Australian Gourmet Traveler on Galle

December 2005

Every evening before dusk, residents of Sri Lanka's ancient walled fort of Galle gather on the surf-pounded ramparts to promenade. It's a passeggiata of sorts, with children playing cricket or flying kites on a small green while their parents serve curry dinners from the back of rickety vans. In the narrow streets of the old town the sticky heat smells of salt and frangipani, while a jangle of auto-rickshaws joins the call to prayer sounded from the town's small domed mosque, a curiosity in this predominantly Buddhist country.

The UNESCO heritage-listed Galle Fort lies at the heart of Sri Lanka's magical south-west coast, coined 'the Serendip Riviera' by Hong Kong publisher and local developer Geoffrey Dobbs. It's a sweep of paradise that found itself on the frontline of the devastating Boxing Day tsunami. This event has changed people here, and there's a deep sadness when they speak of it. But while the pace of returning to a semblance of normality seems agonisingly slow for many (see p176), the resurrection of tourism — the economic lifeblood of this region and indeed the country — is crucial and, thankfully, well under way.

The beaches that unfurl towards nearby Weligama and Tangalle are again dotted here and there with painted boats, while stilt fishermen perch precariously on slender poles above the surf. The jungle hinterland crowding the coastal road still sounds of monkeys, who delight in clattering across the tiled roofs of the old Dutch villas.

For the first-time visitor, Galle raises the question: why didn't someone tell me about this place sooner? A handful of savvy expats has cottoned on and is busily establishing this pretty town as just about the smartest new holiday spot on the planet. In 2003, Sydneysiders Karl Steinberg and Christopher Ong gave up careers in film production and finance to transform a derelict, sprawling, 17th-century merchant's house on Church Street into the charming, cutting-edge-cool Galle Fort Hotel.

Both adore life in Galle, and as Steinberg wanders across the terrace greeting guests like old friends and folk lounge about with long drinks waiting for the rain to come and cool the hot streets, I feel I've walked straight into the pages of a Somerset Maugham novel. Everyone who has moved to this town (and a growing number of foreigners are doing just that) can remember the moment they were smitten. For Steinberg it was a case of mistaken migraine. On a holiday, late at night, climbing the steep hill to the Sun House (the stylish guest villa that put Galle on the travellers' map several years ago), Steinberg began to see hundreds of little lights swimming before his eyes — the first sign of a migraine. "They were fireflies," he laughs uproariously, "and the noises I heard in my head were monkeys shrieking in the trees. That was it: I knew we had to move here."

What followed was a mammoth two-year renovation of the largest private house in the Fort, now established as one of the world's coolest hotels, with stylishly appointed guestrooms augmented by a convivial dining room and bar, where sarong-clad staff glide by silently bearing serene smiles and trays of G&T.

The 13 rooms and suites combine imposing Sri Lankan antiques with a pared-down style that is both cooling and soothing. Choose from the Cheng Ho Pavilion with a 19th-century-style Asian carved opium (day) bed and double-storey outdoor bathroom with plunging waterfall shower, or a loft suite with private verandah. Le Grand Appartement du Comte de Mauny, occupying the entire top floor of the old wing, is particularly swish, featuring two ensuite bedrooms, with the mosquito net-swathed four-poster bed dressed in handmade cotton sheets and separated by an enormous salon-cum-dining room.

The hotel's public areas are dotted with outsized artefacts from an impressive collection of blue and white porcelain. Elsewhere, antique offering plates are piled with mounds of pomegranates, and ceramic urns are crammed with torch-ginger flowers. Staff are friendly, attentive and expert multi-taskers. One minute the devastatingly handsome in-house masseur, Lasanthe, is dispensing an expert Thai massage, the next he's serving drinks at dinner.

The hotel owes much of its charm to its location, sequestered on one of only a handful of narrow streets in a fort ringed by walls 20m thick and atop a small south-facing promontory skirted with coral reefs. Visiting in the '70s, Paul Theroux described the "rufous gold" of the luminous sunsets and the "palm-scented ocean".

Abutting a more ancient trading port (in the 1840s, the British Colonial Secretary Sir James Emerson Tennent detailed the rather fraught procedure of loading elephants for export), Galle Fort was established by the Portuguese in the 1500s, the Dutch rebuilt it a century later (when it served as HQ for the Dutch East India Company), and it was passed into British hands in 1796. The streets retain their Dutch flavour, however. They're lined with old spice warehouses and merchants' homes bearing heavy shuttered windows and tiled roofs. The narrow frontages are deceptive, frequently concealing very large two and three-storey houses with colonnaded courtyards, grand salons and rear terraces with ocean views. Even post-tsunami they are falling like dominoes to the villa makeover phenomenon. (Sydney interior designer Leslie Walford was one of the first to restore and rent. His all-white Orchard House comes with a staff of five).

Despite a potentially crippling tax regimen for foreigners (the first thing a potential buyer must do is find a reputable lawyer), house prices are reasonable by Aussie sea-changer standards, and come with the added bonus of those aforementioned staff.

