We were a party of three, and ordered a number of fantastic dishes. The entrees, mains and deserts were delicious, full of amazing flavours that went so well together. The staff were friendly and extremely helpful, assisting those new to Sri Lankan food with navigating the extensive menu.
The cocktails and mocktails were professionally made and tasted delicious. The meal was one of the best we've ever had.
Highly, highly recommend Araliya. Thank you Dee, for making our first trip to Araliya a truly memorable one.
One of the finest restaurants in Melbourne. Every dish we ordered was excellent, from the incredible fish cakes (with real fish inside), to the steamed barramundi, stir-fried okra and the pulled lamb and quinoa. And then there was dessert. The roast pineapple with basil sorbet was sublime, and my husband's chocolate mousse certainly brought a smile to his face. Thank you Araliya. We'll be back to sample more of your cuisine and very friendly service. And yes, your food is made with lots of love.
Absolutely one of the best places we have eaten! Food and atmosphere was awesome and the service we received from Ash was outstanding. Will definitely be going back!!
100% delicious Sri Lankan food with outstanding friendly service. Feed me menu was amazing. Can’t wait to come back.
Thank you for taking such a good care of our invitees. The service, hospitality and the food were all outstanding!. Thank you so much for all you did to make our Dinner an excellent one.....!
The best place in Melbourne to enjoy our Sri Lankan foods!
Exceptionally tasty food made with authentic spices, pure passion and love!! A special thank you for making the best prawn curry I've ever had! We're so coming here again!!
Awesome food and excellent service I highly recommend Sri Lankan foods Araliya in Melbourne
Araliya, St Kilda is a must go, must do for an amazing dining experience.
The service is fantastic, the food is exceptional!
Thankyou all very much, this will be my lasting memory of my last evening in St Kilda. I look forward to coming back.
Wishing you the best of success
I recently celebrated my birthday here and words will just not do justice to the wonderful night my friends and I had at Araliya. Everything from the food to the service was absolutely superb. The suprise love cake at the end of the evening was literally the icing on the cake and all because the lovely staff remembered me casually mentioning in passing that it was my favourite dessert a week before the dinner when I went in to book. Thankyou Araliya. An absolutely outstanding establishment for which Fitzroy Street St Kilda is lucky to have.
The best of the best. Wonderful food, exceptional service and unbelievable staff! Love everything about the place!
Sandi Dolezal Robertson
+5
Could not fault the service and food! Waitress knew her drink and great recommendation of food! The whole party loved the place. Can't wait to go back!
Amazing food, drinks and service. Would highly recommend!
Amazing food. The flavours were out of this world. Definitely going to be a regular. Staff were so friendly and welcoming. Cannot wait to go back.
This has been consistently great over the years.
If I want authentic Sri Lankan food this is where I go.
The cashew nut curry with beans and the chicken curry is fantastic.
Attentive service to boot.
Awesome food accompanied by awesome service!!!!!! Love the place! The saffron prawns was full of exciting flavours, the lamb curry was a hit with the 6yrs old! Roti was great and the the egg hoppers as well!
Chosen this resto as part of the fork festival and it was really good choice. Foods are amazing excepr dessert parts. We ordered pork belly, chicken curry, prawn with saffron, beef curry, roti, egg plants, saffron rice, and Asian veggies. The star of the day is the prawn. Its fresh, tangy and delicious. Meats also tender and cook perfectly. We love everything and definitely will be back.
Eat_today_diet_tomorrow
+4
Got 50% discount deal so we gave this place a go. We had egg hopper, black pork curry, barrmundi and okra with tamarine sauce. Everything was pretty good we love the okra !
Incredible authentic food that got the stamp of approval from my Sri Lankan father. Must try the crab betel leaf. Will definitely go back for dessert!
Amazing new sri Lankan restaurant nestled in the quiet side of St Kilda. Delicious mix of street food and more authentic dishes. What I loved was that the menu indicated which dishes were vegan, which made my life so much easier! I had the vegan kothu rotti and the mushroom hopper (interesting combination but worked so well together). Oh and I forgot the amazing cocktails 🙌🏽. Would definitely recommend!
