The Best Three Eats in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, amber skies blaze over towering mountains awash with green rainforests. Beaches boast crystal clear seas abundant with gigantic turtles. Tea plantations cascade down misty hills. Elephants graze on hanging banana trees. TukTuk drivers beep frantically, dogs bark, street vendors call. The country is a delight to all senses.

When embarking on my last minute trip, I had just one sense on my mind: taste.

Food is integral to a good holiday. I don’t particularly care if a country boasts the biggest waterfall or brags of pitting the earth’s deepest hole. If it doesn’t taste good, I ain’t going (Budapest - you’ll never see this face again).

Unlike its larger neighbouring country, India, Sri Lankan cuisine is humbly simple. Restaurant meals offer fairly identical dishes. The trick is to do your research (more on this in a future blog) and keep an open mind. Rice and curry might sound like rice and curry, but the vegetables used, cooking technique and general know-how of the chef can make all the difference. An egg hopper is a thing of beauty when enjoyed fresh, first thing. And do not underestimate the importance of sambal.

Planning on taking a trip to Sri Lanka soon? Keep an eye out for these dishes:

Rice and Curry

You’re in England, ordering a curry with friends. You collectively decide to bin off James Corden’s classic Gavin and Stacey joke by pitching in to try a familiar range of bhunas, kormas, masalas and bhajis. The price skims £100, and the flavours melt into a comforting creamy, cumin-ed sludge.

Rice and curry in Sri Lanka is a different plate entirely. Tangy, sticky sweet aubergines come heavy with tamarind, creamy cassava curry is thick with curry leaves, fresh coconut sambal is flaked upon plates. This, plus a hefty dhal, some sharp chutney and, of course, popadoms is served alongside a pyramid of rice. All for the price of £4. In total. And that’s in the boujee places.

Kotthu

You’re going to eat a lot of kotthu. Like, a lot-a lot. My advice; go somewhere that’s known for kotthu to avoid overkill. Many places serve an OK version of this dish, but in a country where roti is aplenty, it’s easy to stumble into a carb-induced coma. Google is your friend - whichever area you’re in, make sure to type ‘best’ and ‘kotthu’ into the search engine.

In simple terms, kotthu is shredded roti, fried with curry leaves, ginger, garlic and a protein of choice. Cheese is often an added choice, one which my pre-lactose intolerant self would have been all over. Trust me, I glowed green at the sight of my peers pulling away strings of melted, cheese encased bread.

Vegetable Roti

The unsung hero of nearly all roadside food vendors. In my eyes, a vegetable roti is far superior to kotthu. At first glance, each triangular-shaped roti looks exactly the same. Upon bite, you’ll realise they vary greatly, and there’s no way to know what type of vegetable filling lies within. Plus, they can cost as little as 30p.

In England, a vegetable samosa typically consists of some heated up frozen vegetables mixed with spices and stuffed into filo. In Sri Lanka, one stall may sell a filling of spiced spinach, whereas another sells soft aubergine, and another offers plump, fragrant potatoes. During one bus side trip, on a particularly bad hangover, I chose a samosa which nearly choked me with spice. If you’re not good with hot foods, then be warned; it can be a bit of a roulette, but that makes it all the more fun.