Ramboda Falls Hotel

The waterfall paradise

Text and pix: Lester Jansz

RAMBODA: Some of the most spectacular sights in Sri Lanka's hill country are provided by the beautiful waterfalls. Although Sri Lanka does not have gigantic falls like Niagara, those in this country suit the extent of Sri Lanka.

What they lack in size are compensated for by the numbers and variety of their own particular beauty.

Among the waterfalls of Sri Lanka, the Ramboda Falls is well-known for its enchanting beauty. It can be seen from the Ramboda Bazaar on the Nuwara-Eliya, Ramboda road.

There is one place to give tourists a broader view of this wonderful work of nature - The Ramboda Falls Hotel.

Located in the idyllic settings of the central hills amidst cool climes at an altitude of 3200 feet, the Ramboda Falls Hotel is ideal for those who seek a carefree holiday. True to its name, the hotel offers a full view of the Ramboda Falls.

In addition, two more waterfalls - Divituru Oya falls and Poonawa Falls - which are also major waterfalls, can be seen from close-up.

Ramboda Falls Hotel is 162 kilometres from Colombo, along the Colombo-Nuwara Eliya highway, beyond Kandy. The road meanders through beautiful tea country amidst lush greenery.

The hotel is perched on a meticulously planned precipice under the shade of tall trees facing the Ramboda falls.

The Ramboda Falls Hotel, which opened its doors in 1997, as a restaurant, now has 16 rooms, including two family suites, all equipped with modern facilities, including hot/cold shower, piped music, colour TV, telephone and room service.

Every room has a balcony, facing the Ramboda Falls and the wide valley that extends up to the Kotmale reservoir.

The hotel has two spacious restaurants and a well stocked bar. Western, Chinese, Eastern and International cuisine created by expert chef Nishantha Samaranayake are offered to guests.

The versatile General Manager of Ramboda Falls Hotel, Chaminda Amarasinghe, a Hotel School product, said that many of the major tour operators in Sri Lanka have chosen Ramboda Falls Hotel for luncheon for large groups on their way to Nuwara-Eliya. Daily launch buffets with a widespread delicious culinary delights are offered to hotel guests and others who patronise Ramboda Falls Hotel as a popular stop-over.

Amarasinghe said that the hotel is a haven for honeymooners, both local and foreign, due to its romantic setting.

There are natural pools and streams around the hotel's garden.Ramboda Falls Hotel is very economical for the average traveller, Amarasinghe said. Six more super deluxe rooms have been built to cope with the demand, he said.

Ramboda Falls Hotel is owned and managed by Ramboda Falls (Pvt) Ltd. The latest addition to the company is Peacock Solitude Hotel, located on the Polonnaruwa road, at Raja Ela, Minneriya.

Within a short period, this hotel too has become very popular among both foreign and local tourists due to its warm hospitality extended to all tourists.

Chaminda Amarasinghe is also the General Manager for Peacock Solitude Hotel.

The directors of Ramboda Falls Hotel and Peacock Solitude Hotel, are Sasanka Sigera and Ananda Karunaratne. Both are schoolmates.

They have combined their talents to make Ramboda Falls Hotel and Peacock Solitude Hotel two of Sri Lanka's popular tourist spots.

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Award winner Dimuthu as Judge at culinary competition in Singapore

COLOMBO: Dimuthu Kumarasinghe, Group Skills Development Chef of Aitken Spence Hotels was appointed as a judge at the 15th Food and Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge competition in Singapore.

Food and Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge is regarded as one of the most prestigious culinary competitions in the world attracting hundreds of chefs from around the globe competing against one another for top honours.

Asia's most highly regarded culinary event, FHA 2006 will cover virtually every aspect of Food & Hotel Management, focusing on hotel/restaurant equipment/supplies, Food & Beverage, Hotel Furnishing and Accessories, Food Service and Catering Equipment, Housekeeping Products, Hospitality and retail technology.

This is the very first occasion a Sri Lankan has been invited to serve as a Judge."Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love..."

Dimuthu is a star in the world of culinary art, with many laurels to his credit. His greatest achievement, though, is definitely the biggest, greenest and leafiest laurel of them all so far - five gold medals at the culinary exhibition and competition - the 21st Culinary Olympics.

His five medals at this event have been in four different categories. There are several reasons why Dimuthu's feat is so amazing.

