Jaffna Style Food
In no slight exaggeration, my time at the resort was mostly spent at the restaurant ‘Chef’. I spent hours at every meal and I ate portions beyond my usual style. The food at Fox Jaffna is simply phenomenal. Chef Balan Pushpendren, the said chef of ‘Chef’, had an agenda to ensure that I enjoy every delicacy from the northern cuisine and it was an agenda I could readily get by. “You had the crab yesterday, why don’t you try the prawn today?” he’d say, “You must try our mutton curry!” he’d remember while bringing what was already a feast for lunch. And when the staff shared stories with me about how guests can’t handle the heat of famous Jaffna ‘Kool’ seafood soup, as a spice enthusiast with something to prove, I proceeded to ignore chef’s warning of “careful, it is very, very hot” and insisted I try it out. It was, in fact, so incredibly spicy that I spent a few minutes chasing away hot tears and chugging thambili water. But hey, I tried it!
Food prepared in Jaffna style is an absolute treat.
The Jaffna curry mix, a blend of 10 or more spices with intense flavour evoked by coriander, chilli, turmeric, cummin, fennel and curry leaves, is the highlight of the cuisine together with the heavy use of tamarind. Though all curries are prepared to a thick consistency, the Jaffna style uses very little coconut milk, relying instead on the curry powder that often includes a mix of rice flour that thickens the curry while cooking. During my stay, I had Idli Dosa with red chilli coconut chutney for breakfast, Jaffna style crab curry with moringa leaves, tamarind brinjal curry, potato tempered and Jaffna style mutton curry with bone for lunch and poori with potato and masal and prawn curry with paneer rice for dinner. Desserts after meals included delicious in season Karthokolmban mangoes and Rasa valli Kilangu; a sweet dessert made from purple yam and jaggery topped off with cashew and raisin.
The Chef at Fox Jaffna is a popular restaurant even among those residing in the area as many come to dine in for lunch or dinner from their a la carte menu. In the future, Fox Jaffna hopes to kick off a
Jaffna Street Food Festival during the weekends and oh, how I wish I could hop over for the weekend!