New spot for a guilt-free brunch or lunch
Over the last few years, we’ve seen Colombo attempt to embrace a healthier lifestyle. This has also meant that the concept of clean eating is no longer just a mantra followed by fitness enthusiasts or health gurus. Embodying this mantra is the newest addition to Colombo’s healthy food scene, ‘Superfood Cafe’.
Though located in the heart of Bambalapitiya, the cafe isn’t easy to spot as it’s tucked away in the courtyard of the boutique hotel, Villa Raha. However despite this lack of visibility, the chic and trendy cafe that opened up in November last year has become quite popular among Colombo’s youth. This is mostly due to images of their decor and colourful presentation flooding Instagram.
Co- owned by Amande Panditaratne (32) and his Lithuanian fiance Ruta Balciunaite (30), the cafe presents local ‘superfoods’ in an European-Asian fusion style.
“In Europe people pay a fortune for what’s freely available in Sri Lanka,” says Amande, alluding to foods such as jakfruit and moringa (murunga). “We’re just changing the way we eat them,” he adds.
They were in the country working on another fitness and health project when the idea for the cafe came about. For Ruta, a Lithuanian, it was a struggle to find food she could eat daily once in the island. “I like rice and curry, but can’t eat it every day,” she says. At the same time Amande was getting into clean eating the more he pursued fitness. The result was a partnership with Villa Raha for a health food cafe.
This isn’t the couple’s first food venture. The two, who met while studying abroad, previously ran a Sri Lankan street food pop-up back in Lithuania that became widely popular garnering attention from Lithuanian media as well. Ruta comes from a food industry background as her family owns a seed oil business back in Europe which gives her an indepth knowledge of the nutrition and quality of produce, that they use in turn when curating the Cafe’s menu . Impeccably decorated by the owner of Villa Raha, Imrah Raiyez, the ambiance of the cafe is a mix of relaxed and luxe. The seating consists of an eclectic array of wooden tables and