• Dharshan Munidasa on the culture, provenance, and precision behind one of Japanese cuisine’s most fundamental ingredients

Rice is one of those ingredients whose importance is almost obscured by its familiarity. Across much of Asia, it is eaten every day, often more than once, forming the foundation of meals without necessarily being the part of the meal we stop to think about.

Sri Lanka is no exception. Rice is deeply embedded in how we eat, from the varieties grown across the island to the dishes, traditions, and rituals built around it. Yet our relationship with rice is quite different to the one found in Japan, where extraordinary attention is paid to where rice comes from, when it was harvested, how it was grown, and, eventually, how it is prepared.

The Sunday Morning Brunch recently sat down with Nihonbashi Founder, Chef Dharshan Munidasa for more on Japanese rice culture and to mark a unique milestone for Nihonbashi – the restaurant’s transition to exclusively serving rice from Japan for use across its menu. 

“Rice is culture in Japan,” Munidasa said. “It is the staple food, the main diet. The national alcoholic beverage is made from rice and vinegar is also made from rice.” Rice also extends into religious ceremonies and harvest traditions, while the Japanese word ‘gohan’ means both cooked rice and, more broadly, a meal. 

For Munidasa, this cultural relationship is important to understanding why the provenance of the rice on a Japanese table matters. After years of trying, he has now been able to bring rice grown in Japan to Nihonbashi, transitioning the restaurant entirely to Japanese-grown rice. 

“For me, achieving this has been incredible because I’ve been trying to do this for so long,” Munidasa said. “As far as I know, we’re the only Japanese restaurant in Sri Lanka doing this.”

More than where rice is grown

Munidasa’s interest goes beyond the distinction between rice from Japan (which is the correct terminology as Japanese rice can mean Japonica varieties grown elsewhere in the world). At one point, he recalled, his father brought paddy from Okinawa and grew it successfully in Sri Lanka, but was only able to gain one harvest from it. 

Water matters too. In Japan, water flowing from snow-capped mountains feeds rice-growing regions and different regions are known for different rice varieties. The Japanese also pay attention to the region, vintage, and weather conditions surrounding a crop, with new-season rice itself being particularly appreciated.

“In Sri Lanka, we don’t pay attention to the region, vintage, and weather conditions of the rice to the same extent Japan does,” Munidasa said, adding that rice from a person’s hometown was even given as a gift, sometimes presented in small wooden boxes.

This attention now carries through to the way rice is prepared at Nihonbashi. The restaurant cooks its Japanese-grown rice using mineral water rather than tap water, with water composition affecting the final texture. He has also moved away from large commercial rice cookers towards smaller 10-cup cookers, allowing the kitchen to prepare rice in smaller batches. 

Munidasa’s goal is eventually to have the process timed so closely that a guest arriving for lunch is served rice cooked precisely 40 minutes before their meal. “That kind of attention to detail and pride in serving is why we are where we are,” he said.

Rice at the centre

The Nihonbashi menu has not been reinvented around the new rice. Instead, Munidasa sees the change as improving a fundamental ingredient in dishes the restaurant was already serving. “Previously, we were using the best rice we could find. Now we’re doing the real thing and we’re much happier,” he said.

The best way to understand the difference, Munidasa suggested, was also the simplest: eat the rice by itself. “Rice is best tasted in its purest form to truly understand the difference, especially if you’re a rice aficionado.”

However, several Nihonbashi signatures show what happens once the rice becomes part of a larger dish.

The Olive Oil Kake Tai Cha brings together tai, or sea bream, sashimi on a mound of Japanese-grown rice, topped with egg yolk. Nihonbashi’s modern interpretation of tai chazuke also uses piping hot olive oil in place of traditional tea. It is a dish built around richness and texture. 

The delicate sea bream sits well against the warm rice, while the egg yolk brings everything together. More importantly in the context of the new rice, the rice itself does not disappear beneath the other ingredients. Its texture remains an identifiable part of each bite.

The Ten Sabi Temaki is more playful. A hot tempura prawn is paired with cold wasabi-mayo rice and wrapped in crisp nori, creating an immediate contrast between hot and cold, crunchy and creamy. The rice here takes on more flavour, but remains integral to why the combination works.

The Nihonbashi Shake Bento, meanwhile, perhaps offers the clearest picture of rice within a more traditional Japanese meal. Rice from Japan is served with chargrilled fresh salmon, tamagoyaki, and pickled radish.

Of the three, this is where the quality of the rice becomes easiest to appreciate. The salmon provides richness and smokiness, the tamagoyaki a gentle sweetness, and the pickle acidity and crunch. The rice ties these components together while still being something worth eating on its own.

Getting the details right

Munidasa’s focus on Japanese-grown rice feels consistent with the wider philosophy behind Nihonbashi. The restaurant has always placed considerable weight on ingredients and process, whether through charcoal cooking or using chicken that has never been frozen for its yakitori to using eggs specially transported in cold storage.

Rice is another expression of the same thinking. Nihonbashi has spent more than three decades presenting Munidasa’s interpretation of Japanese food in Sri Lanka, with his work earning recognition from the Japanese Government over the years.

Bringing rice from Japan might seem like a small change within that larger journey. Once you understand how Munidasa sees rice, it is anything but. For a chef who has spent years trying to bring this particular ingredient to Sri Lanka, serving the rice he wanted all along means getting one of the most fundamental parts of Japanese food right.