Why Ohana serves no alcohol, and what we pour

Ohana serves no alcohol, at any hour of the day. The place was made for families, for couples who want a quiet evening and for people who eat and drink consciously, and the drinks list was built for them: mocktails, house iced teas, Ayurvedic elixirs, king coconut and good coffee.

Why is there no alcohol at Ohana?

Because of who comes here. Ohana means family, and families are the heart of the place. Around them sit couples of every age, people who came for the quiet, people who work with a laptop and the sea in front of them, and people who eat consciously: healthy, clean, often vegan. We are away from the tuk-tuks, the noise and the crowds, and we want to stay that way.

A place like that does not need alcohol, and it is calmer without it. This coast has good addresses for a night out, and they do that well. We are the other kind of place.

We have our own reasons too, and they are simple. We want Ohana to be a healthy place. We want our doors open to everyone: families, children, Muslim guests, and anyone who is more at ease where nobody drinks. We want a sober place, without the problems that drinking brings with it. It is a conscious choice, above all for health.

What does it feel like at sunset?

On this coast the sun goes down between about 17:45 and 18:30 all year, and the light turns soft an hour before. This is the hour when the difference shows.

Nobody is getting louder. Children are still at the table, or on the two swings under the palms. Someone reads on a sunbed until the page goes dark. The dogs lie in the cooling sand. What you hear is the bay.

On request, when there are enough people, we light a bonfire on the sand as the sun goes down: a fire, a moment to look back on the day, and you come as you are. And if you are lucky, on some evenings, turtle hatchlings are released to the sea at Ohana or beside it, between our two palms, between 17:00 and 19:00. It cannot be promised or booked.

Then dinner. The kitchen serves until 21:00, and the tables are on the sand. Our page on sunset dinner on the beach in Dikwella tells you how to plan the evening.

And the next morning starts early here: breakfast is served from 08:00, with the bay in front of you.

What do we pour instead?

Drinks made with the same care as the food, from what grows here.

• Karapincha Mojito, 2,200 LKR. Our signature. Curry leaf, the scent of every Sri Lankan kitchen, takes the mint's place, muddled with lime and lifted with our curry leaf syrup and local orange.
• Spicy Guava, 2,400 LKR. Guava, fresh ginger, lime and a sliver of green chilli, shaken over ice and strained twice. Sweet and fruity first, with a slow heat behind.
• Pinepash, 2,200 LKR. Pineapple and passion fruit, muddled with lime and mint, with an edge of ginger syrup.
• Twilight Fizz, 1,500 LKR. Butterfly pea blue, turned violet by a squeeze of lime, with a whisper of our Ceylon cinnamon tea. The colour of the sky just after sunset.
• Watermelon Lemonade, 1,900 LKR. Pink and fizzy, with basil seeds and kithul treacle.
• After Sun, 1,700 LKR. Cucumber pressed to order with king coconut water and mint, over coconut ice cubes.

For the table:

• Iced Tea Jug, 3,600 LKR. One litre of any of our house iced teas, still or sparkling, with four tall glasses. Each tea starts from a syrup our team makes here.

For something slower:

• The Ohana Ritual, 3,300 LKR. Three Ayurvedic shots on a wooden board, drunk from left to right.
• Ashwagandha Moon Milk, 2,400 LKR. A warm cup for the evening, with turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and jaggery. Ashwagandha is not advised in pregnancy.

And the simple things: Coconut Water, 800 LKR, the water of the king coconut over ice, and Soda, Your Way, 900 LKR, half a litre of chilled soda, plain or made to measure with fresh lime or our own ginger syrup. Filtered water is free, all day, as much as you like.

Is a mocktail just a juice with a nice name?

Not here. A juice is fruit. A mocktail is built: something sour, something sweet, something sharp or bitter or hot, and something to carry it. Ours are muddled, shaken and strained, and the syrups behind them, of curry leaf, ginger, butterfly pea and cinnamon tea, are cooked in our kitchen.

They are made to be sipped slowly at the end of the day, which is what a drink at sunset is for. There is no alcohol in any of them, and nothing made to imitate it.

You can read about the leaf behind our signature in curry leaf, or karapincha.

Who is this for?

• Families. Nothing on the menu has alcohol in it, so there is nothing to keep an eye on. Little ones have a Babyccino, warm frothy milk in a small cup, free.
• People who do not drink. For any reason, or for none. Here you are not the exception at the table, and nobody asks.
• People who do, on other days. One evening without it, by the sea, is an easy thing to try.
• People who eat consciously. The drinks follow the kitchen: fresh fruit, the island's herbs and spices, syrups made here.

Guests may not bring their own alcohol either. The one exception is a private event, on a day when Ohana is closed to the public.

The drinks are one part of what the island grows and how we cook it, and there is a page of its own about Ohana as an alcohol-free beach club.

Good to know

• No alcohol is served, at any time.
• Mocktails, iced teas and elixirs are served all day, from 08:00 to 21:00. Coffee and matcha are served until 18:00.
• Breakfast is served from 08:00 to 11:00, lunch and dinner from 11:00 to 21:00, every day.
• Prices are in LKR, plus a 10% service charge. Filtered water is on the house.
• We are at Turtle Beach, Dikwella, less than five minutes by road from Hiriketiya.