Chef shares lifelong love affair with food

 

Richard Sun, owner of Kurumba, incorporates the flavours of China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia into his colourful dishes.

Photograph by: Mark Van Manen, PNG, Vancouver Sun

Source  :By Tracey Tufnail, Vancouver Sun December 29, 2011






Sri Lankan owner serves big flavour and generous portions at Kurumba Restaurant




Sri Lankan Richard Sun virtually grew up in the kitchen.


His parents owned a restaurant in Sri Lanka back when the country was under colonial rule and Sun spent much of his childhood there.


"The kitchen was my play-ground," says Sun. "I would experiment, chop up things, get the cooks mad ... so that was life when I was young. I knew that I had a passion for cooking from an early age."


His father taught him the trade and Sun's playground is now his own eatery in Port Moody, Kurumba Restaurant. You will find him and his passion in the kitchen seven days a week from early in the morning until late at night.


Although Sri Lanka is home for Sun, the menu in his restaurant covers a wide variety of Asian cuisines, something that also reflects his love affair for food.


I asked him why he chose not to constrain himself geographically. "Vancouver is such a multicultural place to be in so I thought I would start off with a diversity of dishes, the best that I knew of Asian cuisines."


Diversity seems to be paying off for Sun, he began in 2007 and has never seen the need to narrow his menu's focus.


Kurumba has Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesia, Singaporean, fusion and, of course, Sri Lankan dishes on its extensive menu - they might taste different from each other but all are infused with Sun's trademark passion.


Sun prides himself on detail, too. "The trick here is to make everything from scratch," he says. Sun grinds most of his own spices for his specialist chili and curry blends, with the exception of turmeric and chili powder.


The handmade care is evident in dishes like Sun's spring rolls, which come in both vegetarian and shrimp and pork versions ($4 and $5 for two rolls). Ours were crisp and not oily and generously filled with obviously fresh ingredients. What a bargain.


Generosity is a recurring theme in many of Sun's dishes.


His roti canai couldn't get much fresher, with Sun making each one of the light, lacy flat breads to order. The starter version we shared came with a delicious hot Sri Lankan-style curry sauce dip ($5.50) and an enormous, umbrella-sized roti. We gobbled up every last morsel - bread this great demands to be eaten hot and fresh.


It is worth trying the Sri Lankan curries - the recipes are Sun's father's. The dark-roasted pork curry (small $10.95, large $14.95) is spicy and sour with a peppery aftertaste. The chicken and beef versions are more traditional, and hotter.


The Malaysian beef rendang (small $10.95, large $14.95) is a well-executed example of a traditional Malay curry, redolent with lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal. Delicious.
The curries are not the only tribute to Sun's dad here - the restaurant name, which means "young coconut," refers to the elder Sun's habit of drinking the juice from a young coconut before doing his purchasing rounds. "It's very good for you," the younger Sun says.
Not wanting spice or heat? You can't do better than Sun's Char Ho Fun ($11.95 for beef or chicken, $13.95 for seafood). No chilies here, the sauce ladled over flat rice noodles is silky with egg and rich with savoury goodness, providing a subtle but complex mix of flavours. Our seafood version was chock full of the featured protein and absolutely enormous - we had two healthy servings and took the remainder home where it served us both for lunch the next day.

The Char Ho Fun dish you are served today was improved with customer input.


"It started off in mid-2008 when my Singaporean and Malaysian customers discovered this dish and gave their feedback. I listened to them and improved the dish and it has evolved to be a best-seller - people were coming from Richmond and Vancouver to eat it," says Sun.
"Kurumba is our passion, even the staff.


"I train the staff myself ... [running a restaurant] is not all about the money. It is about good service and, of course, good food."


And, unsurprisingly, Sun still has some passion left for his customers: " I would like to thank my dear customers. All our success is due to them."


AT A GLANCE
Kurumba Restaurant
107-3003 St. Johns St., Port Moody
Phone: 604-461-2245
Open: Daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.