I visited Upali’s by Nawaloka on the last day of a one-week trip to Sri Lanka in 2019, and it was the right way to end it.
The restaurant sits in the heart of Colombo facing ViharamahaDevi Park, with the Town Hall and Nelum Pokuna Theatre close by.
What is less obvious from the outside is that the building is the childhood home of founder Upali Dharmadasa, dedicated to the memory of his parents whose portraits greet you as you walk in. That history explains the food: deeply familiar, rooted in recipes passed down rather than invented for a menu, and priced the way a family meal should be.
The room fills quickly after 6pm. Arriving earlier gives you attentive service and enough quiet to actually taste what is in front of you. Book ahead if you can.
Read also: 13 Must Try Food in Sri Lanka Every Traveller Should Eat
Table of Contents
Upali’s by Nawaloka Menu
Upali’s is not a long menu in the way that tourist-facing restaurants tend to be. Every section is tight and considered, with clear signatures that the kitchen clearly knows how to execute. The spice work is the throughline: precise, varied by dish and never one-dimensional.
Northern Jaffna heat sits alongside the more restrained coconut-forward preparations from the south, and the kitchen lets each dish hold its own register rather than blending everything into a generic Sri Lankan middle ground.
For travellers who want to understand the breadth of the cuisine rather than just tick a box, this is the table to sit at.
Popular Dishes to Order
Homemade Ginger Beer
Start here. Brewed in-house with ginger and lemongrass, sweet and gently spicy without the aggressive carbonation of commercial alternatives. It functions as both a welcome drink and a palate cleanser between courses.
Mutton Varuwal
Sautéed Jaffna-style until the pieces reach a deep, spiced tenderness, built on spices sourced directly from the north. You hear it before you see it: the sizzle carries across the room as the server brings the platter out of the kitchen. The spicing is precise and confident, drawing on northern Jaffna tradition without softening it for unfamiliar palates.
Thora Maalu Stew
Deliberate contrast after the Varuwal. Seared fish in a mustard cream with onions, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, green chilli, coconut milk, potatoes, capsicum and tomatoes. Measured and slightly on the mild side, which is the point. It gives the palate room to reset before the next dish arrives.
Hathmaluwa
The table’s most interesting dish. A traditional seven-vegetable curry with a recipe that traces back 2,000 years, layered, earthy and deeply savoury from the combination of spices used. The age of the recipe is not a marketing detail here; it is legible in the flavour.
Roti Parata and Themparadu Bath
Both come alongside the mains and both earn their place at the table. The Roti Parata arrives with chicken gravy; the Themparadu Bath is steamed white rice tempered in ghee with onions and curry leaves. Rice and bread are Sri Lankan staples and Upali’s treats them accordingly.
Sandhya’s Wiskothu Pudima
A baked biscuit pudding layered with chocolate sauce and finished with vanilla ice cream, created by Upali’s wife and named after her. Rich without being heavy. Order it even if you think you are full.
Watalappan
A coconut milk and jaggery pudding topped with nuts, and the more traditional of the two desserts. Where the Wiskothu Pudima is indulgent, Watalappan is considered: sweet, set and clean at the finish. Both are worth having if the table has room.
Upali’s by Nawaloka Reviews
What stays with me from that 2019 visit is not one dish in particular but the overall coherence of the meal: the way each course made sense in relation to the one before it, the way the heat levels were calibrated without being dumbed down, and the way a room full of locals eating seriously is always the most honest endorsement a restaurant can have.
Upali’s does not need to oversell itself. The food does that work cleanly. If you are spending any time in Colombo and you eat one proper Sri Lankan meal, make it here.
Important Tips For Visitors
- Upali’s caters to a broad mix of locals, expats and travellers, and the kitchen adjusts heat levels accordingly. If you eat spicy, say so when ordering.
- Prices remain reasonable at around USD 3 to USD 10 per dish.
- The rooftop terrace has views over ViharamahaDevi Park and is worth requesting when you book.
Contact Information
- Address: 65 Dr C.W.W Kannangara Mawatha, Colombo 00700, Sri Lanka
- Contact number: +94 112 695 812
- Opening hours: 11.30am to 10.30pm daily
- Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/upalisbynawaloka/
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