Hatted chef fired-up to open hot new Sri Lankan restaurant on buzzy south-side strip

He’s had the name of his Sri Lankan restaurant ready for a decade and the search for the right site has taken four years. Now that Agnii (“fire” in Sanskrit) is only three months from opening in Windsor, chef and restaurateur Gayan Pieris can hardly contain himself.

“It’s a dream,” says the owner of hatted Red Hill hopper hangout Many Little, on the Mornington Peninsula. “When I started my career, I felt that I was destined for this, and I was going to make it happen somehow,” he adds. “It’s incredible to stand here, week by week, and watch it getting closer.”

Agnii is under construction in the large first-floor space that used to house Hoo Haa Bar, 250 metres north of Windsor Station. The heart of the venue, visible from the top of the stairs, will be a large fire-driven hearth and grill. Fish and squid will hang above, drying and smoking in ambient heat. A kottu station will ring with the percussive sounds of cooks hand-chopping roti as they are tossed on a grill plate. Curries will bubble away in wood-fired claypots.

“The flavours of Sri Lankan food aren’t just the spices,” says Pieris. “It’s the fermentations that are made in every home, the smokiness and the clay, which brings soul to every dish.”

Pieris plans to use Agnii’s kitchen to codify regional recipes that are rarely written down. “When I ask my mum or grandma, they say ‘A bit of this, bit of that’. It’s very instinctive. I want to put recipes in a more structured format so that anyone can try to make them.”

‘It’s incredible to stand here, week by week, and watch it getting closer.’

Chef and restaurateur Gayan Pieris

It’s part of a project to expand notions of Sri Lankan food. “People might know about pan rolls and hoppers but there are so many things to discover. Even me, I’m still learning, you never feel that you’re done.”

The interior will incorporate tropical touches with hanging greenery, earthy tones and a terrace with a central tree. “It’s raw, rustic, approachable, not fine dining,” says Pieris.

He’s proud to be part of a Sri Lankan food vanguard. “When I first started at Many Little, eight years ago, it was hard to find a hopper pan,” he says, referring to a bowl-shaped vessel used to fry the distinctive Sri Lankan fermented pancakes. “Now there are hoppers everywhere.”

Melbourne’s Sri Lankan population is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing diasporas. “We feel at home here,” says Pieris. “I find so many similarities between Sri Lanka and Melbourne: it’s very multicultural, we are open and we all respect each other.”

Agnii Eatery Bar opens August at 105 Chapel Street, Windsor, agnii.com.au