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FT
Thursday Nov 07, 2024
Friday, 7 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Nineteen years later, he has mastered the art of Japanese cuisine, offering Colombo a slice of the delectable side of the Land of the Rising Sun.
His superiority in offering diners an experience par excellence has taken him yet again to the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants List, marking Nihonbashi as Sri Lanka’s best restaurant and Asia’s 44th at the recently concluded gala ceremony held at Capella Singapore. The restaurant was placed on the list for the first time last year.
Bringing home the award
Flanked by culinary royals of the region and famous chefs such as Joel Robuchon and David Thompson, Munindasa received his accolade for the high-end dining experience he has created, with the additional privilege of being among the eight Japanese restaurants to be awarded at the function.
“It was a great pride to take Sri Lanka to the world in what we do,” he said upon his return. “Being named one of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants for a second consecutive year is a great honour for us as it is a very competitive and demanding list for a region with such diverse culinary heritage.”
Assuring to strive to continue its presence on the list, which is fast becoming one of industry’s most powerful lists in the world, Munindasa acknowledged that through his accolade, he not only represented Sri Lanka but also Japan, as his food does justice to what is authentically served in Japan.
The list
The list, created by over 900 international leaders in the restaurant industry, grouped together under The Diners Club World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy consists of chefs, food critics, restaurateurs and highly regarded ‘foodies.’ The academy comprises of 26 separate regions, with each region having a panel of 36 members including chair. Each critic has seven votes, of which at least three must be used to recognise restaurants outside of each voter’s region. Some ten panellists from each region is said to change annually.
The votes are casted on the panellist’s experiences and there are no applications for restaurants to enter, etc.
In the list of 2014, Thailand and Japan reign at the top. China has 16 restaurants on the list – the single largest country to do so. Japan has 10 restaurants, India six and Thailand five.
Changing Colombo’s dining experience
“Nihonbashi, along with Gallery Café, managed to change the dining scene in Colombo,” Munindasa told Daily FT, “we moved the centre of dining away from hotels.”
Nineteen years since its inception, the journey, though colourful, was never ‘very easy’. “We had a war, we had a strike, we went through every anguish we could go through, but we always kept on thinking it’ll get better.”
What kept him going? The love for this country and the food. “When people were leaving Sri Lanka, my family moved in.” Born to a Japanese mother and a Sri Lankan father, Munindasa came to Sri Lanka just the day after graduation, he recalled.
“In the beginning I used to complain that Sri Lanka did not have good ingredients because imports were so expensive,” he shared. This is when he started looking around for ingredients. That is how he found export quality crab and tuna sent to Singapore and Japan respectively.
“Now I tell Singaporean restaurants that just because you can import fish from Japan does not mean you a better restaurant or chef than I am; you are simply lazy. Sri Lanka has great natural resources and our plates are a representation of that. I don’t believe restaurants are about importing stuff – Japanese food especially is about what you take from around you; and that is what we do.”
Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera
