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Waters Edge vies for more laurels

by Elmo Leonard

Waters Edge, the lifestyle club in Battaramulla, a year in operation, claims to be realising its ambition of becoming one of the best hospitality venues in the world.

The claim comes amidst winning many awards at the recent Culinary Art 2005 competition organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka.

Waters Edge, an oasis in the picturesque marshes of Battaramulla, owned by Asia Pacific Golf Courses Ltd, to date, carries a $20 million investment. Its managing partner is Aitken Spence Hotel Management (Pvt) Ltd.

Waters Edge is described as a hotel without rooms carrying a membership of 1,000 where the elite of the country and foreign visitors meet. Its 210-acre golf course, when completed will be one of the largest golf courses in the region, its general manager Sarath Fernando said.

Waters Edge has restaurants, casual style dining open to the public, spa, gymnasium, children's swimming pool, aerobics room and ballroom.

Culinary Art is a biennial event. It tests the skills level of Sri Lankan chefs and artists alongside the barmen, where almost every hotel and even stand alone restaurants participate, chef, Dimuthu Kumarasinghe said.

"It is the biggest team building exercise any hotel can think of," chef, Gamunu Fernando said. Dimuthu has won at the Culinary Olympics. Gamunu is the food and beverages executive of Aitken Spence Hotels. Chef Anthony Gibson from Australia turns out continental cuisine. The Waters Edge kitchen brigade includes seventy-four chefs.

Culinary art, had approximately 1,000 exhibits of various categories of food preparation.

The competition was spread over three days with show cooking, to decorating being critically evaluated and judged.

Among the awards won by Waters Edge are: The best hotel team. It's probably the youngest team to have won this award, according to the Waters Edge management.

Trophy for the best chef, the criteria being that one has to enter more than one category including `show cooking'. Show cooking is about producing a meal without notice of an audience, under the expert eye of the judges. The category included a `five course set dinner' and `four plated appetizers'.

Trophy for the best pastry chef, which included, an artistic pastry show piece, and its presentation area at the centre piece; a three- tier wedding cake and four plated desserts.

Trophy for the best kitchen artist, awarded for artistic skills displayed for ice carving, butter sculptures and fruit and vegetable carving.

Trophy for the best apprentice - awarded on similar judging criteria as the best chef, being for hot live cooking for main courses and desserts. The award was won by a very young employee who was with Waters Edge and trained for ten months.

Trophy for the outstanding Sri Lankan dish, cooked to fine dining standards, Trophy for best plated appetizer, Trophy for best ice carving, Trophies for best apprentice - hot live cooking and hot live desert cooking were also won by Waters Edge.

Mission to Seafarers still rolls out red carpet

Unknown to most of us, a little bit of the pattern of Sri Lanka's pre-1967 tourism, continues to date. At that time, sea transportation for tourists was the global norm. Then, tourist callers at the Colombo seaport were taken by tourist guides to the island's places of tourism interest. It was in 1967 that the aviation industry took a lead to develop into what it is today. For, in that year, following the historic Arab-Israeli war, the Suez Canal was long left impassable.

Even today, the Colombo branch of the Mission to Seafarers (MS) with presence in 233 seaports and 100 missions worldwide, uses the services of Finlay Travels to take calling seafarers, to places of local tourist interest, the mission's general manager, Clarence Welikala said.

MS marks 150 years in existence in 2006. To mark the occasion, $50,000 has been spent to refurbish the Colombo mission or Flying Angel Club, as such missions are known internationally.

MS, headquartered in London, with Princess Ann as its head, caters exclusively to seafarers, navy personnel of the world and deep sea fishermen, who call at the world's ports. In Sri Lanka, MS personnel visit calling ships and invite the crew to come to the local Flying Angel Club, at Chruch Street, Colombo 1.

Luxury vans are in-waiting for the purpose. Bar facilities, phone calls, internet, videos, DVDs, Karoake, newspapers, magazines and computer facilities are available. Today, callers to Colombo's Club make up around 200 seafearers, per month, from around 1,500 a few decades ago; the intense security at Chruch Street, Colombo 1, where the mission is housed, being a dampener.

So, an all-out drive has begun, secretary general to the worldwide mission, based in London, Rev. Canon Bill Christianson, said in Colombo. In May 2006, the Club will have a resident pastor.

