Unless they are lying, Lakruwana is the only authentic Sri Lankan restaurant in New York City. And their mandate is to prove that they are NOT the same as Indian food. I can’t extrapolate on the differences, but I can say that the food is tremendous.
You have to work a little to get there. It is in Staten Island, but just a few blocks from the ferry terminal. Along the way is a bar that has the craziest mural I’ve ever seen – giant, man-eating parakeets.
This was another of the on-again, off-again Strange Plates exotic eating club of which I am a charter member.
We wisely went with the “Sri Lankan specialties” which included some foods in an edible basket (a “hopper”) and something calles Deviled Seafood which was absolutely fantastic. It was spicy but not too-spicy.
Lakruwana has a beautiful interior (see the above link for images) but, as they are a Muslim restuarant, they have no liquor license and are not even BYOB. Rather than get a fatwa on our heads, we decided not to push the policy, so had our pre-dinner cocktails on the HMS. Guy V. Molinary. One of the contingent, a newcomer names Jason, has a bottle of Hungarian liqueur called Zwack.
I would describe Zwack as a slightly-less-abraisive Jagermeister but perhaps more potent. I did, indeed, have a headache this morning.
