Specialty Cuisine – Sri Lankan Cuisine at Aliyaa Restaurant & Bar

If you do not know much about the Sri Lankan cuisine, here’s a quick introduction-

The Sri Lankan cuisine will stun your palate with its liberal use of 52 spices such as cardamom, coriander, cumin, plenty of chili and the unique dried Maldives fish. It is this wide range of spices that gives the cuisine its therapeutic quality and spiciness. Do not fear the spice or the heat – simply allow your palate to embrace this cuisine with its unique tastes and textures. Sir Lankan food tends to be spicier than the more popular Northern and Southern Indian cuisines. After all most, if not all, of their dishes are peppered with different varieties of chilies.

Aliyaa Restaurant & Bar is credited for serving up exceptional Sri Lankan food. The restaurant is perhaps the city’s best place to familiarize one’s self with the flavors and tastes of this cuisine. There are not many Sri Lankan restaurants in the city but the dishes that come out of this particular kitchen tease and surprise your palate with its exotic, authentic and traditional flavors. Aliyaa Restaurant & Bar has long established itself as one of the city’s most durable restaurants.

Photo courtesy of Arjuna Wijasuriya

The range of dishes is a great example of the cuisine’s rich diversity, showcasing the country’s regional flavors through the use of distinct ingredients from different parts of Sri Lanka. The restaurant’s five chefs – all of whom originate from the island itself- cook with military precision and efficiency, sending out dishes that explode with spice and flavor.

Photo courtesy of Arjuna Wijasuriya

Begin your culinary adventure with lamb cutlets and string hopper veggie – a sweet and sour broth rich with the sea’s treasures. For mains, opt for Jaffna prawn masala, mutton paal porayal (mutton in spicy milk stir fry), or the delicious Jaffna crab curry with pittu or rolls of red rice flour and coconut. Sambols are the perfect accompaniment to these dishes. There’s coconut sambol -also known as pol sambol- (a concoction of ground coconut, chilies, dried Maldives fish and lime juice) , the curry leave sambol, red kattu (a mix of chilies and tamarind), and seeni sambol (an onion relish).

The Sri Lankans love their desserts and it’s no wonder sweets and pudding feature strongly in their daily diet. The combination of coconut and jaggery (dark refined palm sugar) is a particular favorite. Another favorite is wattalapan (steamed pudding enriched with coconut milk, eggs and jaggery).

The Sri Lankan people in Malaysia make up a minority group. They consist of Sri Lankan Tamils and those of Sinhalese ancestry.

Aliyaa Restaurant & Bar
No 48, G&M, Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, 50490, KL.
Tel: 603 – 2092 5378