Aliyaa, Bukit Damansara: The Sri Lankan Crab Table

Open with Lankan Crab Cakes: Golden, pan-seared treats infused with an aromatic island spice blend of Sri Lankan-sourced chilli powder, curry powder and black pepper. 

These are sensational crab cakes. Their uniquely sesame-crusted, black-and-white exterior offers a subtle crunch that surrenders to thick, fleshy crabmeat within, with a citrus sauce that cuts cleanly through the richness.

Aliyaa’s Signature Crab Curry is built on the freshest Sri Lankan crabs to be found in Malaysia, mighty and meaty with irresistible succulence.

Choose your curry from five distinct expressions: the Jaffna-style, Roasted Cinnamon, Amma, Varuval or Nandu Varai. Pictured here is Jaffna-style, powerfully complex with boldly layered spices that cling to every crevice of the crab. Our favourite crab curry in KL.

Nandu Satti Sorru is ponni rice, long-grained and imported from India, finished in the crab curry claypot, pulling in the gorgeous gravy for a gentle coastal savouriness. A soulful match for the crab curry.

Kadai Paan emerges as lightly toasted slices of Sri Lankan-style bread, honouring the choon paan three-wheeler bread vendors who announce their rounds through Colombo's residential streets with recorded renditions of Beethoven's Für Elise. 

Stretchy, subtly charred and built to soak, this is the ideal vehicle for mopping every last trace of curry from the bowl.

Pol Sambol is the hottest thing on the table, a hand-pounded fresh coconut sambol with chillies, lime and onion, freshly ground for a ferociously spiced punctuation to this set.

Two vegetable sides round out the set, each in its own different direction. Spring Onion Varai is stir-fried with tempered spices, chillies and fresh coconut for clean, briskly fragrant heat, while Eggplant Moju counters with soft-bite brinjal in a three-way tension of spicy, tangy and sweet, both enlivening the palate to balance the luxuriousness of the crab.

The set closes with a choice of two desserts. Classic Lankan Biscuit Pudding is a Sri Lankan-style layered pudding with notes of chocolate and vanilla, while Sweet Appam is Aliyaa's long-running popular hopper with its signature crispy base and lacy edges framing a milky, moist centre, finished with fresh coconut and a sprinkle of Gula Melaka.