery, a brain child of Hunter Reynolds the Executive Assistant Manager of the resort.

Chef Peter was born in London for Sri Lankan father and for an Austrian mother. From a very young age, a range of rich cultures inspired Peter. He said, his childhood memories are filled with the collaborative influences of his Australian mother and Sri Lankan father.

When Peter's family moved to his father's hometown in Colombo, life was very colourful through the eyes of a young child. He vividly remembers his grandmother's primitive kitchen. 'There was no gas or electricity, just a simple wood stove' he said. Spending his early childhood standing alongside his grandmother watching and preparing family meals, created from ancient Sri Lankan spice recipes, passed down from generation to generation.

'It was a fantastic experience' he added. This strong sense of family combined with Peter's early association with food has inspired him throughout his entire career. When his family relocated to Sydney, where he followed his passion for cooking and elected to study home economics, where he later topped the class.

At the time of leaving high school it was a natural step for Peter to begin a career in cooking and in 1979 he started his chef apprenticeship at East Sydney TAFE. Later he moved over to complete his final two years at the newly opened Ryde Catering College.

During his career he has worked alongside Greg Doyle, at the very fashionable Rogues restaurant & nightclub. After finalizing his apprenticeship, he moved in to London to further his career. After a few years in UK he returned back to his old roots, and took up positions in various top restaurants. During this time he was regularly invited as consultant on a range of new restaurant projects as well as guest chef in a range of leading hotels around the world. Apart from Sydney and UK, his stints include the island of Fiji and Bali.

Before venturing into his own project in 2003, Peter took up Executive Chef role at the internationally acclaimed Hayman Island Resort, Great Barrier Reef - Queensland, Australia.

His reason for accepting this position was to reposition the resort, not only as a leading resort in the world, but to increase the profile of the nine food and beverage outlets, and as a leading food and wine destination.

He is responsible for a series of awards including 'Travel + Leisure (US) Magazine' 'Best Restaurant, Australia and South Pacific - Worlds Best Awards 2002'.

In April 2003, Peter returned to Sydney to take up the challenge to open and run his own restaurant 'Flying Fish' situated at the restored heritage site of Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont.

He leads a professional team of chefs in the restaurant's fast paced kitchen to turn out some inspirational menus inclusive of fresh seasonal seafood specials and an exclusive wine list to match.