With his passion for sustainability and formidable aesthetic sensibilities, we felt like a catch up with Dom Fernando, Founder and Creative Director of Paradise, was long overdue. The Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, which Dom oversees with Head Chef Alfie Bahnan, has recently reopened, creating quite the stir in Soho.
A Celebration of Land and Sea
Among the candlelit ambience of limestone, leather and lambswool, Paradise serves up a unique culinary experience. Encompassing the best of Sri Lankan and British produce, with a nuanced nod to Sinhalese cuisine, Paradise transcends tradition; its menus celebrating land and sea, changing with the flux and rhythms of the seasons.
Many would balk at the challenge of living up to the name ‘Paradise’, yet Dom has embraced it. Paradise’s reopening has hailed the arrival of a new aesthetic, retaining touches of the tropical brutalism inspired by Sri Lanka’s Geoffrey Bawa and redesigned for Paradise 2.0 by Dan Preston (East London luminary of Brat, Mountain and Kiln renown). Now, pared back concrete is carefully accented with delicate oak panelling. “Green and plum have been used throughout our interior” Dom enthuses, detailing the “casual elegance” that he wanted to impart on his diners with a sense of “comfort and calmness.”
Dom drew inspiration from personal experience, adding a touch of intimacy to the new dining space. “I wanted to integrate a homely warmth into our little restaurant in Soho,” he smiles, perhaps at the understatement — to “reinvent everything related to modern Sri Lanka” is no small feat.
It also wasn’t always the plan: “the first time I went to Sri Lanka I was eleven years old and I really didn’t enjoy the food or flavours!” Dom laughs, recalling how he would skip family dinners in search of Western food — “I missed home!” It was as a teenager that he “really got a taste for spice”, although this too was not without its challenges. “My grandma, mother and aunt all taught me how to cook before I went off to university” Dom explains, laughing as he remembers big family arguments about how many pinches of curry power should be added to a dish!
The Best Mutton Roll
It was still a long road to the restauranteur who sits before us today. Working first as an accountant and then moving into the hospitality industry, Dom travelled the Middle East and Asia before returning to London to realise his dream of setting up a restaurant. But this was not before using his jet-setting years to experience the finest cuisine on offer around the world: “I have spent lots of time exploring the culinary back streets of Sri Lanka in search of the best mutton roll!”
A mutton roll now sits pride of place on the menu of Paradise, flanked by a la carte staples such as kimbula banis, batu moju and the iconic devilled glaze prawns. Tasting menus, Paradise’s speciality, are offered in a multitude of ways depending on your dining preference — land and sea, veg and plant, or sea and veg, each boasting a treasure trove of seasonal delights, Sri Lankan spice and the best British produce on offer.
Dom’s menus are not only carefully developed with the seasons’ strengths in mind, they also encompass an ethos of sustainability. “We’re always on a mission to reduce waste in line with the industry” Dom explains, echoing a sentiment that SIRPLUS holds close to its heart. Coffee grounds form a rich Lion stout and coffee curry, while waste rambutan is transformed into acharu, a Sri Lankan pickle developed with Malays influence. “We’re not quite there yet” Dom says again in understatement, gesturing to the chefs and restauranteurs like Ivan Tisdall Downs of Native and Doug McMaster of Silo. Even so, the creative and sustainable journey of Paradise is impressive, taking surplus kitchen ingredients otherwise destined for compost and turning them into unique and delicious dishes and cocktails. Dom’s most daring concoction? “We use our waste citrus curds from the clarification process of one of our cocktails, infuse it with paneer to make an ice cream sando as a cheese course!
When he’s not turning coffee into curry or perfecting the mutton roll, Dom is reminiscing about his Grandmother’s infamous turmeric dhal — a homage to which can be found on Paradise’s menu. “She used to cook it for us every week” he recalls fondly. The basis for this recipe can be found in the Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book, Dom informs us with an immaculate precision that characterises our interview. The original cookbook is found nestled in the bookshelves of Paradise, lovingly passed down through generations and the Southern Style Dhal at the heart of Paradise’s menu: “It’s formed the backbone of our veg dishes since we opened.”
Northern Turmeric Dhal Recipe
You can try your hand at Dom’s Dhal by following the recipe below, or if you’d like to leave the cooking to the experts, head to Paradise on Rupert Street, Soho.
Base:
250 g(1¼ cups) red lentils, rinsed, drained
1onion, finely chopped
2garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp Sri Lankan curry powder
6fresh curry leaves
1 long green chilli, sliced
1cinnamon quill
500 ml(2 cups) coconut milk
60 ml(¼ cup) coconut cream
coriander leaves to serve
Temper topping:
80 ml olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1cinnamon quill
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, sliced
5 fresh curry leaves
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
Main Dhal:
Place all the ingredients except the coconut cream in a saucepan with 250 ml water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender and broken down; add more water if necessary and season with salt.
For the Temper Topping:
To cook the temper for the dhal, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Then add the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until onions are soft and browned. Remove from the heat and set aside until the lentils are ready.
Stir the temper into the lentils, then add the coconut cream, stirring to combine. Top with fresh coriander and serve with rice.
You can follow Dom on Instagram here as well as Paradise and browse his selection of items from our latest summer collection, including tailoring and summer knits.
