Kochstunde

As I love to cook, my gorgeous daughter bought me a cooking experience with 'Culinary with Dammika' as a birthday present during our stay at Bentota. In short, the experience was absolutely brilliant. A tuk-tuk came and picked us up before heading to the market to buy some ingredients of our choice. We then drove for about 10 mins from Bentota up to the Katuwatta Miriswatta area. On arrival we were greeted with a sweet treat and then met the whole family, including their beautiful children, who all joined us in the experience. The cooking is done outside in a traditional styled open shelter, built with wooden poles from the cinnamon tree and the roof is covered with banana leaves. Dammika leads the experience and is assisted by her daughter-in-law. If you wish, you can choose to opt out and simply watch the masters cook while taking notes, or you can jump right in and get your hands dirty. The four of us got right in there and helped with all the prepping, grinding and cooking. We all ‘attempted’ to grind coconut and spices into a sambal paste using a traditional grinding stone, but displayed poor technique compared with Dammika! The cooking was done using clay cooking pots over a fire that burnt cinnamon sticks to add that extra special fragrance to the dishes. When we finished cooking, we sat down to the most amazing feast, that comprised 10 seperate delicious dishes, including fish curry, jackfruit curry, chicken curry, fish cutlet balls, pol samba, coconut roti. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and would highly recommend this to anyone who is seeking an authentic Sri Lankan cooking lesson.

Chef Kumudu is a gentle, kind woman who listen carefully to suit your needs. I came with my son who has Down syndrome and he loves cooking. She took us in a private class though she had other group in quee. Chef Kumudu attentively teach him everything from scratch, grating coconut with her special machine and even show him how to eat with hands Sri Lankan ways!!! We really appreciate everything there. The cooking class, the open kitchen by the river(it's like a lagoon), the final results of what we cook together from rice to shrimp curry, vegetable curry, dahl, coconut roti, sambol etc the ambience you name it. One unforgettable experience for us. Thank you thank you!

Beautiful place, really in depth lesson with the most amazing tasting food. The family was lovely and welcoming, really nice few hours :)