Thuna Paha.

Thuna Paha is a rice & curry spot in Nugegoda, that occupies the previous location of Gami Gedara. We're not entirely sure whether it's a venture done by the same people, because the resemblance between the two is uncanny.

Rice & Curry

Their spread of rice & curry is quite massive, so you have a lot to choose from. From steamed red and white rice to Lankan style biriyani and fried rice on the rice section, along with a whole bunch of curries and meats like chicken, pork, fish and seafood, it's one of the biggest rice and curry spreads in the area.

You can pick your rice, a protein, and four other curries to accompany them, along with fried chillies and papadum.

Buddhika got the Pork Rice & Curry (Rs. 300) with red rice, parippu, murunga, mukunuwenna mallung and of course, curried pork.

The rice was a bit mushy for our liking, probably because of the overcooking. There was a good milky flavour in both parippu and murunga, but not a lot of curry notes as one would expect.

The same problem could be spotted in the pork curry. Its gravy seemed to have hints of pepper and chilli, but we couldn't taste them in the pork pieces. I guess it's because they had cooked the curry in high heat, so there wasn't enough time for the pork to absorb all the spices. Plus, it was mostly oily bits and not meat.

Fresh and crunchy, the mallung was quite good.

This is my Prawn Rice & Curry (Rs. 300) – a helping of white rice accompanied with bonchi, parippu, devilled soya meat, and pan-fried prawns.

In comparison to Buddhika's Pork rice, I love this plate for two reasons – the devilled soya meat and the prawns. Chewy, adequately spicy and not oily, the prawns were well executed, while the chunks of soya meat were smothered with a blend of spices that beautifully makes the balance between sweet and spicy elements.

The bonchi curry, on the other hand, was undercooked, to the point we could taste the raw flavour, but had a tinge of milky taste to it.

We also ordered separate portions of Peppered Pork (Rs. 150) which comes with fried rice, and a Chicken curry (Rs. 120). They were cooked well, seemed to have a chockfull of spices involved in, but sadly, we couldn't taste any of them in the meat. It was just meat, and no flavours to savour.

Service & Ambience

The ambience hasn't changed a bit except for the furniture. That green coloured primary-school-desk-and-chair kinda setup has been replaced with a fancier version, while the rest of the interior stays the same.

The service was fast. All the rice and curries were presented in clay pots, and there's a bunch of staff members behind the counter to serve them according to your preference.

Conclusion

Ironically, the curries at Thuna Paha, lacks thuna paha, and the other spices, which is not something that our Lankan palates are looking for. It's an alright option to grab your daily dose of rice if you ever find yourself around Nugegoda.