“Samila, does this place have authentic Sri Lankan food?” I asked him before we left my house. “ Does it taste like the food back home?”
“Yes, of course!” he replied. Quickly adding, “But it's been changed a little for Japanese tastes. We cannot make it as spicy as we like it in Sri Lanka.”
“Are the owners Sri Lankan?” I asked. “Do you think you could ask them to spice things up for us a little bit more?”
“Of course!” Samila replied enthusiastically. And so we set off by car to Chuo City, which is really just south of Kofu, maybe about a 20 minute drive by car from the city centre.
Pulling into the parking lot, I saw inside the restaurant through the front window. “Holy cow!” I thought. “How fancy IS this place?” I had sticker shock without even seeing the menu. It looked very fancy indeed! The interior is all done up in dark woods, with wood paneling on the walls, shiny hardwood floors, and very modern, chestnut colored tables contrasting starkly with equally modern, elegant, white chairs. Certainly not something I was expecting, especially considering the signs out front, and even the business card that was given to me a week prior, don't come anywhere close to matching the interior elegance I saw when we first arrived at the restaurant. Rather than expound on this any further, I will allow my readers to see for themselves what I'm talking about. I've included a picture of both, business card and restaurant. I have restricted myself to only one picture, having forgotten my good camera and with only my cellphone I would spare everyone the pain of having to look at anything more than one mediocre photo emanating from my cellphone's pinhole-sized lens.
In terms of authenticity, it was a welcoming sight to see a number of Sri Lankan people sitting, enjoying their meals, some of whom, upon seeing Samila walk in greeted him warmly in Sri Lankan and he wasted no time in chatting up the waiter who he said was a friend. What Samila described later as Sri Lankan music played quietly in the background.
We were given menus, and Samila earned his keep with a few good recommendations. In the end I opted for the Deviled Mutton (￥1,300) , Chicken Biriyani (￥1,000) and Vegetable Roti (￥450). In addition, since my wife was the designated driver last time, I got the job on this trip, so instead of beer I opted for a Lassi (yogurt drink - ￥350). Samila's selection closely matched my own, although instead of the Chicken Biriyani he chose the Special Mixed Fried Rice with Vegetables (￥1,400) – a dish not dissimilar to my Chicken Biriyani but with a side note that it was appropriate for 1.5 – 2 people.
It was a tough decision, the menu being otherwise full of Indian style curries, like Chicken Curry (￥800), Mutton Curry, Prawn Curry, (both ￥1,000) side orders of rice or roti, (￥180) and a virtual cornucopia of both Western and Asian dishes – from Sirloin Steak (￥1,700) to Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chop Suey Rice (￥800, ￥900, respectively). A full complement of soups, salads (￥500 range) and deserts (￥250) completed the selection. One interesting note about the menu, however; each one had random items crossed out in it, obviously indicating unavailable items... This alone is not so serious but I thought it rather strange that no two menus had the same items crossed out... I found myself cross-referencing menus and wondering which dishes were, in fact available and which ones weren't.
Regardless, when we placed our order, Samila chatted with the waiter in Sri Lankan for a minute or so, and they seemed to be having quite the dialog before the waiter finally left us and retreated into the kitchen.
“I told him that we wanted things more spicy – like we have in Sri Lanka, not like for Japanese people” he explained. I was glad he remembered to do so. I looked forward to the experience.
As we waited for our meal to arrive, the waiter made a brief stop at our table, and following a short conversation with Samila, explained that the Vegetable Roti wasn't available, and whether we wouldn't mind trying a different variety – fish or beef. I opted for the beef. After a somewhat lengthy wait, (30 minutes or so) our dishes arrived piecemeal, starting with the mutton. It was pleasantly sweet, slices of meat, onions and green peppers with a hint of ginger. The rice dishes followed, with the Beef Roti arriving last. The presentation was impressive with everything served in elegant, white china. It definitely matched the overall décor and restaurant atmosphere.
I had just started on the Chicken Biriyani when the waiter returned with a large, shallow bowl full of a dark red paste-like substance. As soon as Samila saw it, he just about went into convulsions and started madly chattering away at the waiter who brought the concoction.
“When I told them that we wanted our food spicy like in Sri Lanka they thought I meant this..” Samila exploded between fits of incredulous, nervous laughter. “It's a very hot Sri Lankan spice you put on your food.”
“What do you call it?” I asked.
“It's called, 'lunumiris'” he replied. “But it's very hot. Maybe too much.”
