Chef Dharshan Munidasa

Chef-Owner

Nihonbashi and Ministry of Crab

The US-educated Dharshan is a self-taught chef and has come a long way to establish himself in the culinary sphere in South East Asia, China, India and Sri Lanka. With seven restaurants Chef has his hands full

Interviewed by Priya bala

The Crab Master

The economic and political crises into which Sri Lanka has been plunged in the past few months have upended everyday life and businesses across the island nation. The food and beverage industry hasn’t been spared. In the midst of the turmoil, the chef-owner of the country’s most recognised and awarded restaurants Nihonbashi and Ministry of Crab, Dharshan

Munidasa, exudes remarkable equanimity as he takes in its impact with pragmatism. He also allows himself to look to the future with hope.

Speaking to UpperCrust from Colombo, beleaguered at the time, he said it’s been a difficult period for restaurants in Sri Lanka’s charming capital with fuel shortages preventing people from undertaking non-essential travel. He hoped, though, that things would ease up and that the world would once again enjoy the pleasures Sri Lanka has to offer, including its diverse cuisines.

In Bombay, where the Ministry of Crab has completed three years, Chef Dharshan sees a rejuvenation of the restaurant scene after two COVID-afflicted years. "There’s a palpable positivity and that is amazing," he says.

Ministry of Crab is now present in Colombo, Shanghai, Chengdu, Manila, Bombay, Maldives, and Bangkok, with the flagship in Sri Lanka making it to the list of Asia’s best restaurants year after year. One of Chef Dharshan’s commendable achievements even while he grew the business has been to keep his unwavering focus on the quality of ingredients in his restaurant kitchens.

In the case of Ministry of Crab, it is the mud crab. Why this particular crustacean? The chef recalls that he did a food show for television in 2009 where he turned the spotlight on Sri Lanka’s top quality mud crabs. "But the joke then was that to eat good Sri Lankan crab you had to go to Singapore," he says. That’s because much of the best quality seafood was being exported. Chef Dharshan was determined to showcase Sri Lankan crabs in Sri Lanka and thus Ministry of Crab was born, a temple of gastronomy to a truly excellent ingredient. Alongside the crab, there is also Lankan prawn, again sweet and delicious when treated right.

No seafood is frozen at the Ministry of Crab kitchens. "Frozen is a shortcut," Chef Dharshan says, and it’s one he will not take. His commitment to working only with super fresh ingredients of the best quality goes back to his Japanese roots; his mother is Japanese. "In Sri Lanka, and it’s also true of India, I guess, the worker who’s on the lowest rung of the kitchen hierarchy is usually tasked with cleaning, handling and storing seafood. The sourcing will be done by a purchase manager, who has no role in the kitchen. It’s the exact opposite in Japan. The top chef, the most experienced or skilled person in the kitchen, will choose and buy the fish, slice it and handle it," he says, adding that a lifetime of skill and mastery is involved in the process.

It’s food for thought for our restaurants where frozen seafood has now become the norm, in even the most swank and expensive places. This now celebrated chef is self-taught. During his time at college in the US, he so despaired of the food available he started cooking for himself. And he had embarked on a culinary journey that would bring fame both to him and his island home. Does he regret not having a formal culinary education? "Not a bit," he’s quick to respond. "If culinary degrees could assure good cooking we’d have many more great restaurants, because most restaurant chefs come with academic qualifications," he says, adding, "I began from the other side, primarily as an eater, not a chef."

The style he has evolved is one based entirely on top class ingredients and the utmost simplicity. "I cannot understand dishes with so much going on, with 1800 flavours piled on to one plate," he says. This, again, is a reflection of his Japanese sensibilities where the entire aesthetic is based on minimalism and simplicity.

Ministry of Crab's signature Garlic Chilli Crab, for instance, relies only on great crab nestling in a broth-like sauce enlivened with a mix of chillies. The crab is to be eaten by hand, the sauce mopped up with Lankan bread, with its crusty exterior.

With seven restaurants Chef Dharshan has his hands full, especially since he is a hands-on chef, still finding time to receive the supplies of mud crab in his kitchens. For the Bombay restaurant, he’s flying in crab from Chennai. "We are celebrating Sri Lankan crab in Sri Lanka and Indian crabs in India," he says. More pop-ups where he’ll be showcasing Ministry of Crab signatures are in the offing in the coming months.