The Jaffna Food Festival at Nuga Gama, running from 23 to 30 January, places northern Sri Lankan cooking in sharp focus.
The festival also signals a refreshed phase for the venue itself, with new dining spaces including an air-conditioned room and a quieter section overlooking the Beira Lake. The setting feels more versatile, while still retaining Nuga Gama’s village aesthetic.
The preview was attended by the four judges of MasterChef Sri Lanka – Peter Kuruvita, Savindri Perera, Rohan Fernandopulle, and Kapila Jayasinghe – whose comments reflected both professional insight and personal connection to Jaffna food.
Kuruvita spoke about his long relationship with the region. “I travel to Jaffna every year. It is one of the most vibrant regions in Sri Lanka. There is such a wide range of curries, and sauces play a huge role in the cuisine. This festival brings Jaffna to Colombo in a meaningful way,” he said.
For Perera, the festival carried cultural weight beyond flavour. “What stands out most for me is how Jaffna cuisine started coming back into focus after the end of the conflict. A lot of food most people encounter daily is Sinhalese in influence. This is another look at the incredible diversity of Sri Lanka, and for many of us, a cuisine we are still discovering properly,” she said.
She added that the timing felt right, noting a growing appetite among diners to learn and explore more deeply.
Fernandopulle focused on transmission and memory. “Younger people need to know how kool or crab curry is actually made. When I opened ColomBar, I researched Jaffna food extensively. Even ingredients like palmyrah toddy and arrack have deep cultural histories,” he said.
Within a hotel context, he described the festival as a chance to refresh collective memory and showcase generational cooking.
Chef Jayasinghe outlined the scale and intent of the spread. “We have eight protein dishes, nine vegetable and starch preparations, and 10 action stations. Even something as familiar as pittu is completely different in Jaffna. This is not standard pittu,” he said.
Two chefs from Jaffna worked alongside the hotel team, cooking recipes grounded in lived practice rather than reinterpretation.
Curated to showcase the essence of northern Sri Lankan gastronomy, The Jaffna Table features an array of authentic dishes prepared using traditional cooking techniques, aromatic spices, and unique local ingredients that define Jaffna’s vibrant food culture.
Highlights include a special Jaffna dosai counter served with traditional condiments; odiyal kool, the iconic Jaffna seafood soup; eraichi pirattal, a robust Jaffna-style mutton curry; and nandu curry, a richly spiced Jaffna-style sea crab curry.
From deeply spiced curries to flavourful accompaniments, each dish tells a story of heritage, resilience, and culinary pride. The experience is completed with a selection of Jaffna special desserts, including palmyrah kavum, seeni murukku, and traditional payasam.
The kool arrived dense with seafood. Meat preparations were layered and controlled, punctuated by details such as fried jack seeds added for texture. These small, deliberate choices captured what defines Jaffna cuisine at its best – precision, depth, and confidence without excess.