Expats in Zagreb: Meet Brian and Clement, the Owners of Sri Lankan Curry Bowl restaurant
The distance from Sir Lanka to Croatia is around 7500 km. Yet, two brothers - Brian and Clement Senaratne found their new home in Zagreb after travelling Europe for a while. Brian had a girlfriend from Zagreb and spent more time here, and although that love story is over, the new one began. The love for the city. Brian realised that there is a potential in this market and soon the brothers decided to ditch their corporate jobs and try something completely different. They opened the Curry Bowl restaurant on Tkalčićeva 44 that serves traditional Sri Lankan dishes because they felt that Zagreb needs a place like this. And they were right. Curry Bowl (in the picture below) became a success and is now well established on the map of Zagreb restaurants. I went there one morning to talk with them about the restaurant, their new life in Zagreb and what they like the most here, and the differences between Sri Lanka and Croatia. So here is what they told me.
Photo credit: Curry Bowl
Zagreb is a perfect combination of peace and excitement
''The city is peaceful and quiet, yet there is always a crowd somewhere, and there is always something happening, even in the summer when everybody goes to the seaside. You can go to the Main square and be surrounded by people, and then walk 5 minutes to Ribnjak park and be completely alone and enjoy the park; we like that a lot.''
It is really clean, and nobody will steal your car when you leave it with keys in the door (with a little bit of luck)
They also said Zagreb is really clean and that they feel extremely safe here. Brian told me that they never really had any problems in Croatia, and that he left his Audi on the street with a key in the door for two days, and that it was still in the same spot with the keys still stuck in the door. I told him that he was lucky first of all, but still. The brothers compared Zagreb to Singapore, since Singapore is often called one of the cleanest and safest towns in the world, and they have been there a bunch of times. They told me that they found Zagreb even cleaner and safer than Singapore, so that is definitely worth noticing.
Changing of the seasons is a good thing, and the bureaucracy is fast
When I asked them what the differences between Zagreb and their country are, the first thing they mentioned was the weather.
''I've been sweating my whole life. In a way, it is nice that it is always above 30 degrees, and here it is definitely colder than that, but we love it. It is good when the weather is not the same all the time.''
They also said that, contrary to popular belief, the bureaucracy is fast here in Zagreb and that they managed to solve all their paperwork pretty fast. Go figure. They are fascinated by blonde people, since almost everybody has black hair in their country, and with the fact that a lot of people drink coffee in the middle of a workday. Although that is somewhat true, the guys work in Tkalčićeva street, which is one of the main streets in Zagreb for drinking coffee, so I took that one with a grain of salt. Here is the photo of the restaurant with the view of Tkalčićeva.
Photo credit: Curry Bowl
Fun times in Zagreb, their hostel, favourite food and drinks
Brian and Clement work a lot, around 12-14 hours every day, seven days a week. But they tell me that they really love their work and spending time with people, and that is not exhausting as it seems. Apart from the Curry bowl restaurant, they also sell their products in another place during Advent in Zagreb, Obonjan island and Ultra festival in the summer. And they opened a hostel here in Zagreb because they love to meet people from around the world, hence the name Whole Wide World hostel. They organise pub crawls with their guests after work, and they can be seen at places like Alcatraz, Opera and Time.
Photo credit: www-hostel
When asked about Zagreb cuisine the answer was an obvious one - ''burek'' and ''ćevapi'', although they said they grew tired of them after a while. Brian was not a wine guy before, but now he likes to drink ''Malvazija'' wine and Clement likes ''Grička Vještica'' beer from their neighbours, ''Zlatni Medo'' pub in Tkalčićeva. In fact, they told me that strong beers like ''Grička'' are preferred in Sri Lanka, and that's why they have Sri Lankan beer in their offer, with over 8% of alcohol. Now that I mentioned that let's talk about the food there.
The food in Curry Bowl is great
I only tried one dish from their offer, and since it was delicious, I will definitely come back to try some other things. What I ate is called ''kotthu'', and is a combination of meat, vegetables, sauce and sliced tortilla, and you can see it in the picture below. It was really delicious, and it made me feel really full. I didn't eat for 6 hours after that, which is a lot for me because I am usually always hungry! Brian told me that kotthu is a traditional dish which is loved and eaten by everybody in Sri Lanka and that you can see a person that came to the restaurant in a luxury car and the one that came by foot, eating side by side. It is supposedly a great meal for hangovers, so you know where you are going to go for a meal on Sunday! They make their dishes with a lot of coconut oil, fresh vegetables and some authentic spices from back home. The restaurant has a terrace so you can eat outside, but if you eat inside you will smell and see everything, because their kitchen is right up front. Usually, I don't like that, but the smell of curry was awesome, and I would recommend eating inside because it actually smells great!
Photo credit: Curry Bowl
Future plans
When I asked the guys about the future, they told that they are receiving a lot of offers for expansion, but that they definitely see themselves in Zagreb for the next couple of years. They do miss Sri Lanka a bit, but a lot of their friends and family come and visit them here in Zagreb, so they get by. Clement is married to Tamara, a former Miss Sri Lanka, and she also loves Zagreb a lot. She still has work obligations in Sri Lanka every other week and has to travel 12-13 hours by plane to get there, in case you wondered how far it actually is. The guys generally seem very upbeat and positive, and I definitely like their ambition. I think they should be an example for other expats that want to come and live here. It would definitely make our city more interesting, and, in the case they want to open a restaurant, more delicious!
Header image credit: Lovre Antić
Author: Lovre Antić