Jetwing Beach

Jetwing Beach is located right on the beach with a huge swimming pool and a relaxing spa, not to mention spacious rooms with great views of the sunset; it’s the perfect hotel for a beach holiday in Sri Lanka’s popular beach destination, Negombo.

It’s proximity to the airport means your plane can land and you can be firmly settled in at the beach within 2 hours. You’ll have the choice of deluxe sea facing rooms and suites with balconies meaning there’s something for everyone.

Jetwing have a great environmental policy and seem very community minded as an organisation, employing local people where possible and training young people to work in the hotel industry. We love that they use solar power and other ‘green’ energy sources, filter their own water (no plastic bottles here) and refill all their toiletries (from a local company).

But what would their vegan food be like and how would they cope with vegan guests coming to stay?

The Vegan Food

The vegan food at Jetwing Beach was definitely a highlight of our stay

Breakfast was a vegan banquet of traditional Sri Lankan food, including some healthy new superfoods that we hadn’t tried before (we love a vegan super foods!).

There was a selection of fresh fruit (all from local sources instead of being imported) and a few different fresh juices to choose from (we opted for king coconut water); you can’t beat fruit fresh from the tree.

To start with we ate traditional ‘kurakkan kanda’ a light rice, coconut milk and red millet savoury porridge which was a wonderful healthy option (red millet is high in fibre, calcium and iron too) as well as being really tasty. We also tried ‘kiribath’ milk rice (made with coconut milk and red rice) was soft and moist without being stodgy; topped off with some spicy ‘lunu miris’ sambol made with fresh shallots and chillies.

A perfect combination of creamy coconut rice and spicy chilli rich sambol.

pure king coconut water at Jetwing Beach

kurakkan kanda is full of calcium, iron and fibre and totally delicious

kiribath milk rice made with coconut milk and red rice at Jetwing Beach

We couldn’t resist ordering a few plain hoppers as they were being freshly cooked, and when we tried them we were glad we’d given in to temptation, as they were among the best we have eaten in Sri Lanka. The lady cooking them was turning out delicious crispy hoppers with a soft spongy centre that was so very light – add this to the crispy, toasty edges you’ll understand why we ordered seconds.

We also tried Sri Lankan ‘pittu’ which is a coconut and rice flour cake that has been steamed, it’s a little dry to eat on it’s own so we drenched ours in ‘kiri hodi’ and added a dollop of spicy ‘lunu miris sambol’. The ‘kiri hodi’ was made with rich, creamy coconut milk and was full of sweet onions, curry leaves and pandan flavour (called ‘sera’ in Sri Lanka). Added to the ‘lunu miris’ (made by crushing chillies and shallots) which has a wonderful sour, salty and spicy flavour; it all combined to make a delicious creamy, spicy coconut mush.

We aren’t sure if this is how it should be eaten but it was delicious.

As if all this great vegan Sri lankan food at breakfast wasn’t enough, we also had one of our all time favourite curries for dinner, a Sri Lankan Cashew Nut Curry. Full of peas and creamy coconut (which soaks into the cashews making them plump and creamy), and served with steamed rice, ‘pol sambol’ and mango chutney (and a few crispy popadoms) we couldn’t fault this delightful, delicious and decadent vegan curry!

plain hoppers with dahl curry, spicy coconut pol sambol and caramelised onion seeni sambol at Jetwing Beach

vegan creamy coconut kiri hodi curry and spicy pol sambol at Jetwing Beach

coconut flavoured pittu at Jetwing Beach

vegan Sri Lankan cashew nut curry at Jetwing Beach

The Vegan Essentials

Our bed was already made up with non-feather pillows and duvet meaning a 100% vegan sleep awaited us; the in room amenities are made by a local company but were in refillable containers in-line with Jetwing’s sustainability policy so we we weren’t able to tell if they were vegan.

The spa uses Sothys products which aren’t vegan but also natural oils and plant based products for massages and scrubs so a vegan treatment is available to all who choose.

An additional bonus of Jetwing Beach is that it’s opposite the Jetwing Group’s Eco Garden where guests can visit to see where some of the vegetables they are served in the restaurant are grown. It’s a wonderful space, and it was so interesting to see and hear about the other eco-friendly policies of the Jetwing group, which ensure that their hotels have the least impact on the environment as possible (like seeing the coconut husks being dried for fuel for their biomass boiler).

kurrakan (red millet) growing at Jetwing Beach in Sri Lanka

arrowroot growing in the eco garden at Jetwing Beach

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

Make a reservation at Jetwing Beach Hotel for a beachside stay where the vegan food is excellent.

Enjoy the lavish, traditional Sri Lankan foods at breakfast and don’t forget to try the cashew nut curry (one of our Vegan Food Quest favourites).

Make some time to pop along to their garden to see where some of your food came from, we’re sure you’ll learn something new!

We were guests of Jetwing Beach but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views

Jetwing Beach
Ethukale
Negombo
Sri Lanka

Telephone: +94 112 345720
Email: resv.beach@jetwinghotels.com
Cost From: £120 / $180 per night (May 2015)

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