This is the holy month of Ramadan, celebrated by millions of Sri Lankan Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours, partaking of neither food nor water. Ramadan ends on a day called Eid ul-Fitr (August 17th this year), which many Muslims celebrate by sharing food with all of their friends, regardless of faith. To see how Sri Lankans celebrate ...
There’s no time for the freaks to come out than this weekend. This DJ line up is enough for any electronic music feind to take a leave everything and run to Hikkaduwa.
Sea Fish is a terrible restaurant. The atmosphere is that frozen in 1970 feel that could be cool, but the food is so awful that it’s not. It’s not cool at all. Not even as kitsch. I can still taste the sour retch of that seer fish. This place is bad. There are certain hotels and restaurants, fewer and fewer ...
Indi recently wrote about ‘fancy gift items’ – this is the name we’ve given to the shiny, plastic sort of things you can buy in Pettah, the Borella underpass, Srina Palace, etc. The Souq is the place for upmarket fancy gift items – you get all the same tack but for higher prices. It’s a strange place; it looks almost ...
YAMU takes a trip down memory lane and experiences resort heaven and resort hell at the Jetwing Lagoon and Tangerine hotel. Once upon a time in the era BE (before expressway) a day-trip down south didn’t mean cocktails and posing at some beachside hideaway by a secluded cove at the southern edge of the island. Instead it meant being packed ...
Work In Progress is a Hilton run pub/cafe located in the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct. They’ve got an enviable front courtyard spot right next to the main entrance – ideal for whisking in wandering customers. While the Dutch Hospital has quite distinctive establishments – Ministry of Crab for crab; the Heladiv Tea Club for tea and desserts, The Brewery by ...
We recently wrote a brief review of the EAP Restaurant in Borella. However, we didn’t fully realise the extent of this establishment’s excellence until a couple of nights ago. Two 50ml glasses of Gordon’s gin, a bottle of tonic, a large, nay, massive portion of fried rice and devilled chicken came to a total of Rs. 1500. That’s all. ...
The National Art Gallery essentially consists of two long, rectangular halls – one containing the gallery’s permanent collection and the other displaying temporary exhibitions by Sri Lankan artists. It’s an interesting place with some very interesting works, but it’s not really what you’d expect from a national gallery. The art is displayed somewhat clumsily; there’s no chronological cohesion to the ...
A restaurant in Battaramulla? That in itself was enough to get us to the post parliament suburb best known for containing the Overseas School of Colombo. Coco Citrine, located down Pannipitiya Road, is clearly an attempt to fill the restaurant void that exists in the generally prosperous, but devoid of amenities suburbs beyond Rajagiriya. Its sprawling bungalow setting capitalizes on ...
Twiggy and the usual disco suspects are organizing an EDM (electronic dance music) party at Shelton’s Beach Mount Lavinia. December 14th at 9 PM, costs Rs. 1,500. Who are the usual suspects? The young crop of DJs that came up after Shiyam – Asvajit, Geve, Twigs and Sunara. Should start a bit later than the posted 9 PM, and go ...
Sithuwam is an all-island art competition. You can view the finalists tomorrow (November 24th) from 10 AM to 12:30 PM at the Warehouse Project (near the Elphinstone Theatre, Maradana). We’ve uploaded some images above and you can see more on the Dialog Facebook album. It looks like some very interesting and promising work and is worth checking out.
Street food. This is a bit of a buzz word and today there are hour long TV programs dedicated to Thai papaya salad, Taiwanese pancakes, and Colombian Arepas. But beyond gawking fodder for armchair world travelers, what is street food? What does the term really mean? I was never exactly sure. I mean, isso vadai comes from a cart on ...
The Notebook, released in 2004, instantly became every (not so) teenage girl’s fantasy reel before bed. Seriously, it’s got Ryan Gosling in it, obsessively in love with Regina George Rachel McAdams & is told through flashbacks from a pretty depressing & sentimental present – squeal! To be fair though, it is kinda sweet if not saccharine & the lead actors have obvious chemistry ...
Disaster Management – Mapping the last mile: local contingency planning on Sri Lanka’s east coast is a discussion of strategies to forge sustainable disaster resilience with tsunami affected villages. The discussion will take place on July 1 from 4.30 to 5.30pm at the American Center Auditorium on Galle Road. Sarah Stodder is a researcher conducting a project on village level ...
Sea bathing at Mount Lavinia was an old colonial tradition and for over a century the Mt Lavinia hotel has been the place for an afternoon swim. The swimming pool itself is a modern creation and, well, it’s fine, but not stunning in any way. There’s a handy ledge on which you can perch and pose before plunging into the ...
We love Sri Lanka. This is one of the countries with the most public holidays, ever. And this week, yet another delightful long weekend approaches. But while many take this time-off trinity as an opportunity to run out of town as quickly as their wheels will carry them, what of the poor souls doomed to spend their three days ...
We’re so excited for this. Playing with puppies – what nicer way to spend a Sunday? Embark is Otara’s personal CSR initiative, and it does alot of good by rescuing dogs and launching initiatives to help stop animal cruelty. They’ve had several adoption days before, and have found good homes for lots of puppies. It’s such a sweet project, and ...
Salvage Sri Lanka helps the underprivileged - women, people affected by HIV and ex addicts. They help by providing an avenue of making some extra cash and helping them get back on their feet.
