Cafe Thuna Paha is yet another rice & curry spot down the Kalubowila Road. Being close to home turf, we dropped in for a lunch and grabbed some more back to the office.
Food
Their spread is simple and straightforward, and you get to choose four curries with either chicken, fish or pork as the choice of protein and have alongside white or red rice. They do whip up pasta too, but they weren’t available at the time of our visit.
We chose Chicken Rice & Curry (Rs. 280) for dine-in and decided to decorate our plate of white rice with pol sambol, carrot curry, and tempered leeks. The piece of chicken came well seasoned – not too spicy and while keeping the chicken flavours intact. The rice was cooked properly and the dhal added loads of curry flavour and moisture to the mix.
The tempered leeks weren't too oily, but soft without much in terms of crunch. It carried a decent amount of spices which made it flavoursome.
The carrot curry added a hint of sweetness while the pol sambol was a bit dry and salty, but could have used a bit of lime to make it better. All in all, this is one solid plate of rice. The amount of rice they offer on the plate is enough to feed a hungry belly and the curry portions were quite adequate too.
We grabbed a Pork Rice & Curry (Rs. 300) with red rice to go. Here, our choices were parripu, polos (young jackfruit) curry, mukunuwenna mallum, tempered okra and of course, pork curry.
While there was plenty of pork pieces in the mix, about half of them were fatty bits. Still, the meat was curried up nicely, packing loads of porkiness and enough spiciness to go with it.
We had high expectations for the polos curry, but given they had gone overboard with tumeric in the mix, the flavours here weren't quite flattering. The mallum was quite fresh, leafy with a bold bitterness and crunch.
The tempered okra, on the other hand, had a good amount of spiciness to taste. With a bit of tweak here and there, they can do this even better.
Ambience & Service
They have space to accommodate about twenty or more people at once without feeling cramped up. All the items are neatly displayed in clay pots, and the place is clean as well.
We didn’t see an issue with the ordering. While they did seem a bit new there were no delays to speak of and the people manning the station seemed quite welcoming too.
Conclusion
Cafe Thuna Paha serves a good spread of rice & curry at a decent price. Their food was fresh and had a flair of authentic Sri Lankan homemade touch to them. If you want to grab your meals while in the area this is a good option. Plus, they do delivery as well.
