Sous chef Italian Mediterranean specialist Ayyoub Salameh who will highlight Italian cuisine at its best at the Street Fest and the celebrations for the World Spice Food Festival at the Governor’s Restaurant.

Our enthusiastic and experienced chefs have captured the essence of the Mediterranean, not only in recipes that incorporate the basics of a particular style or technique, but also in the sophisticated Italian recipes developed on these basics. The likes of Calzones, to piccatas and fresh pastas are on the cards. Their maybe plenty of surprises that your tastes buds will indeed be satisfied.

Our inhouse Nuevo addition Chef Indika will join in the celebrations to surface an Italian Fest never ventured before at the Governor’s Restaurant.

Popular music based on the folk style of the southern rural United States or on the music of cowboys in the American West: country. And Jazz music will be on focus on 4^th July when Mount Lavinia Hotel celebrates Uncle Sam’s Independence Day by paying homage to USA’s original art form, both past and present, along with a great and grand American style brunch.

The Country and Jazz Sunday Brunch will surface a spread that is synonymous to the Sunday Brunch in the USA with entertainment that brings in a swing to things. Iced Seafood if you are into Oysters, fresh prawns, a caesar salad bar with creative salads too, good ole Apple Pie, Hickory Smoked Prime Ribs, Sushi Bar, Crab Bar, BBQ Ribs, Ceviche Bar, Roast Tom Turkey, New York Cheese Cake are just a few to tempt your taste buds.

In addition experience uplifting live jazz, and the western swing of country accompanied by delicious brunch-time food that brings out the best of Mount Lavinia Hotel’s signature items: fresh air and sunshine at the poolside Governor’s Restaurant; or just splash out on a most indulgent Fourth of July spread to break those Sunday Blues. While you dine, the smooth-jazz stylings of Jazz in Focus, the western swing by the Cosmic Rays plays gently with the country feel will keep you entertained: Let the good times roll, states Mr Anura Dewapura, General Manager Mount Lavinia Hotel.

In partnership with the German Cultural Institute in Sri Lanka Art Critics Orchestra from Germany will liven the Terrace on the 9^th and 10^th July 2010.

“Art Critics surface music that is more electronic one could call it “Punk for Adults.”It is a set up of enjoyable popular tunes played by people who enjoy good music and its interpretation,” states the Goethe Institute who have been very supportive in many initiatives surfaced by Mount Lavinia Hotel.

The Goethe Institute further adds, “The group was founded by Andreas Schlagegel and it consists of members who are more than musicians they are critics, curators and exhibition designers of art who import their professionalism to describe themselves in indeed musical terms.”

• Raimar Stange – bass guitar
• Andreas Schlagegel – drums and vocal
• Agnes Wegner – vocal
• Ole Wulfers – lead guitar

The Country and Jazz Sunday Brunch will be only on the 4^th of July to honour Independence Day from 11am noon till 3pm and cost LKR2600 per person which includes Food and Beverage; Art Critics Orchestra amidst German food and beverage will take place on 9^th and 10^th July at the Terrace and cost LKR2000 per person which includes Food and Beverage. The sponsors for the event on 9^th and 10^th are Cargills and Ceylon Breweries.

A seasoned international traveller, Wright is perhaps the most recognizable host of Globe Trekker. He is known for his witty banter and amusing interactions with locals. For the past 7 years, he has hosted over 50 episodes of the program, including more extreme locations like Arctic Canada, Kirghizstan and Uzbekistan, Russia, Armenia, Nepal, and Outback Australia. To date, Wright has won three U.S. Cable Ace Awards for Best Magazine Host. Wright now also stars in the cable channel Discovery Travel & Living show VIP Weekends with Ian Wright. And now he is in Sri Lanka to shoot a spoof Musical video with Stigmata under the show Invite Mr Wright.

World Environment Day(WED) which is a world-famous event was founded by the UN General Assembly in 1972. Nearly, 100 nations around the globe celebrate this event. This event commemorates every year on June 5th. World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition on the week that 5 June is on.

