Chef Publis was awarded the Tourism Legend Award during the Presidential Awards for Travel and Tourism 2009 held in June 2010. A household name through out the Island he has worked tirelessly to bring back the lost art of Sri Lankan cooking particularly among the busy urban households. An authority in Sri Lankan cuisine Chef Publis has taken the intrinsic values of Sri Lankan food and promoted it across the borders and has been instrumental in and contributed much for publications on Sri Lankan food and recipes.
50 years in service at the Mount Lavinia Hotel Chef Publis has served not just as a simple minded unassuming Chef but also as an ambassador of Sri Lanka and Mount Lavinia Hotel. ‘Ape Kema’ on Sunday nights at the Governor’s Restaurant is all about his cooking, and Chef Publis is also the hand behind the Sri Lankan Food Festivals at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. He knows extremely well to please the Sri Lankan taste buds and palette as well as those who are strangers to our food.
“We were proud to nominate him for this award and we are even more proud that the industry and the stakeholders also consider him a legend for Sri Lanka Tourism,” states Anura Dewapura, General Manager Mount Lavinia Hotel.