Originating in 1900 and held every four years, the Culinary Olympics is an event that draws the creme-de-la-creme of the culinary world, and the competition is the most prestigious, the most aggressive and the most fiercely-contested of all culinary competitions the world over.

This makes the fact that Dimuthu won, beating master chefs from countries like France, Germany and Switzerland, with a strong cultural culinary tradition, on their familiar turf, a truly remarkable achievement.

Dimuthu's culinary awards at the Olympics have been in the categories of 'plated dessert; dessert buffet platter; petit fours', 'artistic salt dough showpiece', 'artistic pastry showpiece - marzipan' and 'artistic pastry showpiece - pastillage'.

Adding such feathers to his cap is, perhaps, all in a day's work for Dimuthu. His training in the culinary arts has been varied and extensive.

Having started his career in the 1990's, he joined the Hilton Colombo, and then proceeded to the Regency Inter-Continental, Bahrain, where he worked for seven years.

Following this, he joined Aitken Spence Hotels, where he is currently in the capacity of Skills Development Chef - Culinary artist, and is the resident pastry chef at the Triton Hotel, soon to re-open as Heritance Ahungalla.

He won his first Gold Medal in 1991 at the Salon Culinaire organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka. Since that first, sweet taste of victory, there has been no holding back.

His roll of honour includes the 'Most Outstanding Artist' Award at the Salon Culinaire in 1993, 'Most Outstanding Artist' at the Middle East Food Exhibition (MEFEX), Salon Culinaire, Bahrain in 1998, the 'Best Pastry Showpiece' Award at the 11th Food Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge, Singapore in 2000, and 'Best Pastry Chef' at the 13th Food Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge, Singapore in 2002, where he also won gold, silver and bronze medals in four categories, including the 'Dress the Cake' competition, Artistic Pastry Showpiece, Petit Fours and Vegetable Carving.

This again, was a 'first' for Sri Lanka, since we had never won such a highly prized overall award, before.Dimuthu's accomplishments not only bring credit and fame to Sri Lanka, but also reflect on Aitken Spence Hotels, who recognised and support his considerable talent to innovate and to create.

With a tradition of warm, hospitable service and fantastic cuisine, the group has won many prestigious international awards in this area of speciality including the SAGA good Food Award and the CNN Ultimate Service Award for the Indian Subcontinent at Kandalama Hotel - a brilliant feat for any hotel chain.

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1000 balloons released to mark MLH bicentenary celebrations

CELERATIONS: It was on the auspicious day of April 14, this year, with the heralding in of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year that 1000 colourful, helium filled balloons were released from strategic locations around the country to mark the bicentenary of Mount Lavinia Hotel.

All of the released balloons carried special cash prizes, 500 of them offering Rs 1,000 each in cash with five having Rs. 100,000 jackpot prizes. The rest had vouchers offering special discounts for weddings.

The balloons were released from five different locations - Mount Lavinia Hotel, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Kandy and Negombo, representing the different provinces of Sri Lanka.

The Polonnaruwa release coincided with an Avurudu celebration that drew in many villagers for which traditional sweetmeats and other specialities were served by the Hotel to around 350 villagers.

Interestingly the balloons released from those locations travelled many miles before they landed on the hands of lucky winners, some out at sea, the others from mountain tops and trees.

One such lucky winner of Rs 7,000 in cash, Boniface Perera, a fisherman from a remote village off Puttalam recounted seeing the colourful balloons bobbing in the sea on his routine fishing trip.

He collected seventeen such balloons and found seven of them with the Rs 1,000 cash prize, making it a total of Rs 7,000 for him. Mount Lavinia Hotel hosted Boniface and his family to lunch and handed over his gift.

The bicentenary balloons have travelled far and wide creating excitement among many people in their everyday life.

However, yet to be claimed are several vouchers, especially the five jackpot ones with Rs. 100,000 vouchers each.

The deadline for claiming of gifts is December 31 this year and given that the vouchers attached to the balloons are laminated and hence weather and waterproof, there is still a great chance for people from all over Sri Lanka to watch out for the cards attached to coloured ribbons that secured the balloons.

Speaking at the balloon release from Mount Lavinia Hotel, Chairman Sanath Ukwatte said that the special balloon release on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the building was to establish the Mount Lavinia Hotel building as a truly Sri Lankan piece of national treasure and centrepiece of Sri Lankan history and to take that message island-wide.

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