Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Buddhima, Saashya and Tanisha. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Buddhima, Saashya and Tanisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
We enjoyed the human connection, storytelling and sharing of flavors at our initial ‘test gatherings’ and wanted to replicate that with a broader audience. We decided to host intimate dining experiences curated in collaboration with the host. Dining experiences can contain anything from cocktails to starters to mains to desserts. One could participate in the prep or simply sit back and enjoy our creations.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
We are a group of friends, mostly Sri Lankan, who met in Austin in 2017. Invariably we would talk about home, with the conversations usually involving the food we missed so much. We were inspired to start Sleeping Lion after noticing the lack of Sri Lankan food in Austin. Given our shared love for cooking (and eating… and drinking), we decided to give it a shot. We started making traditional and fusion dishes and our friends were our guinea pigs. The positive reviews (and the fact that no one died) motivated us to go further. We toyed with the idea of a food truck but opted against it since we wanted it to be personal and more of an experience where people could participate in prep, tasting and hearing our stories.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth and Instagram have been our main sources of interest.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
It’s worth spending the time to figure out the ‘form factor’ of your creative pursuit, and not think there’s only one way to do it. Sleeping Lion started as a fun side-project for each of us. Given our other full-time commitments, the time we were able to allocate to Sleeping Lion was and is limited. However, keeping it as a side-project allows us to continue having fun with the experiences we provide. It’s less of a mundane job and more of a point in our busy schedules at which we’re able to take a breather, cook with love, meet people, and share our stories.
Austin has a growing food scene and we hope to dive deeper into it as we move into safer times. Our experiences paused with Covid.
We look forward to coming back in 2022. Reach out to us on Instagram if you’d like to host a Sleeping Lion flavor experience!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/sleepinglionatx
Image Credits
Buddhima K