Kotuwa, Wanderlust

Kotuwa (Level 1 Wanderlust Hotel, 2 Dickson Road, tel : +65 6970 7838) of Unlisted Collection is by Rishi Naleendra of the former Cheek By Jowl. They're Sri Lankan - or rather a modern interpretation of it.

A shout out here to the bespectacled Chinese dude/wait staff who was with us and explaining the food. Thank you for the patience, for being discreetly observant and brimming with enthusiasm. We were here for lunch on 15th April.

This drink was Sozo - green orange with sea salt. Tasted like 酸梅.

First item up was their mutton rolls - panko-ed, fried served with tamarind ketchup on the side.

Spiced, packed a bit of heat yet balanced enough that it did not mute the flavours of the minced mutton in them. Delicious with and without the tamarind ketchup.

Rice of the day was with ghee, cashews and fried onions. I liked this one much.

That's the egg hopper - hopper being what locals would call appam. How this differs from the street variety appear to be less fermentation in the rice flour used to make the pancake. Hence it was noticeably less tangy. Edges were crispy and the non crispy parts were...actually kinda small. The egg covered most of it. 

The menu described this as Jaffna duck curry which was cooked in a light coconut gravy. More accurately, according to me that is, it's a duck confit in a pretty intense gravy that reminded me of a complex and intensely flavoured black pepper sauce. Wouldn't think of it as light coconut gravy for sure. Nice. Those crispy leaves were also spiced.

Pol sambol - tangy and savoury shredded coconut. Reminded me of the sambol at Rasa Raja Bojun. 

The lychees pickled in mustard and apple cider were delicious. Tangy, sweet and spicy at the same time. 👍🏼

Hell these were great together with the ghee rice.

Tried their watalappam tart. I tasted coconut, jaggery and spices amid the strips of orange zest in there. The green stuff were bits of pistachio and the cream on top was had a sweet milky cardamom flavour which reminded me of kheer/payasam.

The menu described this as buffalo curd parfait. I kept thinking cheese curds for some reason, totally forgetting that the word 'curd' in Indian food refers to yoghurt. So after the first mouthful I remembered. I'd call it yoghurt kulfi - with crushed cashews and a very understated Kithul caramel.

Ended with a cold coffee - Sri Lankan styled according to the menu. Pretty thick, spiced, sweet and milky. I think this needs less ice. A lot less ice.