“Life’s short, men. Have to make the best of it, noh?”
At Uncle’s in Colombo, when you order toddy and cheese toast, lessons for life come for free. This diminutive bar with a big personality defied all odds when it launched in December 2021, in a country that was both in the grip of the global pandemic and battling an economic crisis. With a chatty Instagram page that reminded customers there is “No need to be formal and all,” the bar heroed local food, drinks and people. And, against all odds, it thrived.
Founder Gehan Fernando warns me in advance that Friday night is a “crazy Uncle’s scene” when we decide to catch up. I weave through chatty customers, spilling into Park Street Mews, a private road lined with restaurants, and edge into the packed bar. Uncle’s is welcoming, and defiantly unpretentious: A formula that has worked well enough to prompt the recent launch of a second space, ‘Hotel De Uncles’ in Ahangama. Described as a ‘roti shop with a secret,’ this speakeasy-style cafe doubles up as a bar in the scenic town south of Colombo, known for its beaches and surfing.
Gehan is well-known in the city for having co-founded some of Colombo’s most popular bars and cafes — including Kava Island Bar, Sugar Bistro, and the Sugar Beach Club at Mt Lavinia. When the pandemic hit, he took a step back. “I spent a lot of time at home really re-examining what I have done so far,” he says, adding, “I realised that we were doing what everyone else was doing: looking for inspiration in the Western world.”
The economic crisis made it increasingly challenging for bars and restaurants to source imported ingredients. “There were restrictions, high taxes, and many ingredients were difficult to get. If you could get them, they were very expensive. We decided to stick to what was available on the island, especially in the area where we are located. We started making cocktails with local spirits, which in turn encouraged local producers who used to concentrate on the mass market to do more premium products,” says Gehan, settling at the bar, where — between swivelling on high bar stools and shaking hands with friendly Uncles’ regulars — we order cocktails.
I try the Aunty Agnes, a heady concoction of gin, local mandarin, and lemon. Says Gehan, “We named it after Mrs Agnes, who lives in Haputale. She’s in her late 70s. Loves her gins, loves her port wine...” The cocktails pivot on fresh fruits and local liquor — from a toddy served with coconut vodka and pineapple sorbet to the ‘thala-guli’ with arrack, Bourbon, sesame, jaggery and oranges. Their spin on the Negroni features gin, Campari and caramelised banana.
They have even figured out how to serve toddy on tap. “You can’t have a local bar and not have toddy. Fresh toddy is sweet, and one of my team brings a fresh batch every two days from Negombo. I had to figure out how to pause the fermentation, so I tried putting it in a beer keg, which sucks off all the oxygen. And it worked!”
We try refreshing glasses of toddy with small plates from their compact menu: tender pilla roast chicken, slathered in an aromatic local spice rub, then served with an orange and star anise sauce. Hot butter octopus, cassava chips topped with red chilli flakes, pulled pork tacos. While the dishes are simple, they are thoughtfully made to maximise flavour — the cheese toast, for example, which has locally sourced smoked mozzarella and aged cheddar set on wood-oven baked bread, is served with fermented green chillies.
“I realised there was a void in the market for something local. And I thought, wait a minute, we have some cool stuff in Sri Lanka. Let’s create our own identity,” says Gehan. “I thought let’s go back to the basics, and create a menu inspired by local street food, and made with the best possible ingredients we can get out hands on.”
It took time to convince the kitchen. “My chef has a background in Italian cooking, so he was worried about our menu. And I said, ‘You want to someday make a name in the industry — what is your best chance of doing that? Isn’t it by perfecting the type of food your parents made, your grandmother made... after all, these are the flavours we know better than anyone else.”
Hotel De Uncles in Ahangama is the next step. The newly launched bar moonlights as a café during the day and is gearing up for the tourist season. “It’s a roti shop with a discreet yellow door, and it opens all the way to the beach. So it has a bit of a speakeasy vibe. Open from 9 am, there is a focus on a local breakfast,” says Gehan.
Here too the menu is simple and focuses on quality, local produce. It includes a crab benny, for instance, served with gotukola sambol, French toast with jaggery sauce and toasted coconut flakes, and an open seafood sandwich with avocado, besides the obligatory hoppers and egg roti. In the evening, cocktails and a DJ accompany sunset.
Both bars stand out in a market dominated by a more conventionally Westernised dining out vibe. “From day one we had great support. Bars like this didn’t exist...” says Gehan, adding that they have however inspired a slew of bar menus and restaurant launches.
It helps that this is also a time of resurgence for Sri Lanka, as people take pride in tradition. “I see so many places going down the same line — opening arrack bars, focusing on local produce, and that is great to see. People are very proud of being Sri Lankan, and there is a renewal in how we support each other, from wearing local designers to being proud of having a good bottle of arrack on the table,” states Gehan.
He adds, “I’m a Burgher. (The Burghers are a small Eurasian ethnic group descended from the Portuguese, Dutch, and other Europeans in Sri Lanka) I wanted to touch on my mixed heritage. We love a good time, a bit like the Anglo Indians. At our homes, there’s always food and there’s always music.” He adds with a laugh that Uncle’s unique style of messaging is also rooted in home. “I wanted to capture a bit of the way my uncles spoke. They say, ‘Shall we have a thundering drink today.’ Or ‘Shall we have a full session’.”
The ‘session’ is in full swing by now. The DJ is playing old hits from the 90s. Locals, expats and tourists merge tables as they sing along to the music. “We have created a nice happy space,” says Gehan, adding “This was the dream.”
