Luxury travel pioneer Resplendent Ceylon takes Londoners on an epicurean journey through modern Sri Lankan cuisine with feasting fortnight at Carousel, 24 April – 5 May 2018

LONDON, March 2018: London’s love affair with Sri Lankan cuisine will reach new heights this spring, as Resplendent Ceylon’s Chef Susantha Medagedara leaves the award-winning resorts to take the reins at Marylebone’s Carousel restaurant from 24 April – 5 May 2018.

Medagedara will join forces with Carousel’s resident culinary team to redefine Sri Lankan cookery in the capital. Drawing on the island’s diverse gastronomic landscape, Medagedara’s menu will fuse exotic ingredients, tropical flavours and fresh herbs to celebrate the very best produce from Sri Lanka’s lush and mountainous interior, turquoise ocean depths and golden, palm-fringed beaches. Featuring unique dishes and flavours spanning the length and breadth of the island nation, the menu will expand diners’ gourmet horizons far beyond the much-loved staples of dhal, thambili coconuts and hoppers.

Sri Lanka’s long multicultural history has contributed to a varied and exciting culinary scene, featuring influences from Sinhalese, Tamil, Dutch Burgher, Malay and Indonesian cultures. The specially-designed menu will add a modern twist to traditional Sri Lankan flavours, with dishes such as grilled and devilled chicken, balancing the heat of banana peppers with cooling curd; curried salt-baked beetroot with kale mallum and chili snow; tender okra coated in crispy crushed papadam; flamed kiri hodi langoustines with kohlrabi puree and Ceylon arrack-infused lobster foam; and spiced rampe snapper, slow-cooked in a fragrant turmeric-pandan broth, with a fresh coconut Pol Sambol relish and tomato emulsion.

Sri Lanka’s 150-year love affair with tea will be reflected in the cocktail menu that accompanies the food, featuring single-origin Dilmah black tea alongside spirits, juices and fragrant herbs to create unique and carefully-crafted tipples.

Medagedara grew up in the heart of Sri Lanka’s mist-draped Tea Country, surrounded by lakes, waterfalls and lush tea plantations. His love of his home country has shaped his cooking since day one, as he learnt to elevate and refine the flavours of traditional Sri Lankan fare with a modern, progressive flair. He joined the team at Resplendent Ceylon in 2008, and over the course of a decade has risen the ranks to become the group’s most senior and long-standing chef, pushing the boundaries of progressive Sri Lankan cuisine and consulting on the menus across Ceylon Tea Trails, Cape Weligama and Wild Coast Tented Lodge.

Resplendent Ceylon’s collection of three iconic and multi-award-winning boutique hotels thrill gastronauts, culture vultures and sun-worshippers alike, and trace a unique and luxurious trail through the heart of Sri Lanka. The country’s first Relais & Chateaux hotel, Ceylon Tea Trails sits within a working tea estate in the heart of the country’s lush and mountainous hill country. Sister resort Cape Weligama occupies a soaring promontory, overlooking the blue whales and golden beaches of the island’s south coast, and recently-opened Wild Coast Tented Lodge sits on a secluded beachfront site on the fringe of famed leopard hotspot Yala National Park. The hotels have become synonymous with gourmet cuisine and unparalleled luxury in Sri Lanka, and have been lauded by the Conde Nast Traveller Hot List and the Tatler Travel Guide.

Susantha Medagedara at Carousel, 24 April-5 May 2018: the five-course set menu will be served nightly from Tuesday to Saturday and priced at £39.50 per person. To book, visit www.carousel-london.com