Paradise

It says a lot about a restaurant’s food when people are willing to wait outside in the rain in the hopes of getting a table, a common scene at Paradise. This small, Brutalist-style restaurant on Rupert Street serves a contemporary take on Sri Lankan home-style cooking. It was opened by Dom Fernando in January 2020, with Charith Priyadarshana at the kitchen’s helm, but former MasterChef: The Professionals semi-finalist Malin de Silva took over as head chef in June this year.

Malin has devised a brand-new Paradise menu that showcases his own Sri Lankan heritage and draws on family recipes. A word of warning: the food has a kick. We’re not talking a tap here, more like a roundhouse. But douse your tongue in a refreshing Rambutan Daquiri and push through because it’s worth it.

Starters of crisp hogget rolls luxuriated in fermented chilli sauce, and breadfruit empanadas came with a refreshingly tangy pineapple ketchup.

The cured sea bass submerged in a broth of coconut, chilli and lemongrass was perfectly balanced: light and delicately flavoured, with dashes of lunu-miris sambol adding some zing to the odd mouthful. The fried aubergine and jaggery moju was a rich and gooey mixture with caramel undertones, while the southern-style salad was fresh enough to provide a respite from the spice when needed.

The yellow cod curry looked appealing but lacked the punchy flavours of the rest of Paradise’s offering, despite its XO chilli paste crust. The coconut brined lamb shoulder and wild garlic curry was a hit, though. At £14, it’s one of the priciest things on the menu – and for good reason. The meat fell apart at the touch of a fork and the creamy sauce made for the perfect accompaniment to warm, flaky paratha roti smothered in coconut and lovage butter. Now that’s a meal we’d happily queue in the rain for.

Bringing the flavours of Sri Lanka to the heart of Soho, Paradise is a contemporary restaurant inspired by the bustling streets of Colombo and its rich culinary heritage. Based on Rupert Street, Paradise is the brainchild of owner Dom Fernando who took inspiration from the many trips his family took to their native Sri Lanka when he was a child. Alongside head chef Charith Priyadarshana, Fernando has designed a seasonal menu focused around sustainability, using a combination of British and Sri Lankan ingredients to showcase the flavours of the country’s various different regions.

Paradise’s small dining room seats just 30 covers, and the stylishly brutalist interiors ensure there is cement a plenty and little by way of decoration; pendant lightbulbs hang from above and grey tiles line the floor. Seating-wise you’ll have the choice of either sitting in a booth or up at the counter to enjoy your meal.

The food menu at Paradise consists of a series of small plates split into various different sections, with diners encouraged to order a few from each. Short eats range from stir-fried kadala thel-dala chickpeas, to mutton shoulder rolls served with fermented chilli. Vegetable-based plates might include a Chioggia beetroot and dill curry with fenugreek, and fried aubergine and jaggery moju.

You can expect meat dishes at Paradise such as roasted chicken curry with crispy chicken skin, and blackened beef brisket served with coconut floss, while seafood on offer ranges from banana leaf roasted mackerel served with samphire to stir-fried devilled prawns. This can all be accompanied by an array of different hoppers, breads and rice dishes.

In terms of drinks, Paradise offers a number of unusual interpretations of classic cocktails such as a chilli mezcal margarita, while the wine list has been put together by Zeren Wilson and is focused around low-intervention growers.