Ropewalk hosts Gini Outdoor Kitchen four-day popup in Galle from 25-28 January

Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Two of Sri Lanka’s hottest names in the food and beverage space, Ropewalk at Galle Fort Hotel and Gini Outdoor Kitchen Colombo, will join hands in Galle during the Galle Literary Festival 2024 from 25 to 28 January.

During this time, Gini Outdoor Kitchen will temporarily shut down its Colombo operations and shift to the Galle Fort Hotel for the four days of the Galle Literary Festival. The result will be an exclusive, curated menu inspired by the local flavours and local ingredients of the South Coast.

Named by Conde Nast Traveller among Sri Lanka’s Top 20 Bars, Ropewalk is Sri Lanka’s first arrack-specialised bar. Inspired by the 1920s flapper era, this chic and speakeasy-style space serves over 70 varieties of arrack from across the island, pairing these with endemic Sri Lankan flavours and ingredients to create unique, locally inspired cocktails.

Gini is Sri Lanka’s first and only restaurant that specialises in live-fire cooking using local ingredients in an outdoor kitchen space. Serving only Sri Lankan ingredients, Gini sources from all over the island Mulaitivu, Negombo and Moratuwa, to name a few places. They believe in promoting local ingredients and showcasing the bounty that the island has to offer.

Some of the dishes we can expect during these three days at the Ropewalk x Gini Pop Up collaboration are Bonito, ambulthiyal tostada, and lunumiris salsa. Prawns, grilled with arrack sauce and raw mango salsa and Curry Leaf Lobster with lobster bisque, paired with Ropewalk’s specialty cocktails GFH Arrack Sour, a Galle Fort Hotel signature cocktail, is made with local Rockland arrack, lime, lemongrass, and ginger, not quite a Margarita, which uses Sri Lankan ingredients like tamarind paste and treacle; Jamaica Farewell, which is a regular rum-amaretto-based cocktail with local alcohol and ingredients infused with Rockland red rum, treacle, and ginger beer; and Leyn Baan, a Fort-inspired arrack cocktail infused with Halmilla arrack and traditional Sri Lankan herbs like coriander and curry leaves.

Ropewalk Founder and Galle Fort Hotel Director Amrit Rajaratnam said: “The Ropewalk X Gini Outdoor Kitchen collaboration is big news for us. We are thrilled that this hugely popular address in Colombo is doing a pop-up with us at Ropewalk, Galle Fort Hotel. Sri Lankan dining has come of age and this collaboration between the country’s first arrack-speciality bar, Ropewalk, and a highly specialised concept dining space, Gini Outdoor Kitchen, is the first of many more to come.”

Gini Outdoor Kitchen Founder Shanil Dayawansa said: “Gini is super excited for our first ever

collaboration with another proud Sri Lankan brand, showcasing southern flavours to the best of our abilities.”