Publis - He is more than a Chef

Presidential Awards for Travel and Tourism 2009 :

Today Pubilis has become a household name. He is as big as Mount Lavinia Hotel. Ape Kema on Sunday nights at the Governor's Restaurant is all about his cooking.

His service for the Hotel as well as for the entire hotel industry spans an amazing period of FIVE long decades. During the last 50 years the Hotel has given him the opportunity to grow and he has embraced all prospects that were afforded to him very well.

Chef Pubilis has worked tirelessly to bring back the lost art of Sri Lankan cooking particularly among the busy upwardly mobile urban households.

They flock to the Mount Lavinia Hotel when Pubilis is behind a Sri Lankan Food Festival. He knows extremely well to please the Sri Lankan taste buds and palette as well as those who are strangers to our food.

"We were proud to nominate him for this award and we are even more proud that the industry and the stakeholders also consider him a Legend for Sri Lanka Tourism," Dewapura said.