Nihonbashi’s Fine Japanese Cuisine

Sometimes when you want to get something right, you’ve just got to do it yourself. Sri Lankan-Japanese restaurateur Dharshan Munidasa has lived by for the past 15 years running three of the finest Japanese restaurant outlets in Colombo located at Galle Face Terrace, Odel and Hilton Colombo Residence.
The individual training of a diligent staff; the cooking, the serving, right down to designing and writing menu cards, are some of the stuff he does all day. He even trudges down to local fish markets where he handpicks the Sushi-grade fish bound for Japan. In between, he jets to exotic destinations with everything from staff to cutlery in tow, where he cooks up a storm of Japanese cuisine in ways that have raised the eyebrows of veteran Japanese chefs.
That’s a feat any passionate chef would want to boast about, but not the only one to his credit. Fine dining in Colombo is tricky and to keep a Japanese fine dining restaurant such as Nihonbashi at the top of its game for 15 years could be considered nothing short of miraculous, considering the turbulent times the local dining industry has faced over the past few decades, civil war and tourism downturn aside.
So what then, makes a Japanese fine dining restaurant work all the way to the top? Apart from a nod of approval from the tuna gods, it helps when the owner of a major restaurant is also the head chef and takes a personal interest and passion in everything from food to ambience. Dharshan is a stickler for perfection, standing firm when it comes to quality in every aspect. In the past 15 years of operation, Nihonbashi has managed to take Japanese cuisine to hip youngsters, backpacking westerners, the worldliest of diplomats, Japanese tourists and businessmen, local VIPs’ and yes, even the weary first-timers with the same level of courteous service and star class ambience.
The look is minimalistic; combining wood, granite and bamboo. Private rooms are available with traditional Japanese or western style seating unlike in any other restaurant and you’ve got the sound of trickling water fountains, not to mention the sights of miniature rock gardens out your window. Head to the kitchen and you’ll find that a little imagination and innovation has gone a long way. Tempura curry leaves, the sashimi which has not been named by Dharshan even today yet popular as the No Name Sashimi, are a worthy attempt to fuse local ingredients with Japanese style. There’s also the famed trademark rice and chicken curry - but that’s a different story altogether
Down at the fish market, Dharshan spends most of his Saturday mornings picking through an overwhelming number of fresh fish, a skill picked up after spending months with the fishmongers in Tokyo. He snaps up only the finest among the graded lot that are shipped off to top restaurants the world over and reckons his is probably the only restaurant in the world to procure tuna whole from the very docks it is graded. Tuna, bonito, kingfish, snapper and mullet along with the liveliest of prawns, crabs and squid are hauled back to the main restaurant at Galle Face Terrace where they are expertly cleaned, filleted, bandaged and stored away until hungry diners call for it.
In Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey, the celebrity chef proclaims that Nihonbashi creates sashimi that would equal anything in Tokyo. Menus at Nihonbashi are extensive and exciting. A waiter that knows his Japanese food and yet remains unimposing serves complimentary green tea while you decide what’s for grub.

SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards 2010

SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards this year will be held on March 10, 2010 at the Water’s Edge. This unique event organized by Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing - the national body of marketers of Sri Lanka in association with Nielsen the largest marketing research agency in the world. What is unique about this competition is that no person or company can apply for recognition and all persons and companies etc. are nominated by the people themselves.
This year’s awards selection started in January 2010 with the active participation of people from all walks of lives. They have nominated persons, companies, brands, advertisements, Media Houses, Films, Teledramas, Songs, etc. etc. for the awards using their own, personal, close-to-heart selection criteria.
The research fieldwork for this year was spread across the months of January and February among people, from all walks of life, in urban and rural areas excluding the North and the East. Enthusiastic participation of male and female respondents was witnessed.
There have been many questions regarding this survey. Some of the questions that have been asked are; “How was this information captured? How was the winner finalized? Is this accurate information?
The committed team at Nielsen succeeds the challenge of interviews of 2000 individuals who are between the ages of 15 -60 years with equal no. of females and males, selected randomly across the country (except North and East) over a 2 month period.
In January and February, a total of 2000 people aged 15 to 60 years were randomly selected and interviewed across urban and rural areas in 7 provinces. The data for this survey has been captured through face to face interviews using a structured questionnaire by Nielsen field research officers who have been specially trained to conduct the interviews. The selection of the respondent’s household as well as the respondent himself / herself was randomized.