Lakruwana - Sri Lankan in Staten Island

Having watched Tony Bourdain tour and gorge all over Sri Lanka on the Travel Channel, it brought back faint memories of a trip to the Emerald Isle ages ago. Then a cousin tasted his first Sri Lankan curry and proclaimed 'This is nothing like Indian... Its totally different!', the refrain that Bourdain himself declared on his Ceylon episode. We had to go seek Lankan cuisine. Googling up 'Sri Lankan food' revealed a rather surprising snippet of information - Staten Island, that bastion of Italian American immigrants, was also home to a huge Sri Lankan community and to some of the best Sri Lankan in the area. Amongst the recommended ones were Lakruwana/Sanrasa and New Asha. We decided on the former, having read that New Asha has more of a take-out joint feel. Despite proximity of Staten Island to the Jersey shore, we decided to take the quintessential approach into SI. Why fret it when there is a free ferry ride offering grand views of lower Manhattan, the east river bridges and of course a closeup of Lady Liberty; one of the few places where tourists and locals alike, stand shoulder to shoulder taking in the sweeping views of the Big Apple.

The 30 minute ride across the bay drops you off at the Staten Island ferry terminal. From here, its a short walk along Victory Blvd until you hit Bay St. At the corner of Bay and Victory is this tiny looking but easy to spot restaurant entrance. Step in and the restaurant is quite roomy; pleasantly decorated with photos and artifacts from what was erstwhile Ceylon.

Weekend lunch at Asian restaurants often mean buffets. While we are normally rather wary of such lunch buffets that offer about 20 odd dishes; each one undistinguishable from the other; we had heard good things about this buffet.

On offer was a nice choice of assorted Sri Lankan dishes all with distinct and varied flavors. There was a Chicken Curry and a curried Kingfish both in a coconut milk base, a nice rice vermicelli stir fried with vegetables kind of like the singapore noodles and a Sri Lankan vegetable biryani. But most of these were quite similar to dishes in a Indian buffet.

What was different were the 'Sambols' or spicy chutneys. Whether it was the 'Lunu Miris' - a bright red fiery looking onion and red chili paste or the milder 'Pol Sambola' - an orange colored coconut based onion green chilli spiked chutney which resembled some south Indian chutney- they were both extremely fresh and flavorful. The french beans sauteed in a slight coconut milk base were great too; normally we aren't fans of coconut milk based curried vegetables; besides its quite easy to overcook green beans into a dull gloopy mess. However, these beans held their own with lots of crunch and the slightest hint of coconut milk and spice. Then, there was the bright green mallung (mallum?) - a salad of lightly sauteed greens tossed together with chopped red onion, green chillis and shredded fresh coconut; like a cross between a 'Kosambari' (a salad) and 'Upkari' (green beans stir fried with shredded coconut) - 2 Konkani dishes we grew up eating. The dish that would take the prize for the oddest was one that was made of garlic. No garlic wasn't one of the ingredients. It was THE MAIN ingredient. This would have to be an addition to the menu at 'The Stinking Rose' and similar restaurants. Later, a quick search revealed that South Indian Chettinad cuisine features a somewhat similar dish called 'Mullagu Poondu Kozhambu'; a must try for all garlic lovers. There were other dishes; a dry potato curry and a eggplant one; both quite uncharacteristic in taste and flavor and completely avoidable.

We had to try the exclusively Sri Lankan Dutch influenced dish called the 'Lamprais' or 'Lampijst'. This "special occasion" dish of flavored rice served with lamb, fish cutlet, ash plantains and egg is wrapped in a banana leaf and baked in a low oven. At Lakruwana, it came wrapped in a banana leaf and was served on a traditional rice sieve. Opening up the banana leaf revealed a steaming dish full of cashews, fried baby eggplants, sauteed browned onions and boiled eggs on top of a fragrant biryani stewed with meats of your choice all capped off with a rather tasty fish cutlet. Mix all toppings into the biryani and enjoy.

Finally on offer was a desert unique to Sri Lanka called 'Kiri Peni' - regular yoghurt served with a brown palm sugar treacle on the side. The yoghurt was like any traditional Indian 'Dahi'.. the treacle was inoffensive but not necessarily something we'd go in search of.

The walk back to the ferry terminal and the breezy ferry ride back to Manhattan was a much required respite that helped with all of the buffet eating stupor and made for a nice epicurean cum 'siteseeing' day trip.