Spice island

The ongoing Sri Lanka Food Festival at Minzu Hotel's Mill Cafe in Beijing aims to tickle diners' curiosity and appetites for the coastal country's fare.

But Sri Lanka food is about more than spices.

Chef De Silva says that a wide use of herbs, green leaves and seafood, a preference for readily available seasonal ingredients, attention to balance of nutrition, and avoidance of red meat combine to make Sri Lankan fare shine on the international food scene. Simply put, the food looks attractive, smells good, tastes delicious, and is also nutrition-conscious, he says.

The claim seemed well-grounded. The other night at the food festival, I devoured the appetizer, Sri Lankan-styled cabbage rolls served with simple salad and dhal wade (split lentils and chickpeas), which was colorful and appetizing. Slightly boiled cabbages were delightfully green and crunchy, and were stuffed with pungent shallots and soft, mildly sweet fillings made of wheat flour.

They were so tasty that I was caught in a dilemma: I could not decide whether to dip them with the side sauce or not, because they were so good by themselves, yet dipping in sauce also seemed quite alluring.

I surrendered to my curiosity, and the sauce didn't fail me. Spicy and sour, it enriched the rolls' flavors to a perfect balance.

The salad contained colorful slices of red pepper and white onion, and the fried dhal wade balls were dry but delicious.

I also liked the hopper, Sri Lanka's famous bowl-shaped crispy pancake made with rice flour. This was a plain version, without eggs, and was topped with spicy chili sauce.

But my favorite was the vegetable soup, deliciously aromatic with slivers of fresh cabbage, turnip, garlic, leek, turmeric, cinnamon and other spices I couldn't identify, all simmered to create a light soup that didn't compromise the rich flavors that comprised it.

I also liked the side course: Curry-flavored chicken chops, creamy and sweet boiled cashews, glutinous yellow rice, meaty eggplant, spicy potatoes, golden mango chutney, and decorative green leaves made the dish sing with its colors, flavors and textures. Sweet, sour, salty and spicy all came together nicely.