Under the theme “Biodiversity — Ecosystems Management and the Green Economy”, which celebrates the incredible diversity of life on Earth. This year’s global host, Rwanda – a country of exceptional biodiversity that has made huge strides on environmental protection – will lead the celebrations with three days of keynote events. Thousands of activities have also been organized worldwide, with beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals, community events and much more.

On account of World Enviroment Day, Mount Lavinia Hotel felicitated the day with a Tree Planting initiative at their neighbourhood girls schools namely Girls High School and Buddhist Girls School. The trees that were utilized are indigenous to Sri Lanka: King Coconut, Mango, Kohomba(Margosa), Kumbuk(Terminalia Arjuna) and Naa(National tree of Sri Lanka).

Mount Lavinia Hotel chose to demonstrate their commitment to the environment by undertaking five aspects namely: better waste management, water consumption control, green procurement mechanisms, community development projects and energy consumption control. Past green felicitations included the National Tree Planting Day, Earth Day, Earth Hour, No pesticides Use Day.

“We were happy to celebrate the World Environment Day by supporting the cause of creating green initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect flora and fauna, and save the Earth,” states Mr Anura Dewapura, General Manager Mount Lavinia Hotel.

With this commitment, Mount Lavinia Hotel reaffirms its primary goal: to be – and to remain – the benchmark in terms of trendsetters in hotel innovation but with ‘green’ in mind.

The 10^th Slow Food Night at the Mount Lavinia Hotel was indeed a night of celebration. Brazilian Slow Food at the Horizon Rooftop; a venue where the view of the Indian Ocean was remarkable, enticed many a clientele to a fabulous menu served by Chef Leo. June Aldons and her friends who are die-hard fans of the MLH decided to make it an evening of celebration when they celebrated their brother, Rick Aldon’s birthday in the midst of the event. Brazilian food caters for all tastes and standards and indeed is very high in the scale if most liked food. There are many traditional dishes and regional specialties, such as those developed by the Bahians, during the days when they had to cook scraps and anything that could be caught locally, together with coconut milk and palm oil and indeed the evening had some recipes that emphasized the Bahian influence.

The evening was celebrated with Brazil’s eclectic cuisine varied from Brazilain Style Stuffed Eggplant salad, Gaucho BBQ with Beef, Pork & chicken, Brazilian Beef Creole, Bahian Fish Stew, Feijoada (Black bean Stew) with Brazilian Style Rice and indeed Baked Banas with Rum and Brazilian Iced Chocolate  to add that sweetness to the happy ending.

“We at the hotel celebrated this anniversary by launching a community concerned initiative which gave back to the community that we take so much from.” We were happy to partake in this worldwide campaign where we launched an initiative and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet, avers Mr Anura Dewapura.

Earth day was observed with awareness towards its environment by launching the “Kaduru” project at the hotel. “Kaduru” (bitternut: strychnos nuxvomica) grown on the river banks of Sri Lanka acts as a natural barrier to soil erosion.  These seeds are collected by the communities that live along the river banks and Mount Lavinia Hotel in turn purchased them at the hotel and decorate their guest bathrooms and public area. After the seeds give birth to the plants, they sprout a very attractive plant and hence they are ready for planting. The hotel gives the plants back to the same communities and they plant them along the river banks to protect themselves from floods and soil erosion. The income they gain from this project is used to assist their school going children.

Mount Lavinia Hotel has taken some big steps into becoming a green business and continuously supports initiatives that focus on environmentally sustainable development strategies. Some of the initiatives taken are participating in the earth hour where one hour was dedicated to a climate change initiative, biocides being used across the hotel instead of pesticides, eco gastronomy efforts, green procurement mechanisms in stationery, energy saving projects, water consumption control efforts and many community development initiatives to sustain the communities and environment around us”

The Earth day this year comes with a big note for all participants indicating that it is high time we do something to save the earth’s environment.

Mount Lavinia Hotel is at it again…..

