What's it like to run a Sri Lankan restaurant in London? This month, we are talking to some of our team members at Kolamba; they have come from diverse cultures and communities and worked in different parts of the world, and now, they all bring their magic, love and expertise to create a Sri Lankan dining experience in the heart of London that’s memorable to many. 

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Meet our chef, Christiane

Christiane is originally from the Philippines and moved to Italy at a young age, where he fell in love with Italian cuisine. "My favourite food is Italian parmigiana, and my parents would always use the freshest, handpicked aubergines from our garden,” Christiane says. 

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In 2016, Christiane moved to London and realized that love for cooking runs in his new family, too. “My mother-in-law—an excellent chef!—inspired me to try to become a chef, so I decided to follow in her footsteps and give my best in the kitchen,” he says.

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Ready for this new challenge, Christiane decided to give cooking Sri Lankan food a go and see if the skills from his native country could be translated—and translate it did! His true passion for delicious cuisines and cooking really make every dish served at our Sri Lankan restaurant in London extra bit special! So since then, Christiane’s been cooking up a storm in Kolamba kitchens, dishing up island fare from delicious beetroot curry to sambals and mutton rolls. 

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Front of house: Dagna

Running a restaurant is more than serving delicious food—it’s a whole experience. And that’s where Dagna, our general manager from the front of the house comes in. Dagna has been working in hospitality for more than 9 years, traversing the world from one place to another. 

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Dagna’s career in London began with one of the best private members clubs—67 Pall Mall. And now, Dagna runs our Sri Lankan restaurant in Soho. 

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“The reason I am in hospitality is all thanks to my friends and a bet,” Dagna says, and quick to admit that hospitality is a “very challenging sector,” and the key to success is to “learn to love the industry and the people in it. The most important lesson I have learned in my career is to be kind and fair to everyone you meet,” Dagna says. 

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Meet our founders: Aushi and Eroshan 

Aushi grew up in the sunny tropical isle of Sri Lanka, while Eroshan grew up for most of his life in London, always learning about Sri Lankan culture, cuisine and traditions from his parents. 

It’s their shared love for travel, food and their native country Sri Lanka that gave birth to the idea of opening up a Sri Lankan restaurant in Soho, London.

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So, they gathered their knowledge of property, design and food into a restaurant in London, a place where they can offer others a taste of the tightly guarded culinary traditions of their island home, a restaurant where they could show the dishes they love the best—traditional, home-cooked, much loved and dearly missed from back home. And, thus Kolamba was born. 

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So after just three years, Aushi and Eroshan successfully opened Kolamba. It survived a pandemic, spun off Kolamba At Home for nationwide feasting boxes that deliver home-cooked Sri Lankan food throughout the UK and won a GQ award for the best interior restaurant interior.  

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And they are not going to stop there. Watch this space!