#colombo-kitchen

#colombo-kitchen

Arepas have been found in Central and South American homes for centuries for good reason. These satisfying corn cakes are versatile and delicious.

Marisa Christensen, Holland America's associate vice president of food and beverage operations, directs guests to the line's Dive-In burger. 'It's made fresh to order, incredibly satisfying, and so easy to enjoy right after embarkation when you're settling in.'

The spices are merely a vessel for culture, community, storytelling, and politics. The recipes were so fresh, simple, and seasonal. That's not the version of South Asian food that most people know.

"A lot of people have used the [description] that they feel they're being transported to Spain," said Nick Dixon, executive chef at Dalia and culinary director at Broadway Restaurant Group.

Portland's reputation as a national Thai food destination has been truly cemented, with a scene that is not only prolific but varied, showcasing hyper-regional and dish-specific offerings.

Tev's Kitchen Gardena will operate from 1 to 8 p.m., with a menu of rib-eye, fried catfish, jerk shrimp, honey hot wings, mashed potatoes, and more.

Mamak stalls in Malaysia are where everything comes together - after work, after football, where the night ends or carries on. When I look at Morley's in London, I see that same energy and sense of community, which makes this feel bigger than just a collaboration.

Walking through the narrow bylanes of Mylapore neighbourhood at dusk is like watching a sepia-tinted postcard of Madras coming to life and gently reasserting itself over the Chennai of today. The 7th-century Kapaleeshwarar Temple, the fulcrum of commerce and culture, draws the devout into its timeless force field, and on nearby Pitchu Pillai Lane, a small crowd gathers around the Raghul Kuzhi Paniyaram street stall to buy kuzhi paniyarams: spongy orbs of pan-fried batter speckled with mustard seeds.

Though they were only serving in town for one night, the chefs and staff behind the Mexico City supernova Masala y Maíz managed to cause what felt like a temporary ripple in L.A. dining during their pop-up last week. It reminded this diner that despite the era's current dedication to culinary and cultural boundaries - you should only cook what you know, write what you know - a spirit of mixture and melding can actually lead to something extraordinary, and not cringey, in practice.

Med Salleh, which has has one Malaysian restaurant in Bayswater and two Vietnamese ones in Westbourne Grove and Earl's Court, has just added a fourth branch in Kentish Town. The newest site is Malaysian-focused, like the original, serving a menu of street food inspired by Med's upbringing in Malaysia, including dishes from his hometown of Kampar as well as flavours from Ipoh and Penang.

India is a country with countless regional specialties, each with its own history, culture, and unique use of spices. I wanted our guests to experience that variety and feel as though they were traveling across India one meal at a time.

Even though there was an intense religious ceremony happening right outside their car, Bourdain apparently wanted to feed his crew after a long day of filming. With not much more than "a few handfuls of cooked rice available" during the shoot, he knew they were "hot, hungry, and very far from home." And Woolever said that meant they were ready to eat "some resolutely Western fast food chicken and biscuits."

Soaked and blended, cashews become a stand-in for heavy cream, keeping stuffed shells, soups, pasta sauces, and desserts luxuriously dairy-free. Toasted and roughly chopped, they add crunch to salads, curries, stir-fries, and more. There are so many reasons to love cooking with these seeds-that's right, "cashew nut" is technically a misnomer, since they grow outside the fruit rather than inside a hard shell like true nuts.

Kolamba showcases Sri Lankan home cooking as it's eaten across the island. Bold spices, deeply layered curries, fragrant rice and freshly made roti, all designed to be shared. Hoppers (also known as appa/appam) are a Sri Lankan staple: thin and lacy at the edges, soft and slightly spongy in the middle, and just as good at breakfast as they are at dinner.

Variations of coconut fish curry abound up and down the Swahili Coast, so much so that the dish is often broadly referred to as East African fish curry. This version of coconut fish curry leans heavily on xawaash, a spice blend that is at the heart of Somali cuisine. This Is my malaay qumbe, coconut fish curry. Variations of coconut fish curry can be found all throughout East Africa.

I have yet to see anyone eating mulligatawny in an Indian restaurant perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it's a product of the British occupation, and the very name has an off-putting Victorian feel, which is a shame, because it's aged a lot better than imperialism. Based, historians think, on the Madrassi broth molo tunny, it's a lovely, gently spiced winter soup that's well worth rediscovering. Prep 15 min Cook 50 min Serves 4-6

When it comes to traybakes, chicken is the undisputed hero, because it's endlessly adaptable and perfect for carrying bold, global flavours. First up, some eastern Mediterranean chicken meatballs, flecked with feta and black olives for a sharp, savoury punch. Then a Persian-style saffron chicken and rice; the rice cooks with the chicken, absorbing all the flavours of the sunshine-yellow saffron and crisping up at the edges.

My better half was quite used to me waking up on a Sunday morning and saying, "I think we'll go to Cork today, or London." Indeed, on one occasion it was France, as the BBC weather forecast informed me that it was "calm down around the Lizard", and so would be a perfectly calm sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg. Ringing Irish Ferries to make a booking, the somewhat startled chap had said "Do you realise, missus, it's now 11am and the boat sails at 4pm?"

Khan started Darjeeling Express as a pop-up at Soho pub The Sun & 13 Cantons in 2014 before taking on a permanent site in Kingly Court. She decided not to reopen there post-lockdown and chose instead to move the restaurant to a bigger site in Covent Garden, where she stayed until the summer of 2022. Following another pop-up stint, this time in west London, Khan moved Darjeeling Express back to Kingly Court at the beginning of 2023.

A true one-pot meal, this Indian-spiced rice is made with store-bought spicy simmer sauce, paired with tofu and cauliflower. It's hearty, filling and you can load it up with a range of herbs or crunchy nuts as toppings. We are staying in a little loft in San Francisco right now, trying to find our next place to live. The kitchen is tiny: two electric burners, a microwave, roughly 2 feet of counter space.

The infamous Sea Islands of America cluster along the Atlantic coastline from Georgia through South Carolina, each cradling a history and culture unique to itself. From cultural distinctions to Gullah food traditions, storytelling folk art, and sweetgrass basket weavers, these barrier islands couldn't be more distinctly defined. But they do have one enduring commonality: A wealth of seafood that defines the way locals and visitors eat.

Ever since Noodle Inn on Old Compton Street went viral, it's had people queuing around the block for its hand-pulled biang biang noodles slapped down on the counter, and knife-cut noodles, cut off from blocks of dough straight into the pot. It became so popular that at the back end of 2025, a second site opened in the City, close to Liverpool Street station. And the team isn't losing any momentum as a third location is now on the way.

And it makes sense, as Indian culture and cuisine are alive and well in the city - Washington is one of the top states of residence for Indian immigrants, and Seattle itself is among the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest number of Indian-Americans. Meanwhile, the state offers great growing conditions for Indian staples such as rice, lentils, chickpeas, eggplant, okra, onions, peas, potatoes, and much more.