- For your Chinese cuisine cravings
With Big Belly, her main aim was to show Sri Lanka that there is so much more to Chinese cuisine apart from the typical cuttlefish and chicken dishes. She was already cooking for her husband, so she thought why not cook for the rest of the country. She has been successfully running for three months, with high demand.
Having the opportunity to sample some of her dishes, we had the chicken wonton noodle soup, the Chinese lunchbox, prawn wontons, and the twice-cooked pork. The first thing we noticed once we got our delivery – aside from the mouthwatering aroma of Chinese food – was the sustainable packaging. All the dishes were packed in cute cardboard boxes that were durable enough to be reused. Even the soup was packaged in cardboard and the broth and noodles were packaged separately, which gave us that DIY feel one would get at a Chinese restaurant. Even though she advised us to reheat the soup, it had actually maintained its heat during its journey, which was noteworthy.
The soup itself came with a generous serving of wontons, bok choy, a delicious broth, and noodles; it was just what we needed on a cold, rainy day – comfort food at its finest.
Moving on to the wontons, the taste of prawn was evident; there was a generous stuffing with more meat than vegetables. Again, the wontons had retained their crispness and once bitten into had a satisfying crunch noise, accompanied by a warm filling spilling into your mouth. Paired with the chilli oil we were provided with, the dish was the perfect appetiser – it definitely left us with an appetite for more.
The lunch box was what a typical bento box would be like and consisted of rolled egg, mini sausages, meat balls, salad, beans, cherries, and of course, rice. The cherry was a surprisingly good combination with the meaty elements of the dish; the acidic sweetness balanced the spicy notes and gave the rice an elevation as well. The egg rolls were made flawlessly and tasted amazing, and the meatballs were homemade as well, which obviously made it so much better than generic, processed meatballs. The rice should go without saying, but we’re huge enthusiasts of sticky rice, so it was worth an honorary mention. The lunch box also comes with a Chinese chilli paste that’s not too spicy but has a good combination of spices and oil.
Next up was the twice-cooked pork; words fail to describe how rich and juicy the flavours and the texture of the pork was. A popular story about this kind of pork is that its name comes from a Chinese scholar and a poet during the Song Dynasty. Legend has it that they created twice-cooked pork by accident when attempting to cook for a friend. We cannot express how glad we are that this revolutionary accident happened!
This kind of meat is made by cooking it until it’s done and then frying it with the rest of the ingredients; perhaps it was this style of cooking, but the chunks of pork literally melted in our mouths, leaving a salty, sweet balance of flavours on the tongue. We had it with the leftover sticky rice from the lunch box, and again, the bland flavours of the rice was the best accompaniment to the pork. We highly recommend you try this dish – trust us, it’s worth the price. It is meant to serve two to three people and it did not disappoint, although the dish was so good that two people were enough to have greedily gobbled up every last bite and considered licking the plate clean.
Big Belly only operates via Instagram as Tao needs a few hours in advance to prepare the food – a one-man army can only do so much while still maintaining the quality and quantity of the food. If you’re ever in the mood for some delicious Chinese food, you know where to go!
Instagram: @bigbelly_lk