I travelled to Sri Lanka for the first time in 3 years, but only for a couple of hours. I used Sri Lankan Airlines to get from Dubai to another country, with a quick connection in Colombo.
It's been a while since I had some good, authentic Sri Lankan food, so I was looking forward to some during my journey. The national carrier of any country will always have some typical food from that country as a meal option.
I had indented to get some British food in my belly first. The last time I flew from DXB to CMB I was able to use the British Airways lounge at Dubai Airport. Sri Lankan Airlines and BA are both part of the Oneworld Alliance. If you're flying with an airline that's in an alliance, and you have lounge access through your status or flight ticket, you can use any lounge belonging to other airlines in that same alliance.
Unfortunately the BA lounge was closed. I think they only open it at times when there's actual BA flights leaving from Dubai. So, I had to use the Ahlan Lounge, which I could have used even if I wasn't travelling in business class as it's one of those third party lounges where you can get in with the Priority Pass or Lounge Key that you can for free with any decent credit card.
Usually those third party lounges aren't as good as the airline lounges, and they're usually crowded as well, since so many people have free access to them through their credit cards. This Ahlan Lounge was quite crowded but at least the standard of the food was very high and I enjoyed some delicious beef short ribs.
When I went to board my flight to Colombo, the business class queue had already been roped off and there was a huge queue for economy. I just lifted the rope for myself and a lady who was in the same situation as me, and we let ourselves to the front of that big queue.
Fortunately the aircraft was the A330-300, which is the good version of Sri Lankan business class. I've travelled Sri Lankan Airlines in business before and just had a reclining seat with not even any inflight entertainment. On the A330-300 it's the full lie-flat bed, and the seating is in the "wishbone" format, meaning you can have a seat without a neighbour.
Any flight where I don't have to sit next to someone is a good one. And all the better when you have a delicious Sri Lankan meal and fully flat seat.
I chose the lamprais from the dinner menu. Lamprais is a popular Sri Lankan food that was originally introduced by the Dutch Burghers. It's a packet of rice, vegetables and sometimes meat, wrapped in a banana leaf. I can't say that the version I had on the flight was authentic because it was get some rice and vegetables in the usual airplane food container.
The crew were very nice and offered me a second dinner. I was brought some Fish Ambulthiyal. Ambulthiyal is a type of curry where the strong masala turns the fish black. It didn't look too appealing and the first couple of mouthfuls tasted strange, but mixing it in with the vegetables, I really liked it.
After two Sri Lankan dinners and a pot of Ceylon tea, I was ready to nap for the remainder of the flight.
At Colombo airport I visited the Serendib Lounge, which is the official airline lounge for Sri Lankan Airlines. I'd been there on a previous trip and was given a free 15 minute massage in their spa. However, I wasn't able to repeat that experience as their spa was closed during the covid times and never reopened.
I just spent my time in the lounge eating, instead. Some Sri Lankan breakfast food was brought to the buffet just after I arrived and so I was able to enjoy some Milk Rice as well as Sambar and Idli.
The next leg of my journey was again on an A330-300, which I was happy about. This time it was breakfast food that was served and I chose the sweet option. String hoppers filled with jaggery with starfruit jam on the side. One of the tastiest breakfasts I've ever had.
Between the two flights and the lounge, I surely got my fix of delicious Sri Lankan food on this trip.
0:00 Dubai Airport
3:58 Boarding 1st Flight
14:51 Sri Lankan Dinner
23:00 Colombo Airport Lounge
32:07 Boarding 2nd Flight
36:01 Sri Lankan Breakfast
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7 авг 2024
