Sri Lankan food in Minneapolis/St. Paul?

[rjayasuriya]

Does anybody know of a Sri Lankan restaurant in Minneapolis?

I'm originally from Sri Lanka and I'm craving some good Sri Lankan food but I haven't been able to find any.

Sambol in Eagan states that they are a Sri Lankan restaurant but that doesn't cut it for me. To be honest I can make everything on their menu better than they can. The main reason for this is that they don't have any Sri Lankan chefs there - just Indian chefs attempting to cook Sri Lankan :)

[VirtuaFoodie]

Nothing yet in the Cities on the Sri Lankan restaurant? Was hoping since its been a couple years since the last post.

[The Dairy Queen]

Try this, perhaps? http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7404...

~TDQ

[JimGrinsfelder]

I really miss The Curry Leaf Deli in St. Paul. It was so good.

[prasantrin]

Maybe y`all could drive up to Winnipeg for your fix. There is a Sri Lankan place called, appropriately enough, Taste of Sri Lanka.

Hey, I drive all the way to MSP for my Mexican and Middle Eastern fixes, so it`s not an entirely far-fetched idea!

[AnneInMpls]

FYI, Heather Jansz is cooking for "Curry Night" at the Highland Grill next month. I don't know if the food will be authentically Sri Lankan, but I'm sure it'll be good. See HeavyTable for more info.

http://heavytable.com/curry-night-at-...

Anne

[rjayasuriya]

Anne - thank you for the info. Unfortunately I'm out of town on the 27th. Hopefully they will do this again.

[emilyh88]

Have you found any Sri Lankan restaurants in Minneapolis yet? I just returned from Sri Lanka, where I at rice and curry every day, and I miss it so much!! Or does anyone know if the grocery mentioned still exists? The food at Sambol is not the same as what I had in Sri Lanka...
Thanks :-)

[rjayasuriya]

emilyh88 - glad to hear that you liked Sri Lanka! Where did you go in Sri Lanka? I grew up in Galle.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find a Sri Lankan restaurant here. Whenever I feel like Sri Lankan, I cook at home since I consider myself to be a better Sri Lankan cook than whoever is cooking at Sambol :). The Sri Lankan grocery store that was in Richfield closed.

You can get Sri Lankan spices, relishes, frozen appitizers (e.g. Sri Lankan egg rolls, fish buns, etc) at some Indian stores. I normally go to TBS Mart on Portland ave in Bloomington. You can also check out Patel Groceries on Central ave in Minneapolis.

Staten Island, NY and Tarzana, CA (about 45 minutes west of L.A I think) have some great Sri Lankan restaurants.

Hopefully somebody will open up a Sri Lankan restaurant here. I always joke with my wife that when I quite my full time job I would open up a Sri Lankan restaurant.

[Jordan]

For many years, the Sri Lankan Curry House was one of the metro's great ethnic restaurants. It moved around a few times and eventually closed, possibly because the owners divorced.

[emilyh88]

Hey, thanks for the advice on grocery stores. I have been looking for a place to buy some ingredients so I can attempt to make Sri Lankan foods... haha. I was in Kandy mostly but traveled all around the country. Galle is beautiful

[PHP]

There was a Sri Lankan grocery in Richfield on Nicollet Ave. that served homemade food. It was a great palce, but it's been gone a couple of years or so, and I don't know if the owner(s) relocated or what they're doing now.

[rjayasuriya]

I think we need to convince chef Heather that she needs to open a Sri Lankan restaurant. I know I will be there at least once a week!

[Enso]

I see she does small group classes, and dinner party classes. Hmm...

[AnneInMpls]

There *is* a good Sri Lankan chef in town, but she's not currently at a restaurant. Her name is Heather Jansz, and she was the chef at the Sri Lanka Curry House in Minneapolis and the Curry Leaf Deli in St. Paul (both wonderful and both long closed). I think she does catering and personal chef-ing, in addition to other things.

For more information, see Jeremy Iggers' article from last April:
http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/breaking-bread/2008/04/whever-became-heather-jansz

And Heather's web site:
http://www.heatherjansz.com

Anne

[rjayasuriya]

Thank you so much for your info Anne!

[jeanmt]

I still dream about the Sri Lanka Curry House and a meal I had there years and years ago. I'd do anything to have that again.

[Josie]

I'll heartily second that!

[tvdxer]

I was going to say Sambol, but apparently you've been there.

I went there about a year and a half ago after a long day of driving, first to Minneapolis, then throughout southern Minnesota, and back again to Minneapolis. I wanted to try Sri Lankan food. When I got there, they only gave me an INDIAN menu, and I thought it was a bit sub-par by my standards.

There used to be a "Sri Lanka Curry House" in Mpls, but it no longer exists.

[ChillyDog]

Update: Sambol has been closed for quite some time.