Where it all began

Hello from Vibushan,

Let’s make vegetarianism great again.

For too long, vegetarianism has been a compromise… growing plants to feed livestock of the meat industry is an insanely stupid thing to do. It’s incredibly polluting, wasteful and is the prime driver behind deforestation.

There is a better way, an exciting way… it requires more innovation, more cheffing time per dish, but it results in a healthier lifestyle AND kinder relationship to the environment. What we are trying to do with Trinco is to bring people from as many backgrounds as possible together. Trinco is sustainable in its sourcing of supplies. We are pursuing being single-use plastic-free, and have eliminated it from our customers and are working on doing the same with supplies. built with sustainable materials, using the majority of organic produce, whilst remaining as accessible in price point as possible.

Trinco is short for Trincomallee. In Tamil, this is pronounced Thirovonamallay. It’s my birthplace, which we had to flee aged two. I returned with Paul (cofounder) to try and launch an eco hotel, this was two weeks of complete anarchy and chaos, we were not meant to be there, we returned home - London.

When we floated the idea of a SriLankan-influenced vegetarian restaurant and cafe to a few people we wanted to partner with, they literally thought we were insane… or laughed in our faces. “Dulwich, no, no, no, not in Dulwich, don’t do it this will be painful. Your chances of success are low.” And I now understand what they meant, the Dulwich customer is discerning, they seem to understand value better than most areas, when you deliver it, they appreciate it, when you don’t…you find out. Lordship Lane used to be known as the home of the independents. I hope we can somehow reclaim this title.

The Sutton story took a bold new direction, as the weather cooled, the all-singing, all dancing rooftop closed. We took the Trinco evenings indoors and launched a hifi bar/restaurant, collaborating with some incredible DJs. We hosted 2 weddings already, too. And the partnership between Trinco and the 150-seat Town Hall is going to be a fascinating one to watch. Especially as events are truly taking off.

Trincomale, Sri Lanka 2019