Getting a lot of buzz is the Sri Lankan Hopper ($17), a coconut and flour crêpe, flash-fried and filled with a Curried Wild Shrimp (or there's a less exciting Curried Zucchini and Green Beans version). This is a wildly flavourful dish with aromas that fill the room. It's also a stew that you customize yourself from an array of condiments such as mango pickle, coconut sambal and fried shallots.

Lunch reservations are mandatory and can be difficult to secure. Private functions, from weddings to TIFF parties, can handle one hundred and twenty seated guests for dining or three hundred minglers for cocktails. On the way out, making sure the ever-vigilant security guard doesn’t see me peering curiously into the galleries, I stop at the front desk of the museum. I can still hear the restaurant humming, even at this distance. I ask the woman if it is always this loud. She sniffs with displeasure: “Always.” Though, as the restaurant is packed and I have spotted only three lonely women wandering the exhibits, she refuses to elaborate beyond a roll of her eyes. I suspect they can use the occasional extra $12. - D.R.