The Kochi or Nai Miris is a spicy bundle of joy/pain. This squat green or red chili is really, really spicy. The heat on this one really hits you and lingers. Sometimes if you cut a kochi and wash your hands you’re still not safe. Touch your eyes and you’ll be in pain. But this is a really good ...

The Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka Presents Soirèe, a musical concert to raise funds for Chundikuli Girls’ College, Jaffna. The concert will take place on Sunday 9th June at 7 PM at the Ladies’ College Hall. Tickets are priced at Rs. 2000, Rs. 1000, Rs. 750 and Rs. 300, and are available at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The concert will ...

Right next to Cool Planet (Pelawatte) is a tiny little bakery serving up short eats, fresh fruit juice and a decent rice and curry. The range of available short eats may be small but the small establishment is well air conditioned, which makes it a good place to escape from the scorching heat of your average Sri Lankan afternoon. The ...

Whilst driving through Wellawatte struggling to find a decent place to eat, I came across a little sign that read ‘Spice & Ice’ hanging from an attractive looking building – The Omega Regency Hotel. The inside of the restaurant is a bit run down compared to the lovely look of the outside but it is a convenient little place to ...

The Lion Pub has the best entrance of any bar in Colombo and really cheap beer and bites. The only catch is that the service is pretty bad. There’s a giant lion’s head at the top of Hotel Road, Mount Lavinia. Walk through it and down some stairs and you’ll enter the Lion Pub. It’s a strange place – below ...

Just opposite the Diyawanna Jogging Track car park is the newly built army kotthu shop. This is the closest place for joggers to come and have a bite after a light workout. They do a chicken and egg kotthu, and that pretty much sums up the whole menu. They do however have a convenient little shop which sells biscuits, soft ...

The Portuguese called it Ilha das Vacas, the Dutch called it Delft, and the locals call it Neduntivu. Located in the Palk Strait, southwest of Jaffna, Delft is a relatively undiscovered tourist destination, ideal if you’re interested in Sri Lankan history or sandy, white beaches. Legacies of the Past The Dutch Fort on Delft, much smaller than the Galle and ...

The Flower Drum in Pelawatte sits on top of HSBC Bank and Perera and Sons; a small and convenient restaurant for the occasional dinners with friends or family, although probably not the most ideal place to take a date for a romantic dinner. The service was really good when we went in, and the food – delicious. We ordered the ...

The Brewery By O! has been the best bar in Colombo since it opened two years ago. Best location (Dutch Hospital), good food, cheap drinks. The only problem was that it got so packed on weekends that you couldn’t get service. Someone else is taking over the lease, so no more O! Bar. Photo by Malinthe (http://goo.gl/tZR1X) The Brewery’s ...

You’re all set. Cross your fingers and toes and await a beta invite on the 20th.

The Ecumenical Institute for Study & Dialogue invite you a to discussion on Buddhism, hosted by Mr. Sajeewa Samaranayake, Lawyer and Legal Consultant (Student of Buddhism and Culture). The discussion will be held today at 3.45 PM at the Ecumenical Institute for Study & Dialogue, 490/5 Havelock Road, Colombo 06. RSVP: 0112586998

Echelon Pub has good pub food, cold beer and excellent service. It’s not cheap but it’s a reliable night out. I personally have been a bit biased against the Hilton because it’s a five star hotel. It’s hard to get a flavor of Colombo from an international chain. However, months of eating out around Colombo have given me a new ...

The Devon Bakeaway is on your left hand side just before the Nugegoda flyover (Past Mc Donald’s). The location is ideal, although finding a parking spot can be extremely difficult in this part of town. They mainly do short eats and cakes but their lunchtime menu of biriyani, fried rice and the essential rice and curry bring in a handful ...

Pasta Hut is an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in Nugegoda of all places, near the Jubilee Post junction. It does surprisingly good ravioli and pasta and pizzas (we assume, haven’t tried them yet). The location is a bit noisy and uncomfortable for dine-in but we recommend them for delivery or take-away. Nugegoda is not Colombo’s Little Italy, but it does ...

SLASSCOM has organized a CXO briefing on the future outlook for e-commerce. The keynote speaker will beJim O’Connor – Vice President of Production and Operations, Leapset. The briefing will be held on the 16th of May, 2013 at the Dialog Future World Auditorium, 338, T. B Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 (Excel World Premises) from 6.30 PM to 9.30 PM. You ...

Hotel Top Form is an Indian restaurant under the Nugegoda flyover. It’s OK, the lunch packets are not especially good but we hear good things about the tandoori. The flyover was, until recently, the architectural highlight of Nugegoda. Underneath that flyover – on the west side near the petrol shed – you’ll find Hotel Top Form, an Indian restaurant. It’s ...

Short eats in Battaramulla? Klassy’s is King. We had some vegetable samosas, a hot dog, chicken patty and a bacon and egg pastry accompanied by a warm cup of Ceylon Tea. A hearty meal to begin the day. The vegetable samosas (Rs. 55) are very good. They’re a tad oily but are definitely worth the extra calories. The only other ...

OK, now for reals, the One Plate Project is launched. You can go to anything.lk, buy a plate of traditional sweets from whatever community (Aasme, Breudher, Wattalapan, whatever) and it’ll get randomly sent to someone else. In return you’ll get a plate of sweets as well, all delivered on the 27th and 28th of May. We missed Avurudu by ...

Baliphonics presents the music of the low-country bali ritual tradition of Sri Lanka in a sublime collaboration with contemporary jazz and improvisation. Founded by jazz drummer Sumudi Suraweera, the ensemble consists of two experienced traditional musicians from the lineage of Raigam korela (Susantha and Prasantha Rupathilaka) on voice, concert pianist and composer (Eshantha Peiris) on violin and bassist and sonic ...

Exploring the streets of Nugegoda in search of good food, we stumbled upon a charming little sandwich bar, Leesh. Bizarrely, it happened to be right opposite one of our new favourite bath kades – Bo Sevana. The quaint little restaurant is well air conditioned, very clean and run by what is probably the sweetest couple you’ll ever meet. They live ...