'MORU'

Flavouring the culinary industry for 25 years:

Since obtaining his diploma from Ceylon Hotel School he worked briefly, first at Koggala Beach Hotel and later at the Blue Oceanic Beach Hotel, Negombo, but, the real romance with his vocation started in 1984 when Konara Mudiyanselage Ranjith Morugama, lovingly called 'Moru' by every one, joined the Hotel Lanka Oberoi.

Since then Chef Moru has remained the 'flavour' behind Colombo Plaza and now The Cinnamon Grand.

By Prasad Abu Bakr

It all started during his scouting and cadeting days while in school at St.Bernedettes College, Polgahawela and later at St. Annes College Kurunegala during more his secondary years, when he won medals for his cooking but chef Moru still humbly attributes the reason to his loving grand mother's food made him to take to cooking and won him those medals at a very tender age while still a school boy.

As a member of a large family of 5 sisters and 2 brothers and being the youngest of them all, his fascination for what he is doing now may have started off by being more home bound and being the more protected one coming under the influence of his grandmother.

Under all circumstances chef Moru has served his cause well. Trained at the Oberoi chain in Delhi, Bombay and Melbourne his sustenance with the chain stood his career in good stead.

During his long standing service Chef Moru not only thought of himself when it came to sharpening the edges as a chef, he spent many hours of his professional life training youngster, many of whom have got themselves going places in the culinary field both locally and internationally.

Two persons that came to his mind immediately were Amal Wijayamuni who works as the Regional Executive Chef at the Sheraton in Egypt and Roshan Jayasuriya who has found himself a place in an important hotel in Melbourne and chef Moru is so proud of them. Chef Moru has trained around 500 persons up to date.

In the course of our conversation he said that even though marriage has changed his life for better he is extremely grateful to his wife for bearing up with his busy schedule and that he always found some time to spend with his little son but in his sphere of work that too never comes by too often.

Speaking of his work he said that recently they catered to a wedding banquet at a hotel which was a 7 course dinner menu at a cost of Rs.8000 per plate, one can only imagine of the taste of such food and the amount of work that would have been involved in creating such masterpieces.

A lover of fusion cooking chef Moru said that at the recent Secretaries' annual bash held at the Oak Room of the Cinnamon Grand he fused the regular Sushi and Sashimi, which are two regular traditional Japanese dishes with Indian masala ingredients, giving it a bit of a local twist in the process and according to him everybody loved it.

In a hotel where he and his staff, that numbers to 260, to service an average of 1400 guests a day through 10 in-house food and beverage outlets trying to experiment with new creations too can be a trying task, "but that is what I do whenever there is some breathing space in between my busy schedule" he said.

A winner of many awards and accolades, chef Moru and his team are the proud recipients of the Gold Medal of excellence for Sri Lankan cooking, a Silver Medal for Cold Food preparations and a Bronze Medal for Gastronomic Cooking at many of the past Culinary Art Shows conducted by the Chefs Guild of Lanka. He together with his team has won an award for the fourth place when they participated in the prestigious M.L.A Black Box culinary competition held in Australia.

His favourite dishes are mostly Thai and Italian and he recommends the ECHO Restaurant of the Cinnamon Grand which serves authentic Italian dishes under his supervision. His favourite location is the Forest Lodge in Habarana because he is a lover of wild life and likes spending his holidays in such tranquil locations.

Chef Moru by nature is a mild and good natured man and it is the undisputed impression that dawns upon meeting him. He is also a hard worker and free time is something that he only dreams about.

As a parting shot I asked this very unassuming man, what is the most pleasurable moment of his career and it did not take him much time to shoot back at me "When I cook for an occasion with over 300 diners attending and at the end of the day, see them enjoying my food and leave the hotel at a late hour finding time to only be able to drink a cup of tea for myself."