About Indy’s Curry Pot
Hi, I’m Indy
Born and raised in Sri Lanka, I have always had a passion for food.
My mum’s cooking was an inspiration for me. Everything she cooked was delicious.
Going to local markets with mum is a special memory. Mum was doing all the cooking as due to the culture, boys were not allowed in the kitchen.
Now I have my own kitchen and I’m excited to offer catering to Waiheke Island
This is when I realized I wanted to do something about my passion for Sri Lanken food.
When I returned to Sri Lanka I joined a culinary school for two years. Soon after graduation, I joined a very famous restaurant in Colombo called ‘The Ministry of Crab’, one of Asia’s top 50 restaurants.
About Me
Childhood
As a child, my favourite vegetable was bitter melon, which really surprised my family because I enjoyed eating bitter flavours. We had family and friends who used to go hunting and bring us back wild bore, which mum used to marinate all day
– which smelt tremendous and I can still smell it now!
When I turned 19 I moved to Norway thanks to my Norwegian auntie who suggested the idea and made it sound amazing. I really enjoyed living there and studying the language and culture.
I used to live in a town called Stavanger, where there is an annual food festival called “GladMat”, which translates to “Happy Food”. It was at this festival where I experienced fantastic street food from all over the world.
My Work
As a young trainee chef, I loved my work, but life in Sri Lanka was difficult, and I decided I wanted to move to another country, where I could learn more about international cookery.
I decided upon New Zealand, even though I had no family or friends there –
in fact, I knew nobody when I arrived.
Life in New Zealand
Between 2013 – 2015 I attended culinary school in Auckland and worked in various restaurants to gain experience with different cuisines. I worked at “Molten”, a popular European cuisine restaurant that’s no longer around.
I also worked at “Baduzzi” an Italian restaurant, Ebisu, a Japanese restaurant and at Sky City’s “Depot”, a popular restaurant owned by Al Brown, a famous NZ restaurateur.
Waiheke Island
After living in Auckland for a couple of years, I’d had enough of the city life and decided to look at other options
My cousin Michael was in NZ on holiday from Norway, so one day we thought to visit Waiheke for a day trip. We did some wine tasting and had some nice beach time and straight away, I fell in love with the island! On the way back to Auckland on the ferry, I said to my cousin “Waiheke reminds me of Sri Lanka, without the coconut trees! I might move there one day”! And just like that, after a few months I became a Waiheke resident !
For the first couple of years I worked at Waiheke’s Mudbrick Vineyard, then Casita Miro for a year, where I met Cristian Hossack, the head chef. He was very inspiring and became a big influence in my journey as a chef. I admired his skills and food philosophy.
One day while I was cooking some Sri Lankan food for the staff, Cristian told me: “Indy you are doing something amazing here! You gotta do something about it, bro”!
His words made me think and so began the plans!
After Casita Miro, I joined Te Motu and worked with Bronwen Leight. I had so much fun working there and she was also a very inspirational and amazing chef!
While working for Te Motu, I took a winter holiday and hitch-hiked through the South Island and sought out all of the Sri Lanken eateries – there were quite a few! This is when I came up with the idea for “Indy’s Curry Pot” and started a Facebook page to show people what Sri Lankan cuisine is all about.
After my South Island tour, I did my first Sri Lanken “curry gig” at Te Motu on a Monday night. I was surprised by the number of people who turned up. I literally got sold out in no time! After this I hired a kitchen trailer at Poto Street (nr Tahi Rd) and kept doing ‘Curry Mondays’. This became so popular that after a few months I got myself a food truck and ran it part-time while working at 372 restaurant.
Things were going so well at the food trailer. Word had spread about “Indy’s Curry Pot” and the local community quickly became very supportive customers. I did street food events at Poto Hub (night market) and Ostend Saturday Market as well as private functions.
I was so pleased to discover that people loved Indy’s Curry Pot and Sri Lanken food. The demand continued to grow and I started working full-time for myself.
I worked from the food trailer for a couple of years which proved very successful.
Soon I thought about finding a bigger space and took over the kitchen at Erua Road (next to Harris Auto Parts).
After 6.5years of running a takeaway business, I was ready for a change. So it’s farewell to the takeaway – but I’m still available for catering and events – so if you’re looking for Authentic Sri Lankan curry on Waiheke Island – please get in touch !
