The Famous Beach Wadiya, Colombo

The famous Beach Wadiya- you have to cross the railway track to eat your meal!

I read somewhere that if you have not eaten at Beach Wadiya, then you have not been to Sri Lanka! Beach Wadiya is a very well known cheap thrills-no frills seafood place where it has managed to attract many rich, famous, powerful personalities (it's most notable being Princess Anne from England and Richard Branson of Virgin Group) and also the low rung, middle class, average Joes, tourists, travellers, expatriates, and locals alike.


Guestbook index by country; Richard 'Virgin Galactica' Branson was here!

Beach Wadiya has been in operations for over 3 decades where it was founded by owner Olwyn Weerasekara who is now in his 70s! This humble little joint with no decorations, fancy atmosphere (it's next to the beach shore, you can't see anything but you certainly hear the beating of the waves), smartly dressed waiters or even a physical food menu! The best way to describe it will be a 'scrapped off to its bare minimum seafood hut'.


Devilled crabs- Rs.850 (RM24); Garlic grilled prawns- Rs, 525 (RM15); Kangkung for fibres- Rs. 155 (RM4); Kah Yee and I with bibs ready to chomp them crabs down!

There were no menus shown, once seated the waiter brings a plate of raw seafood which the kitchen has for the day (prawns, kangkung, crabs, fish) and suggests cooking method. We opted for the famous devilled crab- everyone raves about it so we obviously had to try!, garlic grilled prawns and kangkung for fibers. The crab was delicious with the not-too-spicy sauce though I wish the crabs are bigger and meatier, the prawns were amazingly fresh so much so you can feel them bouncing in your mouth, while the kangkung is so much thinner and seemed different from Malaysia's version.


Loads of pictures of famous patrons adorning the walls; Beach Wadiya and its raw-rity; With owner Olwyn Weerasekara

Be sure to spend some time looking at the gazillions of photos adorning the walls, you may even spot your favourite cricketer/ corporate figure/ celebrity amongst the Hall of Fame crowd. If you're lucky, you may even get to meet the legendary Olwyn Weerasekara in person having tea. We managed to spend some 5 minutes chatting with him where he gave us some life advice and also a Beach Wadiya t-shirt each as souvenirs! Must be our lucky day :-)


Stamping our marks down too- Kah Yee and Yiling were here!

Be sure to ask if you could pen your thoughts in their guestbook too. We were told that when the tsunami hit, 5 guestbooks were washed away... but what is really amazing is how Olwyn manages to remember who, where and which books that some comments were penned down (he's got a few favourites) and some people even wrote stories, attached currencies and even religious items in these thick books!

I've finally got all the places I want to eat at covered, so now I can leave Sri Lanka with joy and satisfaction. See ya'll at the other side of the globe soon.


* Prices are excluding 10% service charge and 12% VAT


Beach Wadiya
2, Station Avenue,
Colombo 06 (Wellawatta),
Sri Lanka.
Tel: +94112588568
Website: http://beachwadiya.com/

[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. Please don't sue me, I don't have money. Kthxbye.]