{"id":94215,"date":"2026-10-19T13:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T05:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94215"},"modified":"2026-10-19T13:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T05:06:00","slug":"how-a-new-generation-of-sri-lankans-is-reshaping-colombos-restaurant-and-bar-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=94215","title":{"rendered":"How a new generation of Sri Lankans is reshaping Colombo\u2019s restaurant and bar scene"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/10\/19\/ca88645e-e6ab-4723-afab-4fa0616c0fa6_75c29ed2.jpg?itok=gW7k3zhd&amp;v=1792384710\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For decades, Colombo has been treated less as a cultural destination and more as a quick stopover between the Sri Lankan capital\u2019s airport and the country\u2019s more popular southern coast, where tourists flock to five-star resorts, beachside bars and premier surfing spots.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That is beginning to change. As Sri Lanka continues to recover from a 26-year civil war (1983-2009) and the fallout from a recent economic crisis (2019-2024), there is new life in Colombo\u2019s culinary and hospitality scene.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cTourism in Colombo really started to pick up about two and a half years ago,\u201d says British-Sri Lankan chef Dom Fernando.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">London-born Fernando is best known for Paradise, his acclaimed contemporary Sri Lankan restaurant in the British capital that operated from 2019 to mid-2026. At Paradise, he introduced the cuisine of Sri Lanka \u2013 his parents\u2019 birthplace \u2013 to a wider Western audience, pairing its flavours with seasonal British produce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/travel-leisure\/article\/3371105\/how-new-generation-sri-lankans-reshaping-colombos-restaurant-and-bar-scene?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><br \/>\n<center><script>\n  atOptions = {\n    'key' : 'ab8cc34fbebd96e6c135978b4baca540',\n    'format' : 'iframe',\n    'height' : 90,\n    'width' : 728,\n    'params' : {}\n  };\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highrevenueformat.com\/ab8cc34fbebd96e6c135978b4baca540\/invoke.js\"><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, Colombo has been treated less as a cultural destination and more as a quick stopover between the Sri Lankan capital\u2019s airport and the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[2917,31928,8083,31927,17674,476,1373,4846],"class_list":["post-94215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-bar","tag-colombos","tag-generation","tag-lankans","tag-reshaping","tag-restaurant","tag-scene","tag-sri","wpcat-4840-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}