The dishes that shape us tend to stay long after the meal ends. Not just for how they tasted, but for where they found us - a moment, a place, a version of ourselves that feels just out of reach now. For our Food Memory Series, we ask chefs and founders to look back at the meals that linger. The

Three founders, and the dishes that define them. Behind every restaurant group is a set of instincts that rarely make it onto the menu. Preferences formed long before opening nights. Dishes cooked at home.

There is a particular pleasure in Galle Fort that never quite loses its effect. The shift from heat to cool. From noise to quiet. From the open street into something enclosed and surprising. At The Charleston, that transition doesn’t end at the doorway; it extends upward, onto a terrace that feels both part of the fort and slightly removed from