ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 97

February 16th, 2012

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 19 February 2012

Greetings from Sri Lanka! – And thanks to everyone who sent me greetings on my birthday last week. I retreated to my favourite town in the hills, Haputale, and enjoyed a quiet break with crisp sunny days and chilly nights.

Sherwood

The Sheriff of Nottingham wasn’t there but Kumara was on hand to mix birthday pre-breakfast champagne cocktails in the Sherwood Bungalow garden.

Early morning clouds wafted through the valley obscuring the magnificent view but were equally impressive.

The bungalow is old fashioned and basic (although it has modern loos and hot water showers) with two double bedrooms having bathrooms en suite, and a bedroom for two and a further bedroom for four people, with a bathroom across the hall. There is a cosy lounge and a smoky log fire for relaxing in the evening.

My favourite breakfast (at Rs500 [£ 2.85; US$ 4.34] each) of egg hoppers (a kind of crepe with an egg fried in the middle), hill country beef curry and seeni sambol (a sweet onion relish) helped revive us after the birthday party, and give us strength to explore the town’s Sunday market, where I bought these delicious, freshly uprooted potatoes, at Rs60  (.34p; .52c) a kg.

We decided not to buy a souvenir with a cutting edge

although I did consider having a shirt made by this venerable tailor.

More on Sherwood at http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100228/Plus/plus_13.html

Images of Kurumba

Have you ever stayed at Kurumba Village (as it was once called) in the Maldives? I was there recently as I am researching a book about the resort, which celebrates its Ruby Anniversary on 3 October 2012. It was the first resort to open in that Indian Ocean archipelago thus starting the tourist industry there, bringing unimagined progress and prosperity (and democratic pangs?) to neglected islands.

Lots of events are being planned to commemorate the occasion but the recent unrest that culminated in the ousting of a President was not part of the celebrations. Kurumba is looking for images of its past and is running a photo competition with the fantastic prize of a week’s free stay for two in a luxury pool villa with daily champagne breakfasts, evening cocktails, lunches and dinners in the main restaurant, and transfers by speed boat from and to the airport.

All you have to do to win this free holiday is submit a photograph before 31 March 2012, taken by you of Vintage Kurumba. The best will earn its photographer the super prize, plus the chance of enjoying the modern Kurumba Maldives as it is today. Check: http://www.facebook.com/kurumbamaldives

Airline Food

I mentioned in an earlier newsletter (No. 95) the curious concept of a new restaurant in Colombo that serves airline food. Actually, it is run by the catering branch of Sri Lankan Airlines. The name of the restaurant, on the left of the arched entrance to the old Dutch Hospital complex in Colombo, is Semondu, apparently one of the 1^st century names for Sri Lanka.

The décor is formidable with an array of ringed lanterns stretching the length of the restaurant and floors with flashing coloured lights. There is a bar counter fronting an open show kitchen at the far end where chefs potter. Tables are large. each meant for four guests, with heavy L-shaped, leatherette upholstered chairs that have only one arm rest. Service, to my delight, was competent although whether the gentlemen (not all young) have ever been – or aspire to be – airline stewards, I didn’t ask.

I went at midday and discovered there is a set menu lunch served within 45-minutes, with a starter and main course costing Rs1,295 [£ 7.40;  $ 11,26] or main course alone at Rs890 [£ 5.08; £ 7.73]. Dessert is extra. The price includes a glass of wine or beer and service charge and taxes, so it is an attractive proposition.

The lunch menu featured several choices of skewers, rice dishes, a three-cheese pasta, and steak on baguette, while the dinner menu boasted Black Angus Steak (Rs2,600++, £14.85++; $ 22.60++) and Duck Breast (Rs2,400++; £ 13.71++; $ 20.86++ ). My Greek Salad starter was crisp with a few cubes of feta cheese while my guest’s Caesar Salad with chicken was a basic Caesar topped with two chicken skewers.

I opted for a main course of five mixed skewers: two prawn (lightly poached); one beef (predictably chewy) and two chicken skewers which were of a disturbing, undercooked consistency. However, since I have been served undercooked chicken so often in Sri Lanka I am wondering if it is the latest foodie fashion?

The rice was packed with flavour (and prawn pieces) and there was a peanut sauce and crisp salad vegetables. Presentation was neat with the airline signature touch of all the dishes presented on a tray.

Back to the Sixties

Not airline food, but one of my books. A new edition of The Big Beat Scene first published in 1961 is available from http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

It recounts the dawn of the Swinging Sixties – without the benefit of hindsight – and should bring back happy memories to some readers, while giving new generations an insight into how the beat began.

