• Table by Nyne takes its experiences to the beach

There is something about eating by the sea that changes a meal. The setting does much of the work, particularly when the table moves off the terrace and directly onto the sand.

This is the thinking behind Table by Nyne The Beach, the coastal chapter of Table by Nyne, located at Anuprit by Nyne Hotels in Bentota. While the restaurant operates throughout the day, its new experiential dining programme takes the meal beyond conventional restaurant service, with three set menu experiences designed specifically around its beachfront location. 

At a recent media briefing, The Sunday Morning Brunch had a closer look at what the restaurant is offering and sampled a selection from its Island Table experience.

Dining differently

The premise behind the experiences is fairly simple. Each menu is prepared to order, with the experience taking place on the sand or beach deck rather than inside the restaurant. Importantly, these experiences are open to everyone. Diners do not need to be staying at Anuprit, or any Nyne property, to make a reservation.

There are three experiences to choose from: BBQ on The Beach, Seafood BBQ, and The Island Table.

BBQ on The Beach is designed as a shared experience for a minimum of four guests, with a barbecue prepared on the beach deck as the sun goes down. 

The Seafood BBQ, meanwhile, is available for a minimum of two and centres on seafood grilled to order, making for a more intimate version of the beachfront barbecue.

The third is The Island Table, which takes a different approach. Built around the idea of reimagining the flavours of Sri Lanka, it is presented as a multi-course dining experience.

There is also the Crab Feast, one of the restaurant’s signatures. Designed for two, the experience features a whole kilogramme of sea crab or mud crab curry and requires advance notice (eight hours as opposed to the traditional 24 hours required by most establishments).

According to the team, the kitchen follows sustainable practices, with a strong emphasis on preparing food in-house. Sauces, pastes, and powders are made by the kitchen rather than bought ready-made. Even with the crab experience, once an order is placed, the team is dispatched directly to local fishermen to examine the best catch of the day.

From breakfast to sundowners

While the beach experiences are a major part of the proposition, Table by Nyne The Beach is not built solely around dinner.

The restaurant operates across four services, beginning with breakfast, followed by lunch, sundowners, and dinner. Breakfast ranges from smoothie bowls and chia pudding to a full English, kiribath with lunu miris, and a Sri Lankan soufflé omelette. Lunch moves towards lighter coastal dishes, while sundowners bring cocktails and canapés into the picture before the restaurant transitions into its candlelit dinner service.

The wider menu travels considerably beyond Sri Lanka. Handmade pasta and risotto sit alongside Pan-Asian dishes drawing from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and China, as well as Mexican and French influences. Premium imported meat cuts also feature, while vegan and gluten-free choices are available.

The setting also lends itself naturally to celebrations. Table by Nyne accommodates group reservations and beachfront occasions, with curated or customised menus and private dining available.

A taste of the Island Table

Our introduction to the food came through three dishes from the Island Table experience, beginning with a tuna ceviche served on a corn tosta.

This was easily my favourite of the three. The marinated tuna was fresh and clean, while the crisp tostada gave the dish texture without weighing it down. There was a fusion element to it, but more importantly, it felt right for the setting. Fresh, light, and easy to eat, this is exactly the sort of dish one wants while sitting beside the sea on holiday.

Next came the chicken schnitzel with pumpkin mash. This was a more comforting plate, with familiar flavours that came together well. Against some of the more experimental ideas on the menu, its appeal lay in its simplicity.

Dessert proved more surprising. The coconut and jaggery crème brûlée brought distinctly Sri Lankan flavours into a familiar French dessert. I am not generally a fan of coconut-heavy desserts, but this worked particularly well. The jaggery gave it something of the character of watalappam while retaining the texture and caramelised top of a crème brûlée. The result was an interesting hybrid and an enjoyable end to the tasting.

What Table by Nyne The Beach is offering ultimately makes sense because of where it is. Rather than treating the beach as scenery outside the restaurant, the experiential menus bring diners onto the sand and make the coastline part of the meal.

For a property sitting directly on Bentota’s beach, that feels like the right place for the table to be.