Amara Perera
Head Chef & Co-owner
Our story
IT STARTED WITH A BORROWED POT
Amara learned to cook standing next to her grandmother in Matara, where the rule was simple: if the gravy is ready in under an hour, it is not ready.
In 2012 she and Nuwan took a narrow room on Galle Road with six tables, one grill and no sign above the door. People found it anyway.
Thirteen years later the room is bigger and the pot is ours, but the rule has not moved.
0
Years on Galle Road
0
Dishes on the board
0h
For the mutton curry
0%
Guests who return
The long version
HOW WE GOT HERE
- 2012
Six tables and one pot
Amara and Nuwan Perera open a six-table room on Galle Road with a single charcoal grill and a borrowed clay pot.
- 2015
The spice room
We stop buying curry powder. A back room becomes the roasting room, and Tuesday becomes grinding day.
- 2019
The courtyard opens
The rear yard is cleared for forty more covers under string lights and a mara tree.
- 2024
Forty on the board
The menu settles at forty dishes across five sections — enough range, few enough to cook properly.
How we work
FOUR RULES
Roast our own
Every spice blend is dry-roasted and ground in house each week. Nothing pre-mixed, nothing sitting in a bag since last season.
Coals, not gas
The grill burns coconut-shell charcoal. It is slower and harder to control, and it tastes like nothing else.
Bought that morning
Seafood arrives from the Negombo lagoon before service. Whatever does not sell is not served the next day.
Heat you choose
Sri Lankan food is hot by default. We will cook any curry milder without pretending it is the same dish.
The people
WHO IS COOKING
Nuwan Perera
Co-owner & Grill
Dilini Fernando
Pastry & Desserts
Rohan Silva
Front of House