Extensive Aromatic Gourmet Journey
By Juliet Coombe
Bawas masterpiece from the air Jetwing Lighthouse
Golden flames of blue-tongued fire engulf the fresh fish, still salty from the sea as it’s turned in the pan amidst the wafting airs of heady spices, while the cocktail you are sipping kicks in before the blossoming embers of the orange prairie of the horizon is set alight by the spluttering of the sun, and there is Nihal Senanayake at Nihal’s restaurant in the Jetwing Lighthouse – at the heart of the action.
Master class chef
The setting, the ambience and the concept is indeed a masterpiece befitting a maestro who unceasingly conjures up magic from the earth’s limitless bounty. Like a sorcerer he patiently and painstakingly whips up exquisite dishes. This humble family man hails from the coastal town of Galle known for its black magic. Don’t forget, he is the only master-class chef with a tourist hotel named after him and when the restaurant happens to be in one of the crown jewels of one of South Asia’s pioneering innovators in the tourism and hospitality trade – the Jetwing Group, it only adds to the dazzling feat that is this chef’s life, one which has taken him on a cuisine expedition to the Middle East and back to the droplet in the Indian Ocean.
Nihals magical setting
The enigmatic innovative executive chief chef Nihal Senanayake, has an eye for detail and his quiet determination makes him, like world renowned chefs, a true ambassador for Sri Lankan cooking. At the Jetwing Lighthouse Hotel he is considered as important a master in his menu creations as legendary architect Geoffrey Bawa who created the hotel in 1997 and Laki Senanayake who built the staircase that glides you into the beautiful open air spaces surrounding the rocks that gave the area its name – Galle. Here you can enjoy lunch or dinner with flamed torches against a backdrop of the hypnotic sounds of rolling waves, fanning palm trees and stunning pieces of contemporary art, between dips in the delicious azure pool.
For Nihal every day is a creative one. This humble yet statesman-like chef’s eyes twinkle when he talks about designing a cricket stadium sized cake for the cricket match in which Muttiah Muralitharan captured his thousandth wicket. “There can be no greater honour than cooking for our Sri Lankan cricket team.”
Further than home cooking
Nihal grew up in the village of Kodagoda in Imaduwa Galle and learnt his home cooking from his mother Sopinona who loved to create her dishes from local vegetables like jackfruit and breadfruit. “I realised from a young age that I wanted to go further than just home cooking and so I joined the Mount Royal Beach Hotel in Mount Lavinia. I worked there for two years studying Chinese and Western cooking as a trainee cook in 1982. I was still working in the hotel when the civil war started in 1983 and yet amazingly people still came, not realising how serious it was getting, until in 1989 the guests finally stopped coming due to violence everywhere. This was a very sad day for Sri Lanka as hospitality is in our DNA”, Nihal says. So against one of Asia’s most serious wars Nihal amazingly blossomed, joining the Meridian hotel chain, as a junior cook, working all hours under the tutelage of renowned French chef, Antonine Rodrigus. This inspired him to join Le Meridian, Dubai, only to come back to join Jetwing Lighthouse in 1997 – in time for the opening of what was the first luxury boutique hotel in the area. In Dubai he learnt the importance of French cooking with French chefs and said “I feel this is very important as the root of all great cooking comes from France, where it is a mix of the chef’s passion and the unique use of the ingredients that sets them apart from the rest of the world.”
To the amazement of Nihal, Geoffrey Bawa was interested in everything and even came to the kitchen many times to see the lay out. So, over 17 years from war to peace, including the country’s worst ever natural disaster, Nihal has seen all kinds of life and travellers.
Splashes of brilliance
My first meeting with Nihal was in 2004 when he cooked an astounding five hundred meals for the people of Peraliya. Seeing the faces of the hungry children and families, whose homes had been reduced to rubble was perhaps my most moving moment as a writer on the world’s worst natural disaster. I had no idea who Jetwing was at the time and it revealed a deep kindness and love emanating from this faithful family business. Nihal asked as they emptied the van “Can we do anything else?”
