On Friday, September 28th, 2018, Elevate readily focused on mixing and matching food with Spanish wine brought from Torres. Access South Tower, a newly opened restaurant belongs to the levels 28, 29 and 30 and it’s restaurant and bar is managed by the pleasant face of Yemindra Udalagama. Elevate offers a fully equipped gym, steam rooms, a members lounge, and a rooftop bar, for the membership card holders as well as possible others. The rooftop at Access South Tower promises to give anyone who steps foot a breathtaking view of the Colombo city. 

Executive Chef Anil, a well gained experience from around the world in culinary, started us off by laying four amazing Canapé dishes, two hot and two cold, on the table. The two hot dishes were namely Cream Cheese stuffed Date wrapped with Bacon and the other was Mushroom and Corn Croquets and these were dished out first. The Cream Cheese stuffed Date wrapped with Bacon was an absolute delight and was paired up with a slightly sweet wine Torres Viña Esmeralda. A bite into this delicacy was enough to sweep everyone in the room off their feet as it was extremely delicious. This was followed with the second hot dish, the Mushroom and Corn croquets which were paired up with another slightly sweet wine, Gewürztraminer. This delicacy was equally amazing as the first as each crunchy bite could make your taste buds burst. 

The two cold Canapé dishes were followed up straight after and were given to taste. One out of the two was the Confit Crostini, Pickled Herring, soft boiled Egg and Cherry Tomato which was paired with the wine Moscatel de Alejandía. The taste was equally as perplexing along with the presentation. It had a great blend of taste as each ingredient perfectly went along with the other. The next and last cold dish was the Salmon Mousse, Capers, Horseradish Cream I’m Salty Tartlet. Chef Anil was able to surprise us with this savory tartlet which was paired up with the wine Catalunya. This, as well as the first, were two mouthwatering dishes that one must try. 

The dish was then replaced by a delicacy that left the entire room speechless with it’s colorful presentation that was in tandem perfect with its taste. The dish represented was the Paella Valenciana. This breathtaking delicacy included Classic Spanish style Paella, Jumbo Prawns, Shellfish Chicken with Smoked Chorizo and was combined with the wines Torres Sangre de Toro, Garnacha, Cariena and Catalunya. The items in the dish were perfectly delightful and indeed succeeded in bursting our taste buds in many different flavors exciting us. 

The delicacies that were unfortunately not available to taste were the Carpaccio de Polpo which was to include marinated Octopus, Mango, Cilantro and micro herbs, and the Frijoles Charros with assorted beans and Chorizo and lastly, Cointreau Praline Quenelle as a dessert. 

Fortunately, we weren’t left disappointed as we were able to rouse our taste buds once again with the dessert served at the exclusive buffet. Every dish that was put out on the table was satisfactory enough and not one delicacy left anyone disappointed in both the tasting along with the presentation wise. Chef Anil was able in working his way by merging great Spanish Wines with different ingredients resulting them in one dish leaving us wanting more.

Text by: Irushika Kurukulasuriya 
Pictures by: Damith Wickramasinghe