“That's great!” I smiled. “Exactly what we're looking for. I want to try some!” I picked up the teaspoon from the bowl, heaping full of lunumiris... “How's this?”
Samila, just about choking, burst out: “No! No! That's waaaay too much! Just a little bit! Really. It's very spicy.”
I emptied half a teaspoon of paste back into the bowl and the other half onto a portion of Biriyani rice. Even as the fork approached my mouth, Samila sat, spellbound by my resolve to subject myself to what he assumed would be excruciating pain.
Prepared for the worst, I bravely ate the lunumiris-covered rice, savoring the flavour of the paste, trying to pick out individual flavours.
“So...?” Samila asked after a few moments of anticipation.
“I... like it!” I answered back picking up the spoon from the bowl and proceeding to liberally spread lunumiris all over the Chicken Biriyani.
“Oh my God!” Samila exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Are you sure you're not Sri Lankan?” he asked me rhetorically.
Having grown up with a father who just loved any kind of hot or spicy food, I've become largely accustomed to the “burn” of such foods. I've learned to enjoy the experience for the most part, choosing to interpret the sensation on my palette as a “pleasant, warm glow” as opposed to an insane, raging inferno. Rarely a meal went by growing up when the ever-present bottle of cayenne pepper wasn't spread over my father's meals. From what I understand, scientists figure that it's even quite healthy.
Far be it for me to question the wisdom of scientists touting the health benefits of capsicin, I thoroughly enjoyed my “enhanced” Chicken Biriyani. Without the heat, it would have been just another rice dish. The beef roti did fall into that latter category – although not at all unpleasant, wasn't anything particularly special and I could have done well enough without it. My original choice was between that and a dish of “Wade,” a Sri Lankan appetizer that came highly recommended by our friend. I opted for the roti.
Our meal was followed by a complementary desert of custard that tasted as good as the rest of our meal. Interestingly enough, we never ventured into the realm of curries – something I'll be sure to try next time.
Typical to many of the South Asian restaurants in this area, lunch buffets are the standard, and this restaurant is no exception. They offer a daily buffet from 11:00 to 14:30 for ￥780, which is, to say the least, about 100 yen less than most of the other Indian restaurants in the greater Kofu area.
I'm glad I was introduced to this gem of a restaurant. If I weren't already married, I would have no qualms at all about bringing a date here – the atmosphere is certainly very pleasant. Paying separately for our respective meals, the entire bill for my wife and I, including a beer for her, two Lassi drinks, a meat dish, rice dish and appetizer all came in at a modest ￥3850. With draft beer costing only ￥480, soft drinks ￥250 and many menu choices nowhere near breaking the 1,000 yen barrier, Midland makes for an inexpensive yet classy evening.
Summary:
The Good: Very classy-looking restaurant, modern décor; tasty food, reasonable prices. Ample menu selections, many styles of food: Indian, Sri Lankan, Chinese and Western. Kids' menus are available too, as well as set menus and group menus. English-speaking staff; Sri Lankan items for sale near the entrance: spices, Basmati rice, lentils, lunumiris, green (Indian) pickle, to name a few.
The bad: The wait: 30 minutes is not an unreasonable time to wait for a meal, but admittedly, was a little bit long for me. The time lapse between dishes arriving at our table could also have used some improvement.. It may have been due to the fact that only one cook was in the kitchen and we ordered a number of dishes, and there were several other patrons in the restaurant as well. In the end the quality of the food was worth the wait but if a half-hour is common, I would recommend some sort of appetizer or snack to nibble on with drinks while waiting, if possible. Otherwise, it would be good to have menus that agreed with each other as to what was available and what was not.
Menu: Sri Lankan, Indian dishes, curries, Western, Sri Lankan-style Chinese, soups, salads, deserts, full bar and alcoholic drink menu, Kirin draft beer.
Price Range: Main courses: ￥800-1700, soups, salads ￥500 range, deserts ￥250, soft drinks ￥250, draft beer ￥480, lunch buffet ￥780, group/set menu ￥2,000-5,000.
Smoking: Yes. One smoker sitting at another table. It didn't bother us but it was noticeable. There is no specific non-smoking section.
Recommended?: Yes
Details:
Midland Indo Lanka Restaurant
Tel. 055-273-0222
Hours: Daily: 11:00-1500; 16:30-22:00; (lunch buffet 11:00 - 14:00); last order 21:30. Closed on national holidays.
Location: Chuo City, Wakamiya 2-8 Angel House Narase Bldg.
Languages spoken: Sri Lankan, Japanese, English
Parking: yes
