• The chef behind Colombo’s newest food sensation Shoulders by Harpos spills the beans

The Lankan food zeitgeist, by and large, is very diverse and flavourful, with so many establishments serving up truly great cuisine. That said, it’s been a while since we’ve had a new concept to wow us in terms of unusual food. But no longer, for a few weeks ago, Shoulders by Harpos opened its doors. 

This tiny eatery situated at Havelock City Mall is putting forward an unusual culinary proposal – Greek-inspired food in a contemporary bar and kitchen setting. 

Greek food isn’t something we see much of in the Colombo restaurant scene. There are some dishes here and there of varying quality, and truthfully, it’s a little odd, given that Greek flavours form a huge part of Mediterranean food culture which is quite popular. 

Shoulders by Harpos changes that with a menu featuring Greek dishes, each of which have been given a unique twist to appeal better to the local market. 

The Sunday Morning Brunch sat down with Shehan Setunga, the culinary mastermind behind the Shoulders by Harpos menu and concept, for a chat on this new eatery and how he hopes it will drive forward the Colombo restaurant space. 

The Shehan Setunga story

Shehan’s culinary initiation can be traced back to his formative years, when, as a child, he used to spend much of his time in grandmother’s kitchen watching her cook. 

Her homegrown produce (she grew much of her own ingredients and also made her own wines at home) and deep connection to cooking left an indelible mark on him, and even today inspires him to take unusual approaches to how he cooks and to incorporate small touches of traditional flavour or techniques into his dishes. 

This love of cooking led him to pursue an education in the culinary arts, taking him to study in Malaysia and then Australia, where he had the opportunity to tour with George Calombaris of MasterChef Australia fame – first working with Calombaris part-time as a student and then dropping out of culinary school to work with him full-time, quickly rising to Head Chef of Calombaris’s restaurant Hellenic Republic. 

The experience with Calombaris not only shaped Shehan’s approach to cooking, but also provided invaluable insights and a thirst to bring what he had learned back home. “It’s always been a dream of mine to come back and expand my knowledge with Sri Lankan people. So far, I’ve been successful in slowly moving towards that dream. Shoulders is one of my first steps toward doing that,” Shehan shared, reflecting on bringing food back to Sri Lanka. 

Shoulders by Harpos

At Shoulders by Harpo’s, Shehan translates his diverse experiences to create an unusual gastronomic story. Drawing inspiration from his time at Hellenic Republic, the menu at Shoulders is a fusion of Greek inspiration with twists of Sri Lankan flavour or other interesting combinations that elevate each dish to create a carefully-curated blend of flavours, textures, and cultural influences.

An impressive 90% of the ingredients used are locally sourced, including the Shoulders’ lamb (one of its signature dishes is slow-cooked lamb shoulder). The Shoulders menu features some unusual dishes that find their base in Greek cuisine. For example, the taramasalata – cod roe and other ingredients whipped together to create a dip and the flaming saganaki cheese – cheese cooked in a closed cast-iron pan and flambéed tableside. 

“We’ll be updating every three to four months, figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, and refreshing things to keep improving while also keeping favourite dishes on the menu,” Shehan explained, noting that while Shoulders was still in its first month of operation, the response received had been very positive, with a large number of customers visiting again to keep trying the new dishes or to enjoy their favourite dishes again. 

Shoulders also features a mixologist from India and one from Sri Lanka, collaborating seamlessly to craft a delightful array of drinks. Chef Shehan emphasises on the importance of regular menu refreshing, introducing a menu for the holiday period, and acknowledging the popularity of small menus in Sri Lanka. “We hope for the food and drinks to make people keep coming back,” Shehan said, adding that its beverage offering would also play a part in keeping Shoulders fresh and engaging. 

For Shehan, Shoulders is also his first foray into owning a restaurant. The restaurant is a partnership between Shehan, renowned Lankan restaurateur Harpo Gooneratne, Harpo’s daughter Asherah, and Asherah’s husband Shehan Gomez. 