For Europeans who've purchased a house here, town life is low key. There's the passeggiata, of course, or coffee at Pedlar's Inn. Restaurants are rare. The best food in town, and indeed some of the best in the country, is to be had at the Galle Fort Hotel, where Ong's sensational Straits Chinese dishes star, and the mouth-watering sorbets are the perfect pick-me-up on a steamy May evening. Every evening, expats and travellers, dressed down in sarongs and tee-shirts, gather on the terrace for cocktails, while resident dogs Max, Chen and tsunami-orphan Bunty doze beneath the tables.

Shopping is a surprising pleasure. During the Fort's heyday in the late 1800s the streets and shops were thronged, as P&O passengers crowded the New Oriental Hotel, tea traders and French packet boats stopped by and merchant vessels raced through from Australia to catch the London wool sales.

The pace is less hectic these days and the Fort is so compact that shopping is more of a stroll to the corner store than a full-blown excursion. Stop by Mimimango (40 Leyn Baan St) for boho-chic sequinned jeans and pastel sarongs made to owner Jo Eden's specifications in Rajasthan. At Sithu Vili (22 Pedlar St), you'll find charming painted panels, boxes and larger pieces of furniture. Geoffrey Dobbs (who opened the area's first upmarket guesthouses) has established a branch of his quirky homewares boutique, Elephant Walk, on Church Street, and the famous Colombo-based Barefoot gallery and shop is due to open sometime soon.

The best buys are the gems and semi-precious stones expertly cut by fourth and fifth-generation traders and mounted in traditional and modern settings (the Cartier and Bvlgari copies are convincing or you can design your own). We're talking rocks here, some the size of quail eggs, even fists, all ridiculously cheap and eagerly sought after by designers in Europe. (The history of the local gem trade dates back centuries. It's said King Solomon acquired his jewels in Galle.)

Steinberg recommends MM Ibrahim (47 Church St) for the finest cut stones. Fashion Jewellery (37 Church St) has fun contemporary pieces (generally exported to Germany), while Ameen Hussain (30 Hospital Rd) stocks a lovely selection of jewellery and old Dutch and English pottery.

After a leisurely shop it's time to pop into Amangalla, Aman Resorts' beautifully restored New Oriental Hotel, for high tea (ribbon sandwiches and little cakes) and a goodly dose of colonial grandeur. (Hotel manager and former illustrator Olivia Richli is another Galle convert, having moved here after trading a week on Taprobane Island for the rendering of a Fort map.)
Dobbs's fairytale Taprobane Island, situated within wading distance of the coast near Weligama, is a jungle-daubed spot of land atop which an octagonal villa sits. Smiling boys can be seen hitching their sarongs and hoisting suitcases onto their shoulders before leading guests from the mainland for a knee-deep crossing of the shallows. (When the tide is high, elephant-back transfers are an option.)

The villa was built in the '20s by the rather mysterious Comte de Mauny, said to have fled Europe after his wife caught him in bed with his valet. (The house also has a connection with Paul Bowles who wrote a novel here.)

More recent exotic imports to the island include the Edens, Jo of Mimimango and her dashing husband Jack, great nephew of former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony, who abandoned Hong Kong seven years ago to run a string of beautiful villas within the Fort and on the coast. For as little as US$250 (AU$338) per night they'll provide a fashionably appointed beachfront house replete with chef (who both shops and cooks) and housekeeper.

The Eden Villas' inventory runs from the newly built Beach Hut, metres from the sand, with French doors opening onto a swimming pool and garden, to Kahanda Kanda, uber-villa and easily the most extravagant rental in Sri Lanka. Owned by English interior designer George Cooper (who recently had a house shipped from Bali and plopped next door), Kahanda Kanda is more private resort than villa.

Set on a tea estate outside Galle, with captivating jungle and lake views, the property is laid out as a series of living and sleeping pavilions (with five double bedrooms) interspersed with ornamental ponds and an infinity pool. The low season US$1000 (AU$1355) per night room rate includes the services of a very good chef, assistant chef, and a full retinue of staff.

In Galle, Dobbs has expanded his accommodation holdings to include the circa 1712 Dutch House, featuring four enormous contemporary-meets-colonial suites opening onto broad verandahs and elegant gardens that are set with teak steamer chairs beneath the coconut palms.

Perched on a hill above the Fort, this former Dutch East India admiral's residence has been given the complete Sri Lankan chic makeover with modern artworks on the wall and rattan chairs on the verandah.

The dappled courtyard is dominated by a large tree bearing persimmon-like fruit. "Pini jambu, the flesh is soft and sour," Lahiru the housekeeper explains as she leads me into the largest of the suites, aptly named the Ballroom, where "Mr Sting stayed after the tsunami".

The lush green gardens have a manicured English feel; a pretty infinity pool perches on a terrace below the croquet lawn with views through the treetops. Inside, soaring ceilings and rendered cement floors help guests to keep their cool, and hours can be whiled away reading on the verandah to the accompaniment of monkeys chattering in the jungle behind the garden's edge.

Back at the Galle Fort Hotel, Steinberg and Ong pore over plans for more villa renovations and talk of possible artists' weekends and writers' retreats. They're keen to share this beguiling town, where quiet streets creaking with bullock carts and children flying kites, rather than watching television, have a powerful nostalgic allure. Galle is a hard place to leave... which is why so many are choosing to stay.