Latest news with #Thilaks'

Ottawa Citizen

Spiciest food in Ottawa? Thilaks Sri Lankan Cuisine packs heat and heart

Article content During my most recent visit to Thilaks, I met its chef, Nick Diyagu Baduge, who told me the eatery had opened last summer and brought in ingredients like cinnamon from Sri Lanka. He said he had catered a party for the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa last year. We met on a Wednesday, which meant that Thilaks was serving lump rice ($20), a multi-curry feast with origins that go back to the 1700s, when Sri Lanka was under Dutch rule. That's not to say that lump rice is all that Dutch, although what Thilaks serves does include two frikandellen, which are snacky Dutch meatballs. The lump rice also included a curry of peas and cashews, a vegetarian curry of ash plantain and eggplant, the meat curry of our choice, an intoxicatingly funky and hot condiment of grated coconut and dried shrimp, two boiled and then deep-fried eggs, and a gigantic heap of yellow rice ('ghee rice,' Baduge said), all wrapped in a banana leaf and then baked. Baduge said that his lump rice, which smacked me with a parade of robust flavours, was so popular that he can make as many as 100 servings for delivery to Montreal-based Sri Lankan expats. I'm inclined to think that scores of Sri Lankan expats ordering food from almost 200 kilometres away can't be wrong. Article content Baduge also made a massive plate of deviled chicken ($16), which consisted of bone-in pieces that required some determined knifework or gnawing, plus big chunks of leeks, onions and peppers, all bathed in a sweet, sour and hot sauce. Baduge described the dish as something Sri Lankans might snack on with beer. Article content Indeed, it occurred to my friend when we ate at Thilaks that she would have liked a beer to go with her food. Thilaks, however, is not licensed. All the more reason, in addition to the windowless-ness and harsh fluorescent lights of Thilaks' spartan dining room, to order its food for takeout, she added. Article content Article content Article content When I asked Baduge if Thilaks' owner would consider moving to another location, his answer was: 'Yes, of course. We really want to.' Until then, ordering takeout is my recommendation. Article content Even then, the food at Thilaks, not to mention its ambience or lack thereof, will be too much for readers who prefer to experience spicy food vicariously. Article content