Tiki Bar is a must visit in Weligama. It's got great views, a nice vibe and easily the best tuna steak on the South Coast, if not the country.
It's not easy to find, we took a right, then a left and then proceeded to get lost in a little fishing village in the dark. Eventually a kind aunty directed us. The road circles up the hill until you arrive at the clifftop. The view is breathtaking. No pics of the view here because it was a beautiful moonlit night that no camera I use could do justice to. So you'll have to go see for yourself.
(Edit: here's a pic from the daytime when we went back, the restaurant was closed, but the view was open)
The Food
I've never had just papadum (Rs. 350 ) for a starter, but Tiki seems to have picked up on that Great Sri Lankan Habit of crunching a bit of papadum as you wait for your rice and curry, and made a legit dish out of it. The paps were a little on the oily side, and a tad over-fried if you ask me. But the zesty salsa they served it with really brought the party to our tastebuds. They make it right here in Tiki and the recipe is super secret (actually I asked and they told: add pineapple and onion to plain old MD tomato sauce and you have a nice little hack to impress your next batch of visitors with). Also Rs. 350 for Papadum and MD sauce is a bit much, I agree. But their main clients are tourists if that's an excuse. Anyway, the pricing on everything else is pretty good.
Next was the Pumpkin Soup (Rs. 500 for the starter version, the main course is Rs. 750). I'm not a big fan of soup tbh, but this soup was so good. I'd say it blew my mind but I'm saving that line for the Tuna Steak (Rs. 950) which came afterwards. The soup had spinach and assorted herbs. It was freshly made and hot hot, hitting the right spot on a cool night.
Now for the main attraction of the night. But first let me say how frustrating it is that fish steaks are usually killed into tastelessness in establishments all over the coast and Colombo. Not so here at Tiki. The Tuna was marinated and grilled to perfection, and left the exact amount of raw on the inside to give you a mouthgasm. It blew my mind.
I had a chat with the staff and they told me that the fish is seasoned with passionfruit sauce, lemon and pepper, which sounds capable of delivering the smorgasbord of flavors I tasted. All the food, we thought, was fantastic value for money.
Drinks
We got a Moscow Mule (Rs. 800) while we waited. It was well balanced, but ultimately slightly spoiled by the prominent taste of EGB. I'd like to have tried it with some home-made gingerbeer ala DBU or Black Cat. They also forgot to give us lime.
Ambience
From your table you can see far out over the bay and a fresh ocean breeze caresses your limbs. We were lucky enough to be there on a clear night sky, with stars, thousands of them, gleaming against the blackness. Even the cheesy music seemed to fit in, our little table lantern flickered happily to Michael Learns to Rock.
Service
Local, friendly, prompt, chilled out and nothing to complain about.
Conclusion
Tiki has been open for four years, but only for bi-weekly parties during which it gets so packed guests can only move sideways, and very slowly. Its run by a local family that also owns Taco Bar at Jungle Beach. The restaurant only opened in February 2018 but is so good that it's already at the top of TripAdvisor and a very popular spot in Weligama. We think it's well deserving of the success. It's a beautiful place to have excellent food.
