Nom Nom Asia – an authentic Asian culinary journey

By Dimithri Wijesinghe

Nom Nom Asia is a brand new restaurant situated at No. 58, Maya Avenue, Colombo 6. The building is quite strikingly lit, so much so that you simply can’t miss it.

They specialise in Asian cuisine, and it must be noted that, unlike most of the restaurants that come up, Nom Nom does not provide fusion food – they serve entirely authentic Asian cuisine prepared by their Thai Chef Suri, who has worked in many countries including America, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

We spoke to Savindri Sunnadeniya, the owner of the new venture, together with her brother Uditha and mother Ajantha Peries, who are all extreme foodies and harbour a real passion for food. She said: “We love food and we try different things. Personally, I’d eat just about any type of food, so it just felt natural to start a restaurant.”

Nom Nom as a location is highly convenient, and although it’s been only a month into operations, you may have heard of it, as they initially kicked off with a food truck which remains there even today. However, the main entity is now the fully-functioning restaurant.

Asian cuisine is diverse and exciting, and as Lankans, it’s quite close to our preferred palate. Savindri insisted that their menu, which was truly a labour of love, is unique in that you need not order food from one section for each to go together, but you can mix and match as your heart desires.

Here’s what we tried at Nom Nom Asia:

Seaweed fish ball soup

Something we’ve never tried before, unsurprisingly so, considering how this specific dish is unique to their restaurant.

The dish is a delicious broth with a rich intense flavour that really explodes in your mouth. The broth is heavy in seaweed, which also comes with a bevy of health benefits. While the seaweed is the overpowering taste, there is a subtle hint of seafood, owing to the fish balls that were soft and delicately made. This one was a real surprise and is a definite must-try if you enjoy soup and seafood in general.

Tamarind shrimp

This too is unique to the restaurant – it was yet another first for us and it was heavenly! While the flavour was a little rich for our taste and made it difficult to consume too much of it, you’re certainly tempted to keep going, considering how the tangy tamarind blends perfectly with the prawn. We wondered how on earth nobody has thought to serve this before, considering how absolutely perfect the dish was.

Malaysian rice and fried spinach

The rice was very rich; it could be a meal on its own without any add-ons. Something we must mention is the gorgeous colour on the rice – it’s likely from all of the ingredients that had been added into it: the seafood and the spice. Nonetheless, it was a real beauty and we hope our photograph does it justice. This is something you have to see for yourself!

While the menu refers to it as “fried spinach”, what we essentially got was spicy stir-fried kang kung and it was what we expect from any decent Chinese food place. It was a good balance between sweet and spicy, and went well with the rice.

Spicy seafood salad

This one was probably the least impressive of the selection. While the prawns and calamari were cooked near perfectly, with the latter being genuinely delicious, considering how it’s a rare find when this is not rubbery and chewy. The overall salad, however, was just what it was; it wasn’t overtly mind-blowing, but simply satisfactory.

Overall, Nom Nom Asia is certainly a fresh experience with unique interior design choices and friendly staff. If you are a foodie, it’s a must-try!

Photos Saman Abesiriwardana

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