Araliya

We had a pleasant dinner at Araliya.   We weren't quite sure what to expect when we noticed it was to be Sri Lankan food.  I'm still not sure how to describe it!   I notice that on the website it's stated to be a "blend of traditional Sri Lankan spices fused with taste sensations from around the world", and I guess this seems about right.

The common theme with many of the dishes was that they were full of herbal/spicy flavours   This is not to say that they were "hot" (in the "burn your mouth" sense), even though, in a number of cases, there was a choice of mild, mid or hot.   I stuck to to the mid range, and found the the prawn and lamb shoulder dishes that I had to be pleasantly flavoured.  I also sampled one of the fish dishes, and liked that, too.

The senior waitress (possibly one of the proprietors?) was extremely knowledgeable about the menu, and took a lot of care to assist us in ordering (including suggesting appropriate combinations).

In fact, one of our co-diners subsequently provided feedback to the restaurant, in which the need for side dishes was mentioned.   The restaurant commented, in return that, "Our meals are to be shared, especially the side vegetables, rice dishes and accompaniments. Also the different vegetables and rice dishes complement different main meals. Therefore, it would be impossible for us to envisage sides and rice dishes to complement your main meals ...[until you've decided on your mains]".

It's fully licensed, so there's no BYO, and prices are towards the higher end of the range (especially by the time you factor in the cost of the sides), but overall we thought we got our money's worth (although the serves of rice and vegetables seemed to be a little on the frugal side).  Parking on the street can be a bit challenging in this area, but there's a big car park just around the corner, up Oxley Street, with plenty of space in the evenings.

On the whole, something a bit different but, yes, it worked for us.