COCONUTS HOT SPOT — There aren’t that many Sri Lankan restaurants in town, not good ones anyway.
Then I discovered A Li Yaa and it was such a gem that my search for good Sri Lankan food could finally take a pause. Located in Damansara Heights, A Li Yaa Island Restaurant & Bar has been quietly making a name for itself.
A Li Yaa’s refined interior
Sri Lanka is well-known for its spices and while some of its dishes may be influenced by those from southern India, Sri Lanka’s cuisine still pretty much has its own unique style and a rich diversity of cooking techniques.
I started the meal with a taste of A Li Yaa’s famous sambols. I got to indulge in 4 types – seeni, katta, pol and karupillay. Seeni was the mildest as it’s made from sweet caramelised onions. Katta is similar to our sambal belacan and Maldavian fish is used in its preparation.
Four types of sambol —seeni, katta, pol and karupillay
I liked the pol sambol best. Made with coconut, it has the right amount of spiciness and sourness. Karupillay, which is made with curry leaves, has its own unique characteristic.
All the sambols went very well with the plate of crunchy pappadam.
In A Li Yaa, their Kothus are must-order items. They are excellent. Known more popularly as “puttu mayam”, kothus are spaghetti-like strings of unprocessed rice flour dough squeezed through a sieve onto trays and then steamed. Seafood Kothu (RM28) was our choice – it’s almost like fried meehoon, just several notches up the taste bar!
Seafood kothu
Given a choice between plain rice or Plain Doosara Rotti (RM8) – pan grilled flat bread with grated coconut, onions and mild chillies, I opted for the latter to go with the curries. I love the rotti and can’t stop dipping it into the Jaffna Prawn Curry (RM28), Chicken Peratal (RM18), my favourite Mutton Paal Poriyal (RM26) and their Fish Curry (RM26).
Chicken Perattal
Jaffna Prawn Curry
These curries are quite different from the usual Indian curries – they each have their own depth of character and flavour profile thanks to the Sri Lankan spices used. The milder Jaffna Prawn Curry is more yellow than the usual orangey-red curry.
The Mutton Paal Poriyal was tender and absolutely scrumptious as the meat was infused well with the repertoire of traditional Sri Lankan spices used.
Mutton Paal Poriyal
After all the spicy stuff, give your palate a sweet reprieve – the Sweet Apam (4 for RM20) does an awesome job. I love apams, with their soft spongy centres and thin crunchy sides.
Egg apom
In A Li Yaa, besides the sweet apam, you can also have them plain, with egg, with sugar, with coconut and even with brandy and Grand Marnier!
Now, whenever I get cravings for kothu or sweet fluffy apams, I know where to head to.
A LI YAA Island Restaurant & Bar
48 G & M, Jalan Medan Setia 2
Bukit Damansara
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2092 5378
Business Hours:
Mon – Sun: 12.00 pm – 11.00 pm
Chris Wan also blogs at Pure Glutton.
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