Friendly staff. Explained what’s on the menu and the other dishes not listed. Authentic Sri Lankan food. If you’re not familiar ask. Beware it is spicy. Enjoyed the dinner. Generous potions for the mains.
Beautiful modern Sri Lankan restaurant opposite the park in St Kilda! They gave a great selection of good wines but not many beers, have some imported beers. Food can be shared or individual, their seafood curry to share was pretty tasty! The Lamb could have a bit more zing! Coconut samba and chilly paste a definite hit!
Ahh the glorious Entertainment guide has once again led me to a delicious meal.
Expectations were low due to rating and the quiet dining room
What we got was a tasty meal with super friendly and efficient service.
Try a hopper and the calamari!
Awesome food and service.
Dee and Hashini were fantastic. Dee was able suggest and help us with deciding dishes which we highly appreciate. Highly recommend the restaurant and look forward to visit again soon.
For people with dietary requirements, the menu is mostly gluten free! No problems with food delivery. The dinner box came with each dish in a separate compartment. Ordered a few things and all the dishes were great, particularly the lamb. Bit pricier than other places for what you get. But won me over in flavour.
Amazing food with fantastic flavours, great for something different as I am not familiar with Sri Lankan cuisine. Â The decor and bar set out looks amazing, and the staff are super friendly.
Finally checked out Araliya on Friday. Really friendly staff and a lovely restaurant layout. We had the pork belly and papaya salad, saffron rice, green beans and lentils with spinach. All were really nice, I particularly liked the sauce on the pork belly. We shared the love cake for dessert, dense and deliciously sweet!
Delicious, clean and authentic Sri Lankan food. The service is lovely, very friendly and chatty. I have eaten in and had delivery and both were great quality. Really liked the seafood curry, the beans with cashews and the okra. Dinner box is great value for takeaway too. They also hand crush all the cocktail ingredients so those are quite good too.
The settings are perfect, the food very tasty and well executed. My friend and I had a lovely time in there. Very pleased. Good food, huge selection, pleasant and helpful staff, good bargain coz I was introduced to Liven by a friend and it got me $50 cashback! Will dine here again definitely
Amazing food, beautiful restaurant, polite staff, efficient and prompt service. Food was really hot and spicy, beautiful combinations with different vegetables. $45 per head, entrée each and two mains, no drinks. Definitely go there again.
Ate here on a week night - it was quiet but had lovely ambience still.
The waitress was helpful with wine selection and the Margaret river cab sav was amazing.
We ordered the prawn and calamari entree, the jaggery beef and the araliya chicken.
The chicken was tasty, but a little bit dry.. but the seafood and beef were superb.
Overall loved the food and service and would definitely return.
Very tasty food and great service. Our waitress was very knowledgable of the food and offered good suggestions. We had various dishes to share all of which were tasty, especially the ox cheek and chicken. Delicious and great location. Lovely decor in restaurant and it was nice and quiet for a Friday night!
Mouthwatering Sri Lankan food. Great selection of food and drinks. Very attentive and friendly staff. The food was well presented and it tasted good. Love Araliya restaurant. I recommend it to anyone who likes Sri Lankan cuisine. The ambience and vibe are very friendly and relaxing. Thank you for a positive experience. See you soon.
This is worth a visit. Several times.
6 boys. 6 dishes. Happy.
Strangely quiet on a lovely spring day. A delightful and tolerant lady looked after the boys. The suggested dishes were just great. I don't eat often at Sri Lankan inspired restaurants but based on Araliya, I should do more often. Crab meat on betel leaf, Pulled duck on a hopper, Pulled Lamb shoulder followed by Pork belly. There were another 2 dishes I struggle to recall, possibly the result of too much 2007 Heathcote Shiraz ( great value at $72 a bottle).
Friendly, great food. Reasonable cost. What more can you ask for ?
The food was fabulous!
Chilli Calamari with the bean sauce had the perfect amount of heat and spice to it- perfectly cooked too!
Goat Cheese Omelette Roti was brilliant and a great side dish!
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Replica like-for-like Sri Lankan food this is not. Delicious Sri Lankan flavours, techniques, and textures it is in spades.
