Photos Lalith Perera
As of recent times, that is prior to the Easter Sunday terror attacks, there was an astronomical rise in the popularity around now famous tourist destinations like Ella and Mirissa, becoming famous for its sights, sounds, culture, and most importantly food.
Particularly, Sri Lanka being an island nation, we take great pride in our seafood, claiming to have the freshest, most amazing sea food your taste buds will ever have the pleasure of tasting.
And up till now, Mirissa was the reigning champion of seafood in Sri Lanka. However, there’s another coming for its crown –the up and coming, soon to be new champion Kalpitiya.
[caption id="attachment_38354" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Executive Chef Dharshana Mirendo[/caption]
The good people at the Seth Dev Lagoon Chalet Kalpitiya Restaurant, namely Executive Chef Dharshana Mirendo claimed that there’s no place better than Kalpitiya to have fresh seafood.
Seth Dev is a Unique Luxury boutique Chalet Hotel in Kalpitiya and its restaurant is an internal structure located on its beachfront where patrons can enjoy a meal either by the poolside with the gorgeous lagoon setting as a backdrop or chose to dine indoors, still abundantly picturesque with its open concept structure.
During our trip to Seth Dev, we decided to try out their restaurant to see if there’s any truth to all these claims.
Here’s what we tried;
Sea Food Plate
The dish comprised crab, cuttlefish, prawn, grilled tomato, and lime with chilli sauce.
It didn’t let us down.
If you’ve tasted Lankan sea food before, you truly haven’t even come close to tasting
the way it is done in Kalpitiya. Everything is softer, fresher, and richer. Some of these options were a little over sauced for our taste, particularly the crab; however, that’s just how it is in this end of the island – you either go big or go home.
English breakfast
Sausages, a fried egg, tomato olives, silver onion, and sliced, toasted bread.
This one was delicious and quite standard – what you’d come to expect from such a dish, but with impressive finesse of otherwise familiar items.
Tortellini
Cheese, ham, and tomato concasse with basil leaves and homemade pasta.
The pasta was just okay in our opinion. It was cooked acceptably, however, the real star was the stuffing – it was very well seasoned and the cheese and ham were very well balanced.
Vivalvia-matti from the lagoon with coriander and mango salsa
This is an endemic fish to the lagoon area and what it is ideally scallops, this one was absolutely amazing. The texture was interesting, it was soft but also crunchy – sounds contradictory, so this is one you simply have to try yourself.
Tomato-pumpkin soup
The biggest highlight of the dish was how it was served. Being soup enthusiasts, we really enjoyed this creamy concoction split perfectly in the middle – a creamy pumpkin half with roasted garlic and the other a rich tomato puree half.
Executive Chef Dharshana Mirendo[/caption]
The good people at the Seth Dev Lagoon Chalet Kalpitiya Restaurant, namely Executive Chef Dharshana Mirendo claimed that there’s no place better than Kalpitiya to have fresh seafood.
Seth Dev is a Unique Luxury boutique Chalet Hotel in Kalpitiya and its restaurant is an internal structure located on its beachfront where patrons can enjoy a meal either by the poolside with the gorgeous lagoon setting as a backdrop or chose to dine indoors, still abundantly picturesque with its open concept structure.
During our trip to Seth Dev, we decided to try out their restaurant to see if there’s any truth to all these claims.
Here’s what we tried;
Sea Food Plate
The dish comprised crab, cuttlefish, prawn, grilled tomato, and lime with chilli sauce.
It didn’t let us down.
If you’ve tasted Lankan sea food before, you truly haven’t even come close to tasting
the way it is done in Kalpitiya. Everything is softer, fresher, and richer. Some of these options were a little over sauced for our taste, particularly the crab; however, that’s just how it is in this end of the island – you either go big or go home.
English breakfast
Sausages, a fried egg, tomato olives, silver onion, and sliced, toasted bread.
This one was delicious and quite standard – what you’d come to expect from such a dish, but with impressive finesse of otherwise familiar items.
Tortellini
Cheese, ham, and tomato concasse with basil leaves and homemade pasta.
The pasta was just okay in our opinion. It was cooked acceptably, however, the real star was the stuffing – it was very well seasoned and the cheese and ham were very well balanced.
Vivalvia-matti from the lagoon with coriander and mango salsa
This is an endemic fish to the lagoon area and what it is ideally scallops, this one was absolutely amazing. The texture was interesting, it was soft but also crunchy – sounds contradictory, so this is one you simply have to try yourself.
Tomato-pumpkin soup
The biggest highlight of the dish was how it was served. Being soup enthusiasts, we really enjoyed this creamy concoction split perfectly in the middle – a creamy pumpkin half with roasted garlic and the other a rich tomato puree half.