Warrnambool's new cafe/restaurant adds extra flavour to main street

Nishika and Ravindu Kariyawasam brought in Sri Lankan dancers from Melbourne and the city's mayor Debbie Arnott to help celebrate the grand opening on Thursday of Rankey's Zone.

Mrs Kariyawasam said they couple had been in Warrnambool for three-and-a-half years.

She worked in a restaurant in Sri Lanka before coming to Australia and has worked in hospitality and commercial cookery for more than a decade.

"Finally we decided 'why don't we open our own restaurant?'," she said.

"It's really exciting."

But having experience in so many cuisines - from Sri Lankan to Mexican and Italian - the couple wanted to share their talent with customers.

"There will be so many varieties," she said.

Their menu will be modern Australian with Sri Lankan and it will open for both lunch time and dinner time.

She said she came to Australia to study and they moved to Warrnambool for work.

The couple have an aunt and uncle in Melbourne but most of their family is back in Sri Lanka.

Cr Arnott said it was a big effort to open a restaurant and urged the community to get behind them and support the business.

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