I came here as a fan of this relatively underappreciated cuisine and walked away very satisfied. We were greeted with a warm welcome from the staff and were doted upon throughout the evening. The menu itself was extensive and varied, with (to my eye) a wide range of South East Asian and even a bit of Chinese influence—not 'just' imitation food from Sri Lanka. This is neither good nor bad, just something to note. Anyway, we sampled a wide variety of the menu, with a smattering of entrees and mains, plus a dessert at the end.
Every dish was fantastic, a visual treat with top notch attention, and each dish showcasing some fantastic regional flavours. The accompanying sauces were intensively aromatic and well balanced. Some highlights included the vegetable nirvana, (the dahl and beetroot dishes specifically), the eggplant and okra braise, thosai (lentil flour pancake) with perfectly caramelised shallots and salad, and sopping up the gravy with the Sri Lankan carb staple rice noodle 'hoppers'.Â
My only food negative was some slightly dry chicken in the Araliya chicken curry and on the service, with some inconsistent service levels from the some of the less experienced staff (never rude just a bit clumsy though the head waitress was fantastic).
Overall, one of my most memorable dinners in Melbourne. Definitely recommend.
Pro:
Contemporary Sri Lankan food
Flavoursome and delicious
Attentive service
Prompt serving of food
Cons:
Pricey
Arrived here early to find parking
I've had dinner here a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Food is excellent and service is superb. I will definitely come back..............
We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner last night at Araliya. We started with scallops in a hopper - the flavours were lovely and it was the lightest most delicate hopper I have eaten. For main we shared the crusted fish and the pork belly, along with string hoppers and spinach and lentils. The traditional flavours infused through the dishes were such a contrast and delicious! We finished with the coconut cigars and the roasted pineapple desserts. Along the way we drank mojitos and basil martinis. We can't fault our dinner. We have been hesitant to come because of all the negativity from the purist Sri Lankans. I have to say, you aren't coming here for a traditional meal - its modern fusion and done very well. I hope to see Araliya doing well here and making a good name for itself. One by one they might change the mind-set of the old school Sri Lankans!!!!
The food was absolutely delicious. We ordered the chicken biriyani, beans and lentils with baby spinach. Individually these dishes were great, but once mixed together it was like an explosion of flavors and spices in your mouth! The portions are also quite generous and these three dishes were more than enough to satisfy two very hungry diners! I can't wait to come back to try the other items on the menu! Thank you for a wonderful dining experience :)
Firstly: Get the dinner box takeaway! So good!
I've been here for sit down dinner recently and can say it was just terrific, innovative food and fabulous service. The food is meant to be eaten slow and with friends and family, I was really please with how the group I was in embraced the concept.Â
Highlights included the chicken, an absolutely delicious arrangement of vegetables (go the broccoli if still a special) and the love cake finished it all off nicely.
After a rocky start in their new St Kilda location, Araliya have found their feet. Their food has always been unique and delicious, as have their cocktails. Now their service and ambiance have stepped up to match.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
This has fast become one of my favourite restaurants with quite a few visits and hitting the excellent standard each and every time. After relocating to St Kilda from a very well established site of 30 years in Hawthorn, Araliya is an absolute gem in which St Kilda is very lucky to have. In fact, many of the Hawthorn patrons now make the trip across to the South to eat here. The service from the lovely staff is second to none and the food. Oh my, the food is just outstanding, the Araliya chicken being a favourite. For those partial to a bit of the sweet stuff, the Love Cake is simply to die for. I love the ambience of Araylia. I have eaten there in larger groups, and also with just one other person and the mood and atmosphere suits both. Their cocktails are gorgeous and with the beautiful setting of Fitzroy Street in summer looking across to the Melbourne skyline, it is the perfect place for a cocktail or a glass of wine from their extensive wine list outside and some alfresco dining on those balmy nights. Can't recommend this place highly enough. They also do a brilliant dinner box, outstanding value at just $15 and will leave you feeling very well fed! Do yourself a favour.