The seafarers who call in Colombo, come from the Philippines, Russia, Korea, Myanmar, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, UK, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Canada, The Colombo Flying Angel has put out a brochure which discribes Sri Lanka as: "Mellowed by ocean breezes that fan beaches and colonial harbours, rising to a cool, lush mountainous interior that shelters ancient temples and tranquil hill-stations.

Sri Lanka is an island whose diversity is only matched by its natural beauty. History is everywhere, from the colourful processions of Singhalese traditions, to the art of ages etched in delicate wall paintings, monumental cave temples, and holy sites, imbued with a timeless spirituality.

In the cool highlands, lush with waterfalls, colonial influences persist in a world of bungalow architecture, tea cultivation and cricket, while the mighty harbours of the coast testify to the monumental achievements of the colonial era. Sri Lanka's natural beauty is preserved in national parks 'home' to elephants and leopards while palm-fringed beaches dotted with wooden fishing boats and small friendly villages, are washed by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka is a place that shouldn't be rushed. Like a Singhalese meal, where half a dozen dishes flooded with flavour stretch the dining experience, Sri Lanka is a feast for the senses that takes time to savour."

Of Colombo:"The ancient seaport amiably blends the ancient cultures of the East with the recent influence of the West. Hindu and Buddhist temples co-exist with churches left behind by early Portuguese and Dutch settlers, occasionally run-down, forgotten mansions and glistening high-rise buildings of the present day.

As Sri Lanka's comercial hub, Colombo is a great place to pick up bargain textiles and crafts, with shops ranging from bustling markets to chick boutiques hosting contemporary exhibitions. The National Museum, opened in 1877, is just one of the great colonial buildings on display, but Cargill's department store (opened 1907) is also well worth a visit for its slightly worn colonial charm.

Colombo also boasts of the island's best hotels, from the white gloved bell boys at the Galle Face Hotel to ultra-modern creations in glass and steel, ideal for a last few hours relaxing by the pool before a farewell meal."

(ELM)

SriLankan, LSR team up to cater finest service

SriLankan Airlines took yet another step forward in providing the finest service to passengers by appointing well-known tour operator Lanka Sportreizen (LSR) as handling agent for Layover Services for passengers in transit through Colombo.

"We at SriLankan are constantly searching for ways and means to push the boundaries of service excellence in order to provide our passengers more value-added services. SriLankan is rapidly developing Colombo into a hub for passengers between east and west, and also between the subcontinent and the rest of the world, and our support services must be of the highest standard.

We are confident that entering into a partnership with LSR will serve the needs of our transit passengers especially in terms of comfort and convenience," said Barry Brown, Head of Commercial at SriLankan. "We have worked with LSR in many spheres of tourism over the years, and our two companies have built up an excellent rapport."

Every year up to 100,000 passengers, whose travel itineraries require layovers in Colombo of 8-24 hours, are provided facilities in local hotels by the airline.

"This partnership is a natural progression of the many years of mutually beneficial activities between LSR and SriLankan. We also regard it as further recognition of the professionalism of all our staff at LSR," said Thilak Weerasinghe, Managing Director of LSR.

"As a tour operator skilled in servicing all aspects of tourism, LSR is in the best position to attend to any requests or requirements of these passengers. We view every transit passenger as a potential future customer, and our aim is to impress them with the level of our service to the point where they would want to return to Sri Lanka not as transit passengers but as tourists for a longer stay".

Transit passengers, whose layovers are arranged at the time of purchasing airline tickets, are now met at Bandaranaike International Airport by the staff of LSR, which has a special counter at the airport, and whisked away to their hotels in the tour operator's fleet of vehicles. LSR attends to all hotel formalities, and returns the passengers back to the airport in time for their onward flights.

SriLankan has accredited 21 hotels - 13 in the airport-Negombo area, and 8 in Colombo where transit passengers accommodated, ensuring that they are well looked after during their stay, however short it may be.

"This formal partnership has streamlined and standardised the transit process from the passengers' point of view with a professional tour operator as handling agent," said Sunil Weliwitigoda, Product Support Manager at SriLankan. "LSR also monitors the levels of service at the hotels, further ensuring that everything works smoothly for the passengers.

With nearly a quarter century of experience, LSR is one of Sri Lanka's most popular tour operators and is active in all aspects of tourism across Sri Lanka ranging from general sightseeing tours to sports, adventure, wildlife, eco-tourism, culture, sun and sand, water sports and meetings-incentive-conferences-seminars.

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