APRIL ENAK @ RESTAURANT SERENDIB “ Flavors of Sri Lanka”
Hosted by Shanthi Nair-Moine & Corinne Sibert.
Thursday 27^TH April 2023

It all started with Enaker Terrence Perera’s introduction of delicious sambals from his homeland at our Enak! International & Malaysian annual Potluck in Nov 2022. We were then introduced to this fabulous restaurant by Terrence, who has since moved back to Sri Lanka with his wife Karin. We were so enamoured with the different flavours of Sri Lanka that we decided to share this food experience with Enak friends. Sri Lankan cuisine was brought to the shores of Colonial Malaya by its community which is made up of people of Ceylonese, Sinhalese and Burghers ethnicity.
 

Serendib is in G Tower along Jalan Tun Razak, and parking is a breeze as they have a separate spacious visitor’s car park which can be accessed around the back of the building. The restaurant arranged the 30 of us into groups of 10. The seating and ambiance were luxurious.

The lunch consisted of a starter of Chicken and Mutton Rotti Rolls which were cut up into rounds and served with a sweet chili sauce. The rotti rolls were a combination of chicken or mutton, potato and vegetables mixed with selected spices, enveloped in bread and grilled to perfection.

Next came the baked fragrant banana leaf wrapped vegetarian Kandyan Rice. This dish has a mix of rice and various seasonal vegetables that were chopped up and combined with spices and dried chilies. The flavors were aromatic and delicious.

The next items consisted of three different sets of chicken, prawns, and mutton. The chicken set was accompanied with a selection of 5 different sambals, sothi, papadums, a potato cutlet and was served with string hoppers. The Negombo Prawn curry set was cooked in coconut milk and was a firm favorite. It too came with string hoppers. The Mutton curry was another favorite and proved to have a fiery and robust flavour.

While we waited for the waiters to clear the table and serve dessert, our MCG President,  Ay Ling Liem handed out the 40^th anniversary tiffin carriers to the happy enakers who had ordered them.

For dessert we had sweet Sri Lankan apom which was simply sublime. The round crispy pancakes came with a dollop of coconut cream and palm sugar in the middle.

Just before the lunch ended, we had group photos taken. I understand that Serendib has an outlet in The Linc inside Ben’s Independent Grocer on Level 1.

We are all looking forward to May’s Enak in YaHala Middle Eastern Restaurant which is hosted by Maria J. Pinho.

Review by Santhi Nair-Moine