Rebuilding Chef Akila Kitchen

Chef Akila used to own a restaurant in Weligama (on the cliff with beautiful views of Weligama Bay) until November 2021, when a sudden gas explosion affected not only the whole building but also Akila and his son, who were at that moment resting inside the restaurant. The building was completely destroyed to the point where nothing else was left but tear it all down.

After several surgical operations for Sewan (Akila's son) and a long recovery period (both physical and mental) for them and their family, Akila started to cook again and provide food in his house. He slowly built a new kitchen in the outside area and bought new chairs and tables for his guests.

Ever since the explosion happened, Akila has been trying to get a new permit, which would allow him to rebuild his restaurant (which sits on his family's piece of land). It was very hard for him to get the permit he needed from down south, so Akila ended up leaving for Colombo in two occasions to file a complaint and make his case public.

After almost 2 hectic years, Akila has finally gotten the approval to rebuild his restaurant on his own land - and we thought this might never happen! We are extremely excited and happy to hear this piece of news, especially because we all know how happy Akila is just by cooking behind the stove and watching his guests enjoy his delicious foods.

However, not everything is as simple and pretty as it seems - with the current economic crisis prices have soared, making it really hard for Akila to save up enough and afford rebuilding his restaurant from scratch. He has been saving money ever since he started cooking in his home but, unfortunately, his income with last year’s crisis (when it hit the country the most) and without his magnificent restaurant on the cliff, Akila does not have enough funds to get back on his feet.

This is why we are trying to help him by raising funds and releasing a bit of his burden - and because we can’t wait to see Akila smile again, cooking in his own restaurant, for all of us.

Akila currently has 1,700,000 Rs (which translates to around 4,820 €). The amount he needs to get started and build the foundations as well as a side wall (which is compulsory due to its location on the cliff) is, at least, 3,000,000 Rs.

Let's try and make this happen for Akila - he truly deserves it!

Thank you so much for any contribution you may be able to get - as small as it may be, it is a huge help for Akila.

IG: chefakila.kitchen

Before the explosion:

After the explosion:

And finally, the approval!

Hi all, today is September 9 and Akila has already started the construction! The weather has not been really on his side - it's been raining quite a lot lately - but he's hoping to have enough time (and funds) to finalize the ground floor by end of November. Right on time for the upcoming season.