CHINESE HOTELS OF OLD COLOMBO

Old Colombo

CHINESE HOTELS OF OLD COLOMBO

Certain parts of Colombo Fort were a kind of Chinatown in the good old days though not as large as the true Chinatowns one comes across in places like San Francisco. One can only imagine how vibrant Colombo must have been back then with its many Chinese hotels especially in Colombo Fort.

Many were the Chinese restaurants that thrived in Colombo Fort from the 1950s until about the early 1980s. These were mostly found in Chatham Street and York Street and dominated the culinary landscape of Fort. If one is going to say that food is the most important thing, then one might as well say they dominated the Fort. These restaurants seem to have sprung up beginning from about the WW II years or not long afterwards. Outside of the Fort, such Chinese hotels were very few and included Chinese Lotus Hotel in Colpetty.

FREE CHINA HOTEL

Free China Hotel stood on York Street and must have taken its name as a protest against communism that was then making inroads in mainland China or who knows as a rallying cry against the Japanese invasions of the time. It was known from about the mid-1940s or maybe even earlier and seems to have had its heyday in the 1960s. It was most popular for its noodles served with sliced green chillies. Surprisingly, it offered as many as 500 dishes and ice creams “Ceylon’s Best” coming in as many as five flavours. It even hosted weddings including those of local Chinese couples when it would serve traditional Chinese fare such as pork and pumpkin soup.

CHINESE VICTORY CAFE

A somewhat popular restaurant on York Street well known in the 1970s was Chinese Victory Café. It suffered a fire in 1963 but seems to have survived for a long time afterwards. Interestingly this restaurant too had a name with political undertones. Victory is not a name a hotel usually bears.

NANKING HOTEL

Nanking Hotel was placed at the corner of Chatham Street and Queen Street. Nanking was named after the Chinese city of Nanjing which is alternatively rendered as Nanking which is still best remembered for the infamous massacre by the Imperial Japanese army that invaded China. Who knows, perhaps it was named in memory of its victims. The hotel was most famous for its prawn-mixed fried rice, but also served Chinese fare like noodles and soups. It was run by the family of Yu. Foreigners frequently patronised the spot, particularly sailors and passengers of ships that used to call at the Colombo harbour.

Nanking must have been quite old really and founded in the 1950s if not earlier. It is even mentioned in a book by James Jacobs titled From the Imjin to the Hook. A National Service Gunner in the Korean War(2013). Speaking of Colombo where they landed, he says: “Many of the restaurants did not look too clean, so we decided on a Chinese establishment called The Nanking. Not being familiar with the pedigree of the pig that had gone into the sweet and sour pork, what part of the crustaceans the prawn balls had been extracted from, or what chops had been cooked in the chop suey, we stuck to good solid British fare and ordered fish and chips. We hoped that the waiters would not realize we were on our way to kill some of their fellow countrymen“. The reference to their fellow countrymenis interesting because it obviously refers to the Chinese soldiers who were fighting alongside their North Korean allies.

PEIPING HOTEL

Peiping Hotel was on the other side of Chatham Street closer to York Street. This is where the Fort Pilawoos Hotel later came to be. It was best known for its delectable crab dishes. It was run by the Kao family. I was told it had a jukebox where diners could insert a coin and select their songs from a list. A mechanical arm would then spring to action to get the record out and play the song.

NECTAR CAFE

Nectar Cafe at the corner of York Street and Bailey Street thrived in the 1960s and 1970s. It served a variety of good food including occidental fare like sandwiches, cakes, puddings and ice creams offered with fruit salad. It was basically a self serving restaurant where customers would pick their choice and form a line to the billing counter to pay for it, before taking their seats placed around half a dozen tables or so to enjoy their meals.

CHINESE LOTUS HOTEL

Lotus Hotel was a Chinese restaurant in the heart of Colpetty that thrived in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was Idyllically placed along Galle Road, next to where Carnival Ice Cream presently stands and was housed in a palatial residence known as Isabel Court. The hotel was patronised by the well-to-do looking for something different from the ordinary fare they were used to. They served noodles, fried rice, and chicken and egg soup, the last of which was very popular.

Largely extracted from the book ‘The Great Days of Colombo’ by Asiff Hussein.

Pic of Nanking Hotel by Stephen Owens