“An enlightening and humorous insight with plenty of names and behind-the-scenes glimpses… never a word is wasted. The book is written as if the reader is joining in a conversation about, and with, the artistes.”  The Beat (July 2010)

Beat regards

Royston Ellis.

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ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 96

February 11th, 2012

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 12 February 2012

A shorter newsletter this week as I am ensconced in the hills trying to relax but it brings sunny greetings to all my readers around the world.

Independent women

Sri Lanka celebrated its 64^th birthday as an independent country on 4^th February where these women were photographed jumping for joy in Anuradhapura by my old friend, the award-winning AP photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe.

Gluten Free?

A newsletter I receive about gluten-free experiences, had this comment from a reader in the USA. “I went to a chain restaurant that I knew had a gluten-free menu. As the waitress handed me a regular menu I said, “I need a gluten-free menu.” She responded, “I can take these menus to the kitchen and wash them off for you.”

Defining a Boutique Hotel

Just what is a boutique hotel? Is it a pretentious guest house (as some seem to be in Sri Lanka) or something special? Google “boutique hotel” and you discover 71,900,000 entries, so there’s a lot of them.

Something called The Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association (www.boutiquelodgingassociation.org) has initiated a white paper in an attempt to clarify the situation. It suggests that the first boutique hotel was London’s Blake’s Hotel, opened in 1978. I nominate Geoffrey Bawa’s old Club Villa in Bentota as Sri Lanka’s first boutique hotel, also opened in the 1970s.

This has become Shanth Fernando’s Paradise Road Villa Bentota Mohotti Walauwa and has taken boutiquery to the ultimate in artistic sophistication with visually exciting nooks and crannies.

And a bar lounge that seems to attract exactly the kind of discerning guests for whom it is intended, in this case my old friend from England, John, and his partner, Suzy.

While the 40 travel industry panellists who produced the white paper define a boutique hotel as “small” there is a difference of opinion on what is “small.” They seem to think 125 rooms is small but do acknowledge that what might be “small” in, say, Las Vegas, would be “large” in Sri Lanka. Paradise Road Villa, for example has only 15 guest suites and rooms, but two swimming pools and oodles of space.

“It’s not the size,” said one panellist, “it’s the experience.” Emotional responses to staying in a boutique hotel are important, such as feelings of “discovery, curiosity, intrigue; amazement; sociality; happiness, joy, amusement; sensuality, sexiness, romance.”

The panellists identify the following attributes of a boutique hotel: “Cultural/historic/authentic; individual, not part of a chain; interesting, unique services; many high quality in-room features; social spaces such as living rooms, libraries with social events.”

The definition they arrive at is: “Boutique hotels are typically small hotels that offer high levels of service. Boutique hotels often provide authentic, cultural or historic experiences and interesting services to guests. A boutique hotel is unique.”

Accommodation request

“If you possibly can,” writes a regular reader, “please let me know of some reasonably priced holiday homes/villas/cottages/hotels both in the cooler climes and on the coast to take my siblings around, end June/early July. A wild life option will be appreciated too.”

That’s a challenging topic to investigate during the next few weeks. The timing is important as the beach is best on the east coast then. It is also pleasant in the hills so my first recommendation is the upcountry bungalow between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, Lavender House.

Run by Gabby & James Whight, the pioneers behind Colombo’s perennially popular Cricket Club Café, it has all the charm one expects of a colonial tea plantation retreat,

plus a magnificent swimming pool and a decent wine cellar.

and very cozy bedrooms.

Oh yes, it’s a boutique property too. Here’s an article I wrote about it. http://sundaytimes.lk/070603/Plus/pls24.html

Chilly Willy Dates

I am spending this weekend celebrating my own birthday in the chilly hill country of Haputale in a rented plantation bungalow, relaxing with a 10-year-old Laphroaig (not a Leprechaun) in this garden kiosk at 5,000ft above sea level. Full report next week.

Meanwhile here’s a very odd label taken from a packet of dates I bought to take with me.

Sri Lanka Session

Just a few miles drive from the bungalow is Lipton’s Seat, so named as Sir Thomas Lipton is supposed to have relaxed there surveying the hundreds of acres of tea gardens that he bought up to start Lipton’s Tea.

I shall be talking about tea and the other attractions of Sri Lanka at the Royal Geographical Society’s session on Sri Lanka held in London on Wednesday 21 March.

Copies of my Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka will also be on sale there, as well as being available through http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sri-Lanka-Bradt-Travel-Guides/dp/1841623466/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325554345&sr=8-1 or direct from http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/198/Sri-Lanka.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

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