This October, beneath the elegant arches of London’s Royal Exchange, a rare and compelling gastronomic event unfolds. On Saturday, 25th October 2025, from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., the historic venue plays host to The Jang Supper Club, a one-night-only culinary collaboration between two chefs: Dana Choi, celebrated for her modern Korean / Japanese cuisine, and Tasha Marikkar, the Sri Lankan-born chef, author, and food storyteller whose name is fast becoming synonymous with Sri Lanka’s new culinary wave. What happens when two chefs from two distinct food cultures come together? Something far more profound than fusion. It becomes dialogue, a meeting of memory, flavour, and creativity.
The Story Behind Tasha Marikkar
Tasha’s story begins in Sri Lanka but unfolds across continents. Raised between Colombo and the United Kingdom, she carries a richly mixed heritage with a Colombo Moor father and a Colombo Chetty–Sinhalese mother. Her lineage is a reflection of the island itself, layered with faith, culture, and cuisine. Originally educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Tasha’s early career followed a conventional path until she made a bold pivot in her late twenties. She left behind the corporate world to pursue her true passion: food. Her calling was clear, to celebrate and share Sri Lanka’s vibrant and nuanced cuisine with the world. In 2023, she published her debut cookbook Jayaflava: A Celebration of Food, Flavour and Recipes from Sri Lanka with HarperCollins India. More than a recipe collection, Jayaflava is a love letter to the island, rich with memory, cultural commentary, and deeply personal stories. It captures what makes Sri Lankan food distinctive, its warmth, humour, hospitality, and fearless flavour. Since then, Tasha has become a familiar face in the British food world, including an appearance on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, where she introduced Sri Lankan dishes to a wide UK audience with charm and authenticity.
Why Tasha Stands Out
Tasha Marikkar is not merely a chef. She is a storyteller who uses food as her language. Her multicultural identity allows her to interpret Sri Lankan cuisine as something living and evolving, rather than static tradition. Every dish she creates is rooted in story, whether it is about family, migration, or memory. This makes her cooking deeply personal and evocative. With one foot in Colombo and the other in London, she translates homegrown flavours into global experiences without losing their essence. In a culinary world where certain Asian cuisines dominate the global spotlight, Tasha brings Sri Lankan food confidently to the table, full of spirit and sophistication.
The Jang Supper Club: A Meeting of Flavours and Cultures
At Jang, Royal Exchange, Tasha joins forces with Korean-born chef Dana Choi to present a four-course tasting menu that marries Sri Lankan vibrancy with Korean depth. The evening is both a meal and a story told through flavour.
The Menu
- Sea Bass Crudo: Coconut milk ginger vinaigrette, salmon roe, coriander, curry leaf oil, pickled chilli, yuzu zest
- Lobster Tail: Doenjang butter, gochugaru and tomato rasam, prawn head oil, finger lime
- Duck Breast: Black curry soy sauce, Japonica rice, fried cabbage, ghee confit leek or
- Turbot Fillet: Turmeric soy and coconut sauce, samphire, radish, Japonica rice, fried cabbage, and spring onion
- Pannacotta: Vanilla, cinnamon, and pepper curd pannacotta
Each course becomes a conversation. The Sea Bass Crudo opens light and aromatic, with the fragrance of curry leaf oil reflecting Sri Lanka and the bright zest of yuzu adding an East Asian note. The Lobster Tail layers doenjang butter, the fermented soybean paste of Korea, into a tomato rasam inspired by South Indian and Sri Lankan kitchens. The Duck Breast moves into deeper territory, with a black curry soy glaze, ghee confit leek, and Japonica rice, a dish that feels at once familiar and entirely new. Dessert concludes the evening with soft elegance, a pannacotta scented with cinnamon and pepper, simple in form yet rich in meaning. Through every course, Tasha brings the warmth and rhythm of Sri Lankan spice, while Dana adds the subtlety of Korean fermentation. Together they create a narrative that transcends cuisine, celebrating culture and identity through flavour.
Beyond the Menu: Why It Matters
The Jang Supper Club is not just another dinner. It is a statement of identity and artistry. For Tasha, it is an opportunity to present Sri Lankan food in a new light: refined, collaborative, and international. The menu is not random fusion, but a thoughtful meeting of two culinary traditions that understand each other through spice, depth, and soul. The event is intimate, with a small number of seats set within the architectural grandeur of the Royal Exchange, creating an atmosphere designed for conversation and connection. For Tasha, it is also a creative milestone, marking her evolution from cookbook author and storyteller to collaborator in a high-profile London dining experience. It places her among a new generation of chefs who see food as cultural exchange rather than competition.
What Guests Can Expect
The four-course menu is designed to challenge and delight. Expect shifts in texture, temperature, spice, and acidity, creating a dining experience that feels more like a story unfolding than a traditional progression of courses.
The evening promises bold flavours, from the fire of curry leaf and chilli to the subtle acidity of yuzu and the richness of ghee. Conversations around the table are likely to centre on these unexpected pairings. Curry leaf oil meets pickled chilli in a crudo. Doenjang butter-poached lobster sits in a rasam broth. Ghee confit leeks appear alongside duck glazed in black curry soy. It is a celebration of the familiar and the unexpected in perfect harmony. With limited seating, the supper club remains intimate and immersive. It is an experience, not just a meal.
A Defining Moment in Tasha’s Journey
Tasha Marikkar’s rise has been both organic and deliberate. Through her cookbook Jayaflava, her media appearances, and her thoughtful approach to storytelling, she has built a voice that resonates beyond the kitchen. This collaboration with The Jang Supper Club represents a new chapter. It positions her not only as an author but as a chef capable of commanding a kitchen, leading creative partnerships, and shaping conversations around Sri Lankan food on an international stage. The London setting brings her work full circle, allowing her to showcase Sri Lankan cuisine in a global capital that thrives on diversity and innovation. By collaborating with a Korean chef, she demonstrates that Sri Lankan food can hold its own in dialogue with other powerful culinary traditions. It also reflects her own identity, a life lived between cultures, always seeking common ground through food. For Tasha, storytelling and flavour are inseparable. The supper club is therefore more than a menu. It is an expression of movement, identity, and belonging.
For anyone interested in food, culture, and creativity, The Jang Supper Club offers something rare: an evening where flavour becomes narrative, and heritage becomes art. Tasha Marikkar’s presence is central to this vision. She brings the spirit of Sri Lanka into one of London’s most refined dining spaces and shares it with generosity, confidence, and imagination. Those who attend will not simply dine. They will experience a journey through spice and story, guided by a chef whose roots may be Sri Lankan, but whose reach is unmistakably global.
Reservations: www.jangrestaurant.co.uk
Rapid Fire with Tasha Marikkar
Tasha, describe yourself in three words?
Bold. Curious. Grounded.
Signature dish people love?
It’s two dishes; my Ceylonese Red Chicken Curry and my Black Pork Curry. They are both unapologetically Sri Lankan.
Biggest “pinch me” moment so far?
Seeing my cookbook Jayaflava on shelves for the first time and going on Saturday Kitchen.
Restaurant or food trend you’re loving right now?
The fermentation movement; I love that both Korean and Sri Lankan food explore different styles of fermentation, but also, that it promotes no waste in the kitchen.
One Sri Lankan ingredient you can’t live without?
Curry leaves. They’re pure alchemy.
Favourite restaurant in London?
I have a few, but Jang and Brat top my list!
What excites you most about this collaboration?
Working with Chef Dana. She has an exacting perfection that I am in awe of in the kitchen! Bringing both cultures together has been amazing.
