Going local

Galle Face Hotel Executive Chef Adam Gaunt-Evans - Pix by Lasantha Kumara 

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

When Adam Gaunt-Evans, the new Executive Chef of Galle Face Hotel, relates his extensive experience, it feels as though he was fated to cook in Sri Lanka, though it came with a few twists and turns. Married to a Sri Lankan, former sous chef to local celebrity Peter Kuruwita and having worked with the current General Manager of the hotel in Thailand, it was only natural he would find a second home here. 

Adam first came into close contact with Sri Lankan cuisine during a visit to Sri Lanka seven years ago with his son and was familiar with the Galle Face Hotel as a customer. Discovering new spices, flavours and cooking methods was a fringe benefit of the holiday. It was a natural progression for a chef who began his profession at 14 years washing dishes as a summer job that never quite ended. 

Adam worked his way up the restaurant ladder, spending time at the iconic Dorchester Hotel in London and Michelin starred

restaurant Greenhouse before gravitating to 7 star Burj al Arab in Dubai. In Thailand he met the General Manager of Galle Face Hotel while working at Soneva Kiri, and at its sister hotel in the Maldives, he met his wife. A pop up restaurant took Adam back to his roots in Wales where he championed local ingredients before heading up Machine House, and stepping into the Michelin guide at the same destination.

Wanderlust

“I wanted to see the world,” Adam says, explaining his wanderlust and shift away from the Michelin movement. “Food should be good everywhere. I think chefs truly believe in the bigger picture and want to see top class food right across the board.” At Galle Face Hotel he certainly has the chance to create and experiment across the entire gamut offered by gastronomy. The fine dining of 1864 is offset by the cool casualness of the buffets and camaraderie of high tea available at the hotel on a daily basis.Special curated dinners by visiting chefs and wine specialists are held under ‘Dine by Design’ – a concept Adam admits he is looking forward to adding his own dishes to and presenting to the growing number of foodies in Colombo. 

But the most absorbing project put on Adam’s plate is launching Sea Spray, a family restaurant dedicated to down home seafood, cooked with a Sri Lankan touch. Having worked with celebrity chef Peter Kuruwita’s ‘Flying Fish’ restaurant, headlining many Sri Lankan seafood dishes, Adam had plenty of experience under his belt to draw from.

The restaurant will feature signature dishes crafted around local ingredients that take up 95% of the menu and diners will have the chance to sit by the sea and enjoy its spoils, quite literally, at the raw bar. This alfresco dining area of the restaurant will feature a selection of sushi, tartars and Carpaccio dishes doing duty as starters.

The theme of light, fresh and local is continued with signature dishes including passion fruit and curd crème brulee, arrack flambéed lobster thermidor and sustainable farmed barramundi sourced from a company in Trincomalee. Barramundi from this particular local business also happens to be the first sustainably farmed fish anywhere in South Asia and Adam is confident it will become an instant Sea Spray classic. 

Local spices and herbs will be a significant part of the food with leaves used for the humdrum “mallung” dressed up and dished out as accompaniments to the seafood.  Cleansing desserts featuring strawberries and rhubarb, among other fruits, provide a sweet ending to a kicked-back meal.

Simply food

“I want to keep the food simple. Sea Spray is informal fine dining. I want to see families here with their kids having a good time. I want to serve anything that can be eaten with your hands,” Adam mused, as he sketched out his plans for his new “baby”. The ambience provided by the Galle Face Hotel and the crashing sea at the edge of the restaurant certainly gives his aspirations a leg up.

Entry to the restaurant is flanked on one side by a massive roof-to-floor, glass encased wine cellar. Its golden glow is possibly the most welcoming an establishment can be to a wine lover. Certainly another point for the ambience. Sea Spray is joining the growing number of restaurants focusing on Colombo’s expanding number of wine drinkers. 

“Wine has certainly become less elitist. The best way to learn about wine is to drink it,” Adam advocates, while making plans to match many of his dishes to a selection of white wine. Waiters will be trained to make recommendations to customers and Galle Face Hotel is enthusiastic about rolling out a strong wine programme.

The restaurant will also include two private rooms and for those partial to festive cocktails, Sea Spray will feature a sunset cocktail with suitable nibbles. All this will be executed by the dozen local chefs working at the new venue, bringing a touch of familiarity. The menu also includes a dash of non-seafood dishes like duck in readiness for any eventuality presented by diners.

Sri Lanka’s capital is caught in the midst of change and the proof is in the palette. The everyday humdrum activity of eating has evolved over the last few decades to encompass street food, hundreds of restaurants, avid home cooks, farmers’ markets and sustainably sourced food. Adam Gaunt-Evans has watched this gradual trend and believes it will grow on the firm foundation of traditional food still cooked on a wood fired hearth in many rural households. It is certainly this type of cooking that tugs at the heartstrings of many Sri Lankans.

Dithering over his favourite local dishes, Adam offers generalisations – “anything I can eat with my fingers” followed by “anything cooked perfectly”. Pressed to be more specific, he responds “red prawn curry and black pepper crab”.

If a deep interest in Sri Lankan culture and respect for its ingredients is the well-developed body of local gastronomy, then its soul can surely be captured by a chef who understands the importance of eating with the sense of touch and the call of the sea.

Galle Face Hotel