Discovering Amirtham in Woden

Sans a large social media presence, Amirtham in Woden is a small Sri Lankan restaurant helmed by two lovely ladies who make mostly everything to order.

An unpretentious shopfront with seating areas visible through two large windows on either side of the entrance, Amirtham in Woden was our recent find.

Sans a large social media presence, this small Sri Lankan restaurant is helmed by two lovely ladies who make mostly everything to order.

Together with friends, we tried their lamb biryani, chicken kotu, masala dosa, plain dosa, medhu vada, and dhal vada. The stand out dishes for us were the vadas, dosa and their delicious coconut chutney. If anything, go just to try the chutney – it’s fabulous!

What we liked about these deep-fried dumplings so to speak was that both the medu and dhal vada wasn’t oozing in oil. It was crisp, light and fluffy.

Also, unlike typical Indian or Sri Lankan restaurants across Canberra who’s rating scale of “mild”, “medium” and “hot” are never as described, the level of heat at Amirtham in Woden is true to its meaning.

Hot is hot! So, don’t go there thinking you’ll apply the typical scale and order hot when what you actually want is medium. This made us realise how much we settle for when it comes to the various heat/spice levels across other South Asian restaurants. It was refreshing to find Amirtham being authentic this way.

While seated at the restaurant, it was apparent that Amirtham is well known for their takeaway orders. There were at least four food pick-ups while we were there.

Next time around, we’re trying their appams and ghee dosa.

Rose

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