Classes to reflect growing interests
Today a decade later he can be found in Nihal’s creating amazing new dishes for his ever changing set menus and afterwards weaving his way through his open planned restaurant to discuss dishes with the diners, treating them all as VIPs.
Healthy breakfast
As a result of successful TV shows he feels more people are coming to Sri Lanka to try its incredibly diverse cuisine, such as lotus seed curry, and for food safaris and Nihal states, “I am now doing cooking classes to reflect this growing interest, going to the market with the guests to pick up the ingredients and we then cook a variety of the seafood items so they can learn about the island spices and their uses in the process.” Nihal enjoys the cooking classes as much as the guests as they ask so many questions and you have to think why do I use this proportion of spices instead of just putting them in due to watching my mum doing it? “I explain to them a lot of it is for medicinal purposes as much as for taste, as we use a lot of garlic for the stomach and ginger to stop sea sickness.”
So has Nihal’s changed Nihal? His answer is most definitely, “I feel more responsibility with this as everything has to be perfect or the blame falls on one person and not all 40 other kitchen staff, which is a huge additional responsibility and a most interesting daily personal challenge.” However he loves the fact that the Jetwing Lighthouse Hotel, his home after 17 years, is so relaxed that he can speak to anyone about food. Sitting looking out at the stunning view I notice that jumbo prawns tempered with garlic, onion and green chili is the most popular dish of the day.
Then the perfect pudding, an exotic layered fruit loaf with Italian-like ice cream, candied fruit and mascarpone cheese. My favourite is the banana with rum, flambéed with peanut crisp rolled in and a splash of chocolate, a very naughty way to finish dinner.
Have you tried Nihals yet
For the healthier traveller, tea infused cuisine is growing in popularity, influenced from Nihal’s travels to the tea country. BOP smoked chicken is a great starter, or an assortment of tea dishes from the degustation menu of the day, such as grouper, poached in tea, with cinnamon sticks and chili. Nihal explains, “I use tea as it is a very good flavour and it is healthier than cream and yet the sauces add to the taste of the dishes and the fragrance fills the air with wonderful aromas, making them even more appetizing.”
Try Nihal’s homemade treats with chocolate, with daily changing wonderful flavours, some spicy and hot with chili others sweeter than sweet making it the perfect end to an exceptional dining experience. Nihal has created a club magic sandwich which is so totally addictive that people have been known to come from miles around to enjoy it. Luckily he does not put love potions in your tea, although he says everything he creates is with passion.
Extensive menu
Nihal takes food responsibility seriously, for instance not serving lobsters during the mating seasons and feels the setting is as important as the taste and creative presentation of the food. The restaurant was designed by architect Channa Daswatte, Geoffrey Bawa’s protégé, who gave it a casual chic style, vintage striped comfy cushions, old wood for the heavy tables, big flower pots leading to the open kitchen all keep lovingly to Bawa’s concept of being open to the cool breeze of nature.
Old stone floors and columns reflect the feeling of the Galle Fort and it is truly the perfect setting for the epicurean breakfast. Nihal uses only healthy fresh ingredients like gotukola or kolakenda with jaggery kitul for sweetness.
The menu is extensive but you must try Nihal’s Morning Symphony, a delicious Lemon-English breakfast tea glazed steak of yellow fin on a healthy green herbs gotukola salad, topped with BOP tea-poached eggs and curry leaf-spiced homemade cheese, for mouthwatering combinations. Whether it’s sipping coffee with homemade biscuits or enjoying fish that has literally just kissed one of his saucy sauces one realizes why Nihal has created the perfect gourmet circle that all the Galle gourmet crowd are talking about. George Bernard Shaw said “There is no love sincerer than the love of food” and at Nihal’s restaurant nothing could be closer to the truth.
[Via Daily News]