10:10 was launched on 1st September 2009 in the UK. The initiative encourages individuals and institutions to make a personal vow to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 as part of efforts to try to stop runaway climate change. Mount Lavinia Hotel is proud to be part of this campaign in partnership with the British High Commission and the British Council in Sri Lanka. “As our efforts to go green are in progress programmes as such is a very simple and significant mechanism towards reducing our climate impact and we are proud to be actively supporting it.”

The timing of the launch of 10:10 is particularly significant to the country, as Sri Lanka is indeed the top of the list in the Visit Sri Lanka 2011 campaign. 10:10 is one of a number of initiatives intended to increase pressure for stronger, binding targets to be agreed in the efforts to reduce the carbon footprint.

Another first for Sri Lanka will also occur over the coming weeks when Mount Lavinia Hotel, will be engaging in a global call to action showing leadership and being responsible for the future by partaking in the Earth Hour Movement of 2010 dedicated for the 27^th March 2010 at 8.30pm. “A terracotta lantern will be left in all places of our property to symbolize hope and indeed to represent our support for a sustainable future,” states Mr Anura Dewapura, General Manager of Mount Lavinia Hotel. He also adds, “In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour and this year we have joined in too.”

We are happy to partake in this worldwide campaign where we will turn off our lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet, avers Mr Anura Dewapura.

Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

10:10 A New campaign has been launched to urge the need for immediate action on climate change. The Campaign dubbed 10:10 aims to get companies and individuals to commit to cutting 10% of their emissions in 2010.

Some say it can’t be done, pairing wine with chocolate, but once the right wine is found to complement the right chocolate it can be a match made in heaven! Whether it was pairing a delicate white chocolate or a lively dark chocolate with wine, there were a few pairing tips that was indeed tried at the Italian Slow Food Night with Italian Guest Chef Ira from Vakarufalhi that was held on 27^th of February where guests indulged in a Chocolate and Italian Wine pairing session topped with an Italian Slow Food Night.

The Mount Lavinia Hotel was the place to be on the month of February, as the month was infused with chocolate based events and indeed an Affair it was.

The last chocolate event being the Wine pairing session was combined with the 8^th Slow Food night dedicated to Italian cuisine. And why Italian since the Slow Food Movement was initiated by Carlo Petrini, an Italian who in 1986 initiated it to combat fast food, and to celebrate his start Chef Ira from Vakaruflahi along with President of the Slow Food Chapter in Sri Lanka, Chef Leo produced an evening with complete indulgence.

Some say it can’t be done, pairing wine with chocolate, but once the right wine is found to complement the right chocolate it can be a match made in heaven! Whether pairing a delicate white chocolate or a lively dark chocolate with wine, there are a few pairing tips that will be tried at the Italian Slow Food Night with Italian Guest Chef Ira from Vakarufalhi scheduled for the 27^th of February where guests can indulge in a Chocolate and Italian Wine pairing session topped with an Italian Slow Food Night.

Chocolate and Tea tasting at sundown on 20^th February will lead participants to an informative and engaging presentation on the history of teas and chocolate. A variety of 18th and 19th century teas and chocolates will be highlighted. And after the tea class, a complimentary hour open bar will be on the cards.

The Chocolate covered Sunday Jazz Brunch with Vogue Jewellers on 14^th February, a fashion show from 1-3pm and the highlight for all lovers will be semi-precious stones infused into the Valentine Day desserts which indeed are set to tantalize all senses. The chocolate infused high tea buffet, Chocolate beverage menu that will last for the whole month and much more awaits this all who crave for unique entertainment.  “Kandos being an event partner along with SriLankan Holidays and Vogue Jewellers coming on aboard with us also affirms our commitment to develop mutually beneficial partnerships so that our businesses will grow from strength to strength,” stated Mr Dewapura. Who is a chocoholic himself, is Hershey experience in the US has added to the birth of “An Affair with Chocolate” at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

‘The Mount Lavinia Hotel is the place to be, as this Chocolate covered month will be overflowing with chocolate initiatives with Chocolate High Tea, Chocolate Fondue Menus and indeed a Chocolate Beverage Menu is yours to indulge in promised Dewapura.