Cashew curry with yellow rice.Christopher HopkinsIn January of last year,mother and daughter team Sonali Gunasekera and Jessica Blanco opened the White Elephant on Barkly,in a pocket of West Footscray known for its Indian restaurants.
Daughter (Blanco) runs the front-of-house in a stylish shopfront dining room,while mum (Gunasekera) is chef,cooking intensely aromatic and satisfying Sri Lankan food.
In just one short year,the White Elephant has gathered a following for a few standout dishes on an extensive menu of roti,rice plates and curries. It would be hard to choose a favourite between the cashew curry and the eggplant moju,but thankfully you don't have to. The combo meal dinner ($22) includes rice and your choice of two vegetable dishes and one meat dish.
Signature dish:Eggplant moju.Christopher HopkinsThe moju consists of thinly sliced eggplant that is twice-cooked and almost caramelised,tossed with spices and a hint of cinnamon.
Cashew curry,if you've never had it before,might come as a bit of a revelation. The cashews are cooked in coconut milk for long enough that their consistency becomes more like a firm,creamy bean,but with all the velvet nutty sweetness inherent in cashews.
Cashews show up again dotted throughout the fragrant yellow rice ($10),which is cooked with coconut milk and saffron and can easily act as the unassuming star of a meal here.
String hoppers with chicken curry.Christopher Hopkins A staple of Sri Lankan street food,the kottu roti ($18) is shredded,tossed with leeks,egg,meat and spices,and then stir-fried. It is addictive and comforting,the type of thing you'd want after a long night of drinking and then again the next morning with a fried egg on top.
Speaking of drinking,there's a huge array of Sri Lankan arracks (distilled coconut spirits) to be sampled here,along with a standard selection of wines and beers.
The restaurant has all the charm of a complex operation run by a two-person crew,but also some of the pitfalls. The meat in the goat curry was hit or miss – some pieces tender and juicy,others chewy or mostly bone.
Hot butter calamari.Christopher HopkinsThe okra,stir-fried with chillies and shallot,was bracingly vegetal – but around every fifth piece was too woody to eat. Some dishes take a very long time to make. I've been tempted by the lampraise,a rice and meat dish that's baked in a banana leaf – but was ultimately turned off by the estimated 55-minute cooking time.
And I've driven across town during advertised business hours only to find the place inexplicably closed.
But most of the flavours at White Elephant are wonderfully vibrant – comforting and homey but also cooked with the care of a talented chef. It's worth a drive from anywhere in Melbourne – but you might want to call ahead,just to be sure.