Kolamba East

Kolamba East is the second restaurant from Eroshan and Aushi Meewella, who also run highly regarded Sri Lankan restaurant Kolamba in Soho. You'll find Kolamba East in Spitalfields, as one of the star openings in the Norton Folgate development, which sits in between Spitalfields market, Shoreditch and The City.

Kolamba East is notably larger than its Soho sibling, packing in 92 covers across a restaurant and bar. The central bar area is also open to those who just want to stop by for a drink, offering a cocktail selection made with Sri Lankan spirits. The restaurant has been designed by Annie Harrison of London-based studio Fare Inc, with a view on paying homage to Sri Lankan artists and architects. Interiors at Kolamba East pay homage to celebrated Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa - a pioneer of tropical modernist architecture - as well as featuring artwork by Sri Lankan artists such as Sonali Dharmawardena and Pragreeth Manohansa.

Similarly to the Soho original, Kolamba's menu is devised from several family recipes, taken from cookbooks and passed down between generations, touching on every aspect of Sri Lanka's multi-faceted cuisine from Sinhalese and Tamil to Moorish, Dutch and Malay dishes. The menu will feature some of Kolamba's signature dishes - the string hoppers are likely to make a return, for example, alongside some favourite snacks from the original menu like the hot butter cuttlefish and the mutton shoulder rolls. Aside from that East will feature some larger feasting plates - a result of the team finally having more covers and a larger kitchen space to play with.