Toast to Sri Lankan spirits at Kotuwa
Apart from highlighting the local spirit, arrack, the current cocktail menu celebrates Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup Cricket victory
UPON moving from Little India to the trendy New Bahru development in May, Sri Lankan restaurant Kotuwa opened an outdoor bar to celebrate Sri Lankan spirits.
Tucked away in a ground-floor corner of the hip destination, the 80-seater restaurant presents a contemporary take on Sri Lankan decor, with clay bricks, polished cement and bric-a-brac evoking a local living room.
Its outdoor patio-style bar seats 20 people, mostly on so-called “plantation chairs”. These low-seated wood-and-rattan chairs are a staple on the porches of Sri Lankan estates, where families chit-chat with drinks, says head bartender Ashaka Harith, a native of the country’s capital Colombo.
The bar’s spirits list puts the spotlight on Sri Lankan arrack, a distilled spirit made from coconut palm sap.
“It’s a spirit that’s been made in Sri Lanka for hundreds of years, and it’s something we consume frequently in Sri Lanka… we try our best to let it be known around the world,” said Harith.
Arrack features prominently in the bar’s cocktails, too, alongside other native flavours such as curry leaves, coconut, tamarind and kithul, a local palm sugar syrup.
The bar’s current menu of eight cocktails was developed in collaboration with the restaurant’s two-Michelin-starred chef Rishi Naleendra. It celebrates Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup Cricket victory, a pivotal moment in the country’s cricketing history.
Said Harith: “A cricket match for us is not just a game, it’s a celebration. When we go there, we’ll have a couple of drinks, and we’ll dance with a team, and we’ll just have a good time.”
Uncle Percy is a tipple named after a Sri Lankan cricket superfan who passed away in 2023. A fixture at Sri Lankan cricket matches for more than five decades, he had been known for rhyming chants, witty exchanges with players, and parading the Sri Lanka flag around the ground after his country’s victory against Australia in 1996.
The drink pairs white rum with local arrack, enhanced by the citrus flavour of soursop and nuttiness of coconut.
The most popular drink on the menu is Head Spinner, named after a type of bowler in cricket. Its flavour profile was inspired by Harith’s childhood memory of an after-school snack, chilli-flavoured pickled guava. The milk-clarified cocktail features pisco, guava and tamarind, with a refreshing chilli kick.
Harith’s personal favourite is Papare Papare, named after the genre of band music played at cricket matches.
“It is our take on the Old Fashioned,” he said. Instead of the whiskey or bourbon base of that classic cocktail, Papare Papare has a base of arrack, washed with sesame oil, and is sweetened with local jaggery syrup.
It is served with a sesame garnish that replicates a common Sri Lankan snack made of toasted sesame, coconut and jaggery.
Lion’s Roar, named for the leonine nickname of the country’s cricket team, is a tropical twist on the espresso martini. Vodka is replaced by dark rum that is washed by brown butter, and espresso is replaced by spiced Sri Lankan coffee, cold-brewed and sweetened with kithul.
Harith and Naleendra are working on the next menu, which is planned to be launched by January and will include more Sri Lankan storytelling.
Uncle Percy
- 20ml Ceylon Arrack
- 20ml Short Story White Rum
- 10ml Velvet Falernum
- 30ml Homemade coconut soursop cordial
- 20ml lemon
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