Taking skills from Le Cordon Bleu to Sri Lanka
Taking cooking skills from Le Cordon Bleu to Sri Lanka
Ruwanthi took some of the cooking skills and techniques that she learnt on a short Le Cordon Bleu course to GlenMyu Estate, Sri Lanka.
Ruwanthi completed a basic Le Cordon Bleu course in London. She has and taken what she learnt to the kitchen at GlenMyu Estate, Sri Lanka.
Prior to spending sixteen years in the UK, Ruwanthi had limited cooking skills.
Her mother is a great cook, and she provided all the meals for the family as Ru was growing up.
Focusing on her Gymnastic skills whilst attending Ananda Balika Vidyalaya School in Colombo, Ru’s focus was not in the kitchen. Her concentration on her sport led her to becoming National Gymnast champion for several years.
However, a career move to London meant that Ru would need tolerant to cook for herself.
I think that the competitive streak she has resulted in the quality of cooking she delivers at GlenMyu Estate.
I was so lucky
How lucky was I? Ruwanthi used to bring what she cooked home in the evening for me to taste.
Quite often, her Le Cordon Bleu dishes became my lunch the next day much to my colleagues envy.
The place to eat in Queens Park
We lived in our tiny flat in Queens Park, North West London.
As Ru’s cooking skills gained momentum, our flat became the place that everyone wanted to eat.
The number of dinner parties that took place around our small lounge dining table were numerous and are remembered by our friends who were the beneficiaries of Ruwanthi’s food experiments.
What good times we had.
Delia Smith and a Traditional Roast Dinner
Ru knew that Sunday lunches were a favourite of mine.
She decided one day to follow Delia Smith’s cookbook to create a Roast Dinner for myself and my flatmate Phil.
We were amazed on what she served up. Perfect Roast Potatoes and superbly crisp and fluffy Yorkshire Puddings.
High praise was lauded and a Sunday Roast became a welcome meal after I retrained from coaching rugby to the junior teams in my local London rugby club.
Our Traditional Roast Chicken Dinner is a favourite amount the ex-pat community that live on the island. Recently, we have added a mushroom pie for our Plant Based guests so that they don’t miss out on this delicious meal.
Taking those skills to Sri Lanka
The skills that Ru learnt in the Le Cordon Bleu basic cookery course has stayed with her over the years.
There have been many more influences that have developed what she serves to our guests at GlenMyu Estate.
I encouraged Ru by bombarding her with cookbooks for birthdays and at Christmas.
She has quite a collection, from Michel Roux Jnr, Raymond Blanc to Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver. I managed to get Rick Stein to sign several of his series of cookbooks over the years.
Delia Smiths Simple Cookery was added to with other books in her collection.
Sri Lankan influences
For many year Peter Kuruvita’s beautiful Sri Lankan recipe book “Serendip, My Sri Lankan Kitchen” has been a reference point for Ru’s Sri Lankan cooking.
Of course, her mother has also been a major influence. Ru continues to hone her Sri Lankan dishes under her mothers guidance.
Food is an important part of GlenMyu Estate
Nourishing our guests with outside and in is an important part of what we do at GlenMyu Estate.
We have tried to create an environment throughout the five acre estate and within the house that is uplifting and connects you with nature.
The dishes that we serve, including our sumptuous breakfast to give you a good start to the day, provides you with good healthy nutrition.
Ingredients from the garden and great local suppliers
One thing that we have learnt from our time in Sri Lanka is that you should use fresh local season ingredients.
We grow a lot of things in our organic garden at GlenMyu Estate which are used as ingredients in the meals we serve.
It is important for us also to support good local producers. We have a great fruit and vegetable suppliers in the Sri Lankan hill country. Mushrooms are supplied by a grown in Bandarawela which is 26 kilometres from the Estate.
Fish is brought from the coast daily and therefore we get great Tuna and Prawns on a regular basis.
Heading towards a Plant Based Diet
It has become a natural process for us to move towards a more Plant Based diet.
You will see from our menus that we have a lots of dishes that are suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians. We still offer some chicken and fish dishes too so that we can cater for all types of diets.
In the past Sri Lankan diets were naturally Plant Based as little meat and poultry was eaten on the island for various reasons.
We have found that as we have such great fresh ingredients that provide a balanced nutritional diet, that it has been easier to move towards a more Plant Based offering.
The meals are delicious and we have had many die hard carnivores tell us that they didn’t miss meat in the dishes that we served them.
A complimentary Sri Lankan Cooking demonstration
One of the fun things that we do at GlenMyu Estate is to provide a complimentary cooking demonstration when guests order our Sri Lankan sharing platter.
In additional to having a delicious meal to look forward to, you also get fifty plus years of cooking experience showing you how to make the dishes from Ru’s mother.
It’s an entertaining way to see how our Sri Lankan dishes are made.
We get a kick out of seeing pictures from our guests of their Sri Lankan dishes that they have made when they get home.
Sri Lankan food - the next big thing?
We love Sri Lankan food and we don’t believe that it has properly arrived on the World stage.
Hopefully, with increasing numbers of tourists visiting Sri Lanka and the success of Sri Lankan chefs on Masterchef this will be righted in the future.
In 2024 Sri Lankan chefs did well on Masterchef. Brin Pirathapan won UK Masterchef. Savindri Perera (Sav) came third on Australian Masterchef.
The judges were wowed by the food that they both served that had a Sri Lankan influence in the dishes.
We should be asking for commission!
Supporting Sri Lankan businesses and championing Sri Lankan cuisine is something that we feel is right to do.
Many of our guests seek out Sri Lankan food when they get back home as they have enjoyed what they eat at GlenMyu Estate. We know that several of our guests have eaten at Rambutan, Kolamba, Hoppers in London.
Other have sought out Sri Lankan restaurants recommended by the Michelin Guide including Sagara and Lakruwana which are both based in New York.
Peter Kuruvita and Cynthia Shamugalingam’s book Rambutan must have made additional sales from our guests.
Perhaps we should be charging commission!
To be honest, after meeting us, you will know that we are not that type of people. We just like supporting good business and good people.
Stay at GlenMyu Estate and enjoy the great food served by Ru and the team.
Stay at GlenMyu Estate as you explore the Sri Lankan Hill Country and sample the dishes that we prepare freshly for our guests.
See sights like Horton Plains National Park is a unique experience.
We only have three bedrooms and you will need to book early during the peak holiday season.
The estate is usually within an hours drive of the major sightseeing locations such as Nine Arch Bridge, Ella Town, Upper Diyaluma Waterfall, Lipton’s Seat, Bambarakanda Waterfall and many more,
GlenMyu Estate is listed on Booking.com and Airbnb.
Contact us by the WhatsApp button on our website for direct booking rates.
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