The name Shoulders encapsulates the essence of the space – small yet vibrant, with people shoulder to shoulder (especially in the kitchen), creating an atmosphere of warmth and camaraderie. The limited space also played a part in Shehan’s meticulous curation of the menu, creating a range of dishes that could be made well in a small space. “Shoulders is a very small space. We had to create a menu for limited kitchen space, but it is also still balanced. We have every meat item available as well as seafood,” he elaborated. 

Shehan was also quick to redirect credit to his talented kitchen staff, emphasising on their dedication and hard work. “I want people to recognise them for their hard work and dedication,” he stated proudly, adding that since the restaurant’s opening, he had taken a back seat with the actual cooking, leaving it to his team to really take things forward on their own. The results have been extraordinary.

“The most rewarding thing is the number of return customers. I haven’t seen that with other places I’ve been a part of. One guest has been here four times already and it’s not someone we know, it’s an entirely new guest who has connected with the space and the menu,” he shared, reflecting on the initial weeks since Shoulders’ opening.

An opportunity to modernise Lankan cuisine

With our setting revolving around Greek-inspired food, Brunch also explored the meaning of the concept of ‘inspired’ food and how food inspired by a particular cuisine can drive that cuisine to innovate and grow. 

When being inspired by a cuisine or food tradition, chefs have the chance to inject a breath of fresh air into traditional flavours. While Shoulders focuses on Greek-inspired food, Shehan shared that he hoped to also look at modernising Sri Lankan food in the near future. 

“I feel that Sri Lankans have stopped creating and innovating new dishes. If you think about it, we are eating the same things our parents and grandparents used to eat,” Shehan said, noting that, of course, in the last few decades, Lankans had had more important things to think about than adding to our book of culinary traditions. However, it is important not to stagnate, and so, he hopes to embark on a mission of sorts to modernise Sri Lankan cuisine. 

How does one go about modernisation while balancing culture and tradition? By embracing change. Shehan challenged the notion that innovation contradicted cultural authenticity and instead proposed that innovation served to add to cultural authenticity. Take, for example, the humble pumpkin curry. “When the first person to make pumpkin curry made it, did they tell them it was not Sri Lankan simply because they’d never seen it before? Or did they embrace this new dish and start taking it into their homes?”

Looking to the future, Shehan shared his hope to open a Melbourne-based modern Sri Lankan restaurant that could take the Lankan culinary narrative to the world and showcase the best of our island’s flavours in a contemporary light. Through modernising Sri Lankan cuisine, Shehan sees it taking more of a space on the global culinary stage, drawing parallels to other favourite cuisines like Greek, Thai, French, and Italian, which all had to modernise to some extent to become the global cuisines they have evolved into over the last few decades. 

And this plays back into his longer vision of bringing back the things he has learned overseas to the young chefs who stand to define the future of Sri Lankan food. “It’s up to people like me and other young chefs to come and do new things and take it to that level,” he explained, stressing that young chefs needed to explore and create new culinary narratives. 

Shoulders’ signature dishes

Brunch was given the chance to try a few of Shoulders’ signature dishes. Here are our thoughts: 

Taramasalata: this dip of cod roe (fish eggs, onions, and other herbs) sounds adventurous but is likely to be the best food risk you take in a while. Silky smooth, the other ingredients balance out the saltiness of the cod roe well. You will be asking for extra bread to scoop up every last drop

Charcoal chicken with curry leaf chimichurri: the Shoulders’ take on spit-roasted chicken, the delectable mix of spices that go into this marinade, and just how perfectly it is cooked will make this dish one of your firm favourites

Cheeseburger cigars: the Greek version of spring rolls stuffed with traditional cheeseburger patty filling. This dish is surprisingly indulgent and the perfect blend of Greek food and mainstream food

Chips with garlic oil: No bar experience is complete without french fries and the Shoulders’ version comes fired with garlic and topped with crumbled feta. While this is a lovely dish on its own, it is more conventional than the other dishes and we recommend the more unusual dishes

PHOTOS KRISHAN KARIYAWASAM