Lankan Chef in Culinary World Cup team

by Lal Gunesekera

A Sri Lankan Chef, Sajeela Siriwardene, working at one of the prestigious hotels in Wales, clinched a place in the Welsh National Culinary team for the Culinary World Cup to be staged in Luxemburg later this month.

Siriwardene (30), 'Chef de Parte", at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales will join the brigade of support chefs for this prestigious event. He secured his place after winning a recent competition for pastry chefs across Wales.

The Welsh team will compete in the "Hot kitchen" in Luxemburg at the end of November. The second part of the competition too will be held thereafter and involves creating an art display dishes around a central theme for a cold buffet table.

Born in Sri Lanka, Siriwardene, is an old boy of Ananda College and started his career as a trainee chef at the Colombo Hilton and Galadari Hotel in Colombo. He also worked at the Hilton, Sheraton and Kempinski hotel in Dubai and also at the Ven Essen Hotel in England before taking up the post at the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales.