Yes, Sri Lankan weddings are a core part of our work across Melbourne. A typical structure is short eats and drinks during the photo session, then a rice and curry buffet with ghee rice, three or four curries, sambols and string hoppers, then watalappam and Sri Lankan sweets. We can add a live kottu station for the evening.

Yes, where the venue allows it. A kottu station needs a flat-top grill, a gas or power supply, ventilation and floor space, plus two cooks working the blades. It is loud by nature, so we position it away from speeches and run it during the open part of the evening. Indoor venues need to confirm gas and extraction first.

Sri Lankan curry uses roasted curry powder, coconut milk, pandan, curry leaf, goraka and often Maldive fish, giving a darker, more aromatic and usually hotter result than most north Indian cooking. There is no cream or cashew base in the traditional dishes. We keep separate spice lines in the kitchen so the two do not blur.

Yes. For a dana we prepare a fully vegetarian menu and plan service around the monks being served first and at the correct time, usually before midday. Milk rice, yellow rice, dhal, vegetable curries, cashew curry, sambols and sweets. We also handle the separate serving for the family and guests afterwards.

Our Sri Lankan food is cooked at traditional heat by default, and we make milder versions of the same curries on request. Usually we run both — a full-heat Jaffna chicken and a mild chicken curry side by side, with the dhal and cashew curries kept gentle. Chilli-based sambols stay on the side so guests control their own heat.

String hoppers yes, bowl hoppers only as a live station. String hoppers are steamed in trays, travel covered and reheat well, so they work for any guest count. Bowl hoppers are cooked one at a time in individual pans and go leathery fast, so they only make sense with a cook making them to order on site.

Yes, when the venue and guest count allow it. Hoppers must be cooked to order in individual pans and cannot be held, so they work as a live station rather than a buffet item. That needs bench space, power or gas, and a realistic ratio of pans to guests. For large numbers we pair the station with string hoppers so nobody waits long.

Yes. Sri Lankan Tamil cooking has its own repertoire, with more use of tamarind, distinct curry profiles and dishes like idiyappam, puttu and sodhi prepared differently. We confirm which tradition the event belongs to and cook accordingly rather than defaulting to one. Many Melbourne families also want a menu that covers both sides of a marriage.

Avurudu falls in mid-April and brings a specific sweet-led table. Kiribath with lunu miris is the anchor, alongside kokis, kavum, aluwa, aggala and mung kavum. The timing is traditionally set by auspicious hours, which means the food has to be ready at a fixed moment rather than a loose window. We plan the service around those times.

Yes. Vesak in May brings many Buddhist families to fully vegetarian or vegan food, and some avoid onion and garlic as well. Sri Lankan cooking handles this comfortably: parippu, cashew curry, ash plantain, jackfruit, beetroot curry, mallung and kiri hodi all work without meat. We confirm whether onion and garlic should be excluded before building the menu.

We set it with you, and our default for mixed guest lists is mild to medium with the heat served separately. Pol sambol, lunu miris and seeni sambol all go out on the side so guests control their own plate. Where a family wants the traditional heat level we cook it properly hot and flag it clearly on the labelling.

Yes, with the right dish selection. Rice and curry scales well because the curries hold in bain-maries and rice can be steamed in volume. Lamprais also scales because it is parcelled. Kottu, hoppers and devilled dishes need on-site cooking, so we either staff them as stations or keep them off the menu at very high guest counts.