CEYLON Flavours is naturally about Sri Lankan food and it is one of those restaurants where you walk out immensely satisfied with your meal there, while contemplating your next visit. It is a modest eatery set within Villa Scott in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

First, I was delighted with the array of vegetable dishes on the counter, from the fried bitter gourd with onions, curry leaves and green chilli to the gotu kola sambol, valaipoo poriya, dhal and eggplant curry.

What I thought was spinach tossed in coconut, onions, mustard seeds and tomato was gotu kola sambol, a pennywort salad. It was tasty and refreshing, and went well with the curries we were having.

I liked the valaipoo poriya, or stir-fried banana blossom with onions and coconut, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Young bitter gourd deep-fried first, together with its seeds, then fried with a lot of onions, curry leaves and spices were another vegetable dish that tasted different and delicious. I crunched on the bitter gourd seeds and loved them.

I added a lightly tart eggplant curry and dhal to my rice and I could be all set for a vegetarian lunch, but then I saw squid black curry (RM16) and fish varuval (RM14) on the menu and had to have them. I had expected squid ink on the curry, but it came in an orange-yellow shade.

No matter, the curry was light, fragrant with spices and the squid was fresh and springy. There was also a sour tinge to it that scored on my “yummy” scale.

Fish varuval (RM14) was fried boneless chunks of ikan tenggiri finished in a thick spice mixture with garlic halves, onions and curry leaves. It tasted amazing as the fish was fresh and sweet, and had the perfect balance with the delicious spice blend.

Rasam had a subtle tartness and was fragrant with spices – I drank every drop. We should have felt a certain heaviness with a rice meal like this but we didn’t.

There was a fine and delicate thread that ran through the dishes; nothing was heavily spiced nor rich with coconut milk. I liked that noticeable sour note in some of the curry dishes we had, and a slow burn from chilli and spices.

Dessert had to be that sweet coconut milk apam (RM3), paired with Ceylon fresh milk masala tea (RM4.50). The apam had a large creamy centre dotted with crushed jaggery, and was crispy all round.

The masala tea was served in a double-walled stainless-steel mug and stayed fairly hot throughout our lunch.

It was perhaps the best masala tea I have had, with the milk and tea well balanced, and with the scent of cardamoms, cinnamon, star anise and other spices coming through.

We had a takeaway of mutton bone varuval with its enticing aroma and the delightful prospect of sucking up the bone marrow.

There are other Sri Lankan dishes to explore here, such as crab Jaffna-style, puttu pirattal, kottu roti, egg apam with Jaffna spicy sambal, the different types of thosai and more.

A Deepavali menu is available for takeaways and delivery from October 21. On it are signature lamprais with mutton pirattal, brinjal moju, vallakai varuval and vegetable cutlet (RM35 per set), and yarlpannam-style vegetarian set (RM98 for four).

You can also customise your own menu with mutton varuval, prawn curry, pepper crab, sura puttu and nattu koli pirattel, among others.

Ceylon Flavours is at 33-01-02 Villa Scott, Jalan Scott, 50470 Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, tel: 011 1157 3461. It is open from 7am to 10pm daily except Monday. – October 15, 2022.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.