Sri Lankan Chinese food and Japanese food are already very popular. The final piece to the Sri Lanka-East Asian fusion food puzzle is Siam House, Colombo’s main Thai restaurant.
The marriage of Thai and Sri Lankan food – both fundamentally coconut milky, spicy, curry based cuisines is a logical one. Siam House though hasn’t always been fusion-oriented. When it opened, in 1993, Thai chefs brought real authenticity to the dishes, but over the years the food has definitely been Srilankanized.
Such Thai exoticism as galangal and kafir lime leaves are now hard to locate in the curries and already spicy Thai dishes have been further spiced up to suit the Sri Lankan palate. But this localisation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The extra kick in the som tum(papaya salad ) is welcome, while added spice and large black Lankan peppercorns really lift the massaman curry.
Like many of Colombo’s restaurant scene survivors Siam House’s secret lies in its value for money. A portion of prawn red curry (Rs. 750) or chicken green curry (Rs. 650) will easily feed five or six people. The large pad thai(Rs. 1200) is really very large and generous lashings of coconutty curry with all your basic Thai food groups; yellow, green, red and massaman curry helps meals go even further.
The large airy premise down a sea side lane in Bambalapitya is also good for business. Small things like the lime sodas or the fish cakes are usually done well, which means that dining here is rarely a disappointment. Come expecting perfectly authentic Thai food and you’ll be disappointed but expect well-priced and tasty Thai inspired curries with a good sea food selection and you’ll likely leave bloated and happy.