In St Kilda’s revitalised Fitzroy Street is Araliya, a restaurant specialising in cuisine maybe best described as Sri Lankan fusion, and The City Lane was invited to try it. If the name sounds familiar, perhaps you might have known its previous incarnation in Hawthorn, a 30-year staple for the area.
After cultivating 30 years of experience at the helm of Araliya Hawthorn, Sri Lankan chef Sam Wedande has now moved the institution to the beachy suburb of St Kilda. Drawing on three generations for his spice-infused dishes, the restaurant brings some wonderful recipes which represent a true celebration of both traditional and contemporary Sri Lankan techniques.
A Chronicle Of Gastronomy
+4
A Hawthorn stalwart for 30 years, Araliya was sadly forced to relocate due to redevelopment of its old home. Head chef Sam Wedande is trained in Western cuisine and brings a contemporary twist to Sri Lankan cuisine, such as modern twists on street foods like hoppers.
After celebrating 30 years as Head Chef of Araliya Hawthorn, Sam Wedande has taken his chef hat to a new home in St Kilda. A passionate chef who first introduced Sri Lankan flavours to Hawthorn in 1985, Wedande has cultivated a strong following across three generations for his spice infused contemporary dishes.
Posted by Chasing a Plate in St Kilda on 06/08/2015. Chasing a Plate dined as guests of Araliya. My strongest memory of Sri Lankan food takes place in San Francisco where two friends and I shared a small studio room at the Gaylord Hotel for three months. Our kitchen consisted of a metre long bench housing a sink and a single element, portable stove. The only two dishes ever cooked in our one frypan? Scrambled eggs and Sri Lankan fish cutlets. Whenever Shenali was homesick for her mother’s cooking we would set up an assembly line, she would roll the mixture of potato, tuna and spices and I would dip them in egg and breadcrumbs before they were shallow fried in the pan. The room may have stunk of fish and spice for a week after each session, but my God it was worth it.
St Kilda welcomes head chef, Sam Wedande, an acclaimed chef who has 30 years of experience working at his previous restaurant at Araliya Hawthorn. Araliya has since then moved to St Kilda, and improved its menu featuring modern interpretation of Sri Lankan inspired cuisines. Sam Wedande has talents that allows him to construct his own recipes. He has the ability to mix cultural Sri Lankan spices and create something spectacular and unique.
Beautiful flavours, nice presentation and very good service. I loved the small vegetable dishes and the fish. Would highly recommend!
Really good. Great food and very attentive service. Shame it's in such a big space it's hard to fill and can look empty. Go there and support them! I really enjoyed it.
Incredible Flavours!. Had an EXTREMELY enjoyable meal here on the weekend. Service struggled a little but they are very accommodating. The food absolutely cannot be faulted, such intelligent combinations of ingredients and flavours, even the side dishes are absolutely amazing. Go with a group so you can order lots of plates and try everything. Will definitely be back!
Great food and flavours! Attentive service and delish cocktails!! Chilli and grapefruit margarita!!!!
Will definitely be back!
Delish food! Can't believe it isn't busier - must try here
Great service. Food took my taste buds on a trip. The Jaggery beef was amazing
Great spicy addition to Fitzroy st St Kilda. A new taste sensation with really different dishes. Worth a couple of visits at least to try different dishes - vegetable dishes are brilliant.
Delicious and Great Value Take Away. Had take away from Araliya St Kilda tonight - it was delicious and great value.
Ordered the Jaggery Beef, Lamb Fricadelles, Curried Duck Leg and Thosai. Came in fantastic plastic take away containers, divided into 4 separate sections; rice and delicious spicy chutney, spicy lentils, potatoes and the main dish (either beef or duck leg). Duck was a little dry, otherwise the rest was all good and heaps of food for two people.
Will be heading back for a sit down meal soon.
Beautiful addition to St Kilda. Visited this restaurant on recommendation from Hawthorn friends. Yes, absolute delight! The food is very very different from the normal spicy fair we usually savour. It is clean and delicious in every mouthful we had, the lamb shoulder is succulent, just falls of the bone, advised for 2 but enough for 4 in our opinion. Pumpkin and Brussel sprouts sides so different and complemented superbly, will be visiting pretty soon, and thank you
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes