Being the capital and largest city in the country, Colombo is full of incredible Sri Lankan food to try. Walk along any local street and you’re sure to find incredible aromas wafting through the air leading to some mouth-watering foods. The problem always is, where do you begin?

This list of the top 10 Sri Lankan foods to eat in Colombo will get you going on your food adventure to try the best foods in the city. Complete with some of the best local shops, by the end of reading, you’ll no longer be wondering what the most popular food from Sri Lanka is. So, let’s dive in and explore the top 10 best foods to eat in Colombo!

Hoppers

Wondering what a typical Sri Lankan breakfast is? You’ve found it!

Some of the most iconic foods in Sri Lanka can be found on the street, especially at breakfast time.

Hoppers are the most typical breakfast in Sri Lankan and can be found everywhere throughout the country. These little pancakes are made from a batter of fermented rice flour, coconut milk, coconut water and sugar. Hoppers are cooked in a small, high sided pan similar to a little wok. The batter is swirled around to cover the pan, causing them to be thin and crispy on the sides, and thick and springy at the bottom.

Hoppers can be enjoyed any number of different ways. You can get them plain, with egg, chicken, whatever other proteins they’re offering, or even sometimes veggies!

One of the most popular hoppers are egg hoppers. A freshly cracked egg is added into the wok and cooked, sometimes kept runny, other times broken all over your hopper as they aggressively swirl the egg in the wok. They’re sprinkled with cracked black pepper and eaten with a spicy sambol that’s served on the side.

These savoury bowl-shaped Sri Lankan pancakes are one of the most traditional Sri Lankan foods found all over the country. As a result, they make for the perfect quick bite, and always at a good price.

Name: Rich Foods Hotel
Address: 115 1st Cross St, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///animated.junior.weary
Price: Rs.150

Kottu Roti

After hoppers, kottu roti is the most famous Sri Lankan food you’ll come across.

This traditional Sri Lankan dish is made of chopped up godamba roti, veggies, egg, spices, curry sauce and your choice of protein. Chicken, cheese, beef and mutton are some of the most popular options to add into your kottu roti. Often times, your kottu is even served with a separate bowl of curry sauce to add extra flavour in as your heart desires.

Kottu roti is like a big, hot carb-filled hug. It’s bursting with spicy curry flavour and just oh-so-comforting because of the massive amount of godamba roti.

Watching this dish get made is just as much fun as eating it. Kottu roti is prepared and cooked on a large, hot iron skillet. The kottu maker wields two large metal blades, chopping and mixing together all the roti, veggies, meat and spices. Each cook creates their own tune with their slicing and chopping, making every kottu you order a different experience.

Kottu rotti is found as a quick street food meal and is one of the most popular foods from Sri Lanka. Luckily enough, due to the banging and clanging required to make the dish, you’ll easily find a kottu shop wherever you go by just listening for it along the street.

Name: Nana’s Chef
Address: Galle Face Green, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///case.rainwater.challenge
Price: Rs.750

Ulundu Vadai

Vade are a popular short eat, meaning small snack, often eaten on the go in Sri Lanka. They’re a fried fritter that can be made in a variety of different ways, shapes and forms.

Ulundu vadai are one of the most popular vade in Colombo. The fritter is made up of ground dhal lentils and spices which are combined to form a batter that’s deep fried.

You’ll usually see them in a doughnut shape, with a nice crispy outside and soft doughy inside.

Oftentimes, they’ll be served with sambar (lentil and vegetable stew) and pol sambal (coconut chutney). Whether you’re having one on the side of a dish or on their own, ulundu vadai are great little savoury donuts for any occasion.

Name: Shri Vani Vilas
Address: 256 & 258 M. J. M. Lafeer Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///loom.sweetener.steers
Price: Rs.145

Idiyappa

Another popular breakfast food throughout Sri Lanka is idiyappa, or string hoppers. This noodle-like dish is made from a dough of rice flour that’s pressed through an idiyappa, a contraption with holes that forms the dough into its noodle shape. The noodles are formed into a nest on a metal mat, then steamed until cooked through.

String hoppers themselves are quite mild in flavour, what really kicks them up a notch are the sides served with them. Coconut sambol, dhal curry and coconut milk curry are some of the most popular and tasty sides to have with your idiyappa.

The key to eating them is to grab your string hopper with your hands and get down and dirty! Dip them into your curry or pour your curry straight on them, the messier the tastier.

Name: Shri Vani Vilas
Address: 256 & 258 M. J. M. Lafeer Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///loom.sweetener.steers
Price: Rs.32

Curd and Treacle

Who can resist fresh, sour yogurt served in a clay pot?

One of the richest traditional Sri Lankan foods you can find is mee kiri. This buffalo milk cream curd is drizzled with local kithul treacle, a syrup made from liquid jaggery (unrefined cane sugar).

The curd is similar to yogurt, but extremely creamy, a little bit sour and much lighter. Buffalo milk is the milk of choice for mee kiri. The high fat and protein content of the buffalo milk gives a higher yield of curd, as well as a creamier texture than cow’s milk.

Kithul treacle, on the other hand, is made locally in Sri Lanka from a fairly unrefined sugar called jaggery that’s popular throughout Asia and Africa. This sugar is high in molasses and rich in flavour. The combination of the sweet kithul treacle with the slightly sour buffalo milk yogurt balances the mee kiri out perfectly.

Apart from the delicious flavour, the best part has to be eating it out of the clay pot that it’s made in. A tradition that is kept to this day. This is a can’t miss Sri Lankan food that you’ve got to try when in Colombo.

Name: Hondahitha – The Curd Shop
Address: 135E Dutugemunu St, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///domain.trying.crunches
Price: Rs.150

Crab

Sri Lanka is known worldwide for its fresh, high quality, local seafood.

A famous food in Colombo is the lagoon mud crab, served in a multitude of different ways for different tastes. The most unique flavours can be found in the Negombo crab curry made with local Singhalese flavours. A combination of ginger, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves, cloves, cardamon and the famous Ceylon cinnamon is used. These incredible spices are fried up with coconut milk and veggies.

Rich, spicy, and incredibly flavourful, the Negombo crab curry is a curry unlike any other. Add in the succulent lagoon crab and it’s a flavour explosion.

Name: Culture Colombo
Address: 25 Kensington Garden, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///recording.observers.majors
Price: Rs.2,250

Isso Vade

Isso vade is an iconic street food that’s purely unique to Colombo. It’s recognized as a bright orange lentil fritter that’s beautifully topped with shrimp or prawns. This is the ultimate local street food snack to have in Colombo.

While you’re there, you have to try the kakuluwo vade to go with it. A crunchy and savoury soft shell crab fritter that’s no less tasty and just as orange. Do yourself a favour and get a few of each.

The best place to enjoy this savoury street food? Galle Face Green just as the sun is setting.

Arrive before sundown and you’ll slowly see dozens of vendors setting up their isso vade carts. Tell the seller which ones you want and how many, and they’ll re-fry them up in hot oil for you. They’ll be served to you on paper, slathered with curry sauce and onions. You might need some extra napkins because these can get messy!

Isso vade are the perfect kind of snack to enjoy in the evening, surrounded by locals enjoying the sea breeze and taking in the gorgeous sun setting over the ocean. As one of the most famous foods in Colombo, this is a can’t miss experience.

Name: Galle Face Green Isso Vade Vendor
Address: Galle Face Green, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///tadpoles.examiner.hostels
Price: Rs.100-250

Lamprais

Lamprais is a very traditional and authentic Sri Lankan recipe that you won’t find on just any restaurant’s menu. The recipe is quite labour intensive and first made by Burghers, descendants of Dutch colonials.

The dish involves a main meat and some flavourful accompanying sides. Lamprais usually consists of a combination of boiled eggs, eggplant, meat curry, frikkadels, seeni sambol and even a short eat or two, such as vade. The star of lamprais is by far the spiced rice. It’s boiled in a spiced stock that imparts incredible flavours of cinnamon, cardamon and other spices.

Everything that goes into the dish is first cooked separately. Finally, all the rice, curries and sides are wrapped together in a banana leaf and slowly baked.

No two recipes for lamprais are the same. So, each time you order from somewhere new, what you find inside will always be a pleasant surprise. It’s like unwrapping a delicious present every time!

Name: Green Cabin
Address: No 88 Chatham St, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///inspects.enrolling.proudest
Price: Rs.930

Hot Butter Cuttlefish

Sri Lankan cuisine has evolved over the centuries, with influences from many different cultures over the years. As much of the rest of the world, it hasn’t escaped the rich inclusion of Chinese cuisine into its own.

One such flavourful Sri Lankan food born out of this fusion is hot butter cuttlefish (HBC). Oh yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like!

First, freshly prepared cuttlefish is seasoned, battered and deep fried. In the meantime, a Chinese inspired chilli paste infused with butter is cooked in a wok with shrimp paste. Last, the cuttlefish is thrown into the wok and tossed in the paste along with onion, carrots, chillies, and a decent helping of black sesame seeds. The result is a richly spicy dish, full of intense flavour and crispy cuttlefish goodness.

With Sri Lanka being an island country surrounded by ocean, there’s an abundance of seafood to be eaten and enjoyed. The use of cuttlefish in such a dish is a perfect example of the complexity and variety of Sri Lanka cuisine.

Name: House Vandervort
Address: 14 Windsor Ave, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///politics.blackbird.isolating
Price: Rs.1,290

Falooda

Falooda is a popular dessert drink in Sri Lanka, and a very unique one at that! Sri Lankan rose syrup is layered with milk, ice cream, basil seeds, jelly, and sometimes even vermicelli.

The flavours sound interesting to say the least, but take our word for it, it’s tasty. Falooda is light and refreshing on a hot Sri Lankan day. Even the addition of basil seeds gives it a nice crunchy texture as you sip through the layers. The rose syrup does make it taste very floral, so if you aren’t someone who likes flowery flavours, this one may not be for you.

Name: Juice Station
Address: 258 Main Street, Colombo, Sri Lanka
what3words: ///yarn.finalists.fixture
Price: Rs.250

The incredible Sri Lankan food of Colombo

The variety of foods to eat in Colombo, Sri Lanka is out of this world. Take a walk along any street and you’ll uncover numerous places selling fresh cooked foods waiting to be tasted. As with any country, the best way to taste your way through Colombo is to wander and explore. Some of our best meals have been found when we were least expecting it.

Maybe you’ll even find a few hidden gems while heading to one of the places we’ve suggested. If so, make sure to let us know! We’re always on the lookout for tasty new spots selling the best Sri Lankan food.

We hope this list of the top 10 foods to eat in Colombo will get you going on your own food adventure around the city. Enjoy and happy eating!

The post Top 10 Sri Lankan Foods to Eat in Colombo appeared first on Hungry Two Travel.

Rice pudding in Turkey, sütlaç

Turkish rice pudding, or sütlaç, can be found all over the country. It’s a very common Turkish dessert on many restaurants’ menus. So much so, that sometimes it’s the only dessert on there! One kind of sütlaç that is the rarest and most decadent of them all is Hamsiköy sütlacı, found only in the Black Sea Region of Trabzon. In fact, this sütlaç is revered as the best in the country, and it all has to do with the cows.

The famous cows that make Hamsiköy sütlacı so special

In the Black Sea Region of Trabzon, sütlaç is made with a rare and special milk known as Hamsiköy milk. The Hamsiköy cows which produce the milk have a unique habitat on top of the mountains of the Trabzon region. Wild flowers grow here in the mountain meadows and are eaten by the cows in their pastures. The addition of these wild flowers into the cows’ diets imparts an extremely unique flavour on the milk they produce.

This diet is so unique that there are no other cows which produce this special milk. Thus making Hamsiköy milk very regional in nature. Since this milk cannot be produced anywhere else, neither can the sütlaç, making Hamsiköy sütlacı a true regional specialty.

Worth travelling to the Black Sea Region just to try their sütlaç? We say yes!

This special Turkish rice pudding is made with the simplest ingredients. Only pure Hamsiköy milk, rice, sugar, and a pinch of salt is used. Everything is put into a clay bowl where it’s baked in the oven until slightly caramelized on top. This creates an extremely thick and velvety dessert like no other.

Just when you think it can’t get any better, this decadent Turkish dessert is abundantly topped with ground hazelnuts grown locally in the Black Sea region. If you’re feeling extra sweet, you can get a scoop of fresh Hamsiköy ice cream to finish it all off.

Sütlaç is so rare it’s been given a Geographical Indication

Hamsiköy sütlacı is so unique to the region, that it’s been registered by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. Then, in 2017, it was given a geographical indication certificate. If that isn’t enough, the town of Hamsiköy also holds a “Hamsiköy Sütlaç Festival” annually since 2006 to promote the dessert in Turkey, as well as abroad. It’s clear to see that this Turkish rice pudding is no joke!

Where to go for the best Hamsiköy sütlacı in Trabzon

The best place to try out this extremely tasty Turkish dessert is at Uğur Usta Hamsiköy Sütlacı Ayasofya. Located near the Trabzon Hagia Sophia Mosque, it’s the perfect place to stop for a sweet bite. You can even do a little sightseeing afterwards or walk along the Black Sea.

What to order at Uğur Usta Hamsiköy Sütlacı

They have a few different variations of Hamsiköy sütlacı to choose from, such as plain, with honey, kadayif, locally grown hazelnuts, or Hamsiköy ice cream. You really can’t go wrong with whatever you choose. Our recommendation? Both the hazelnuts and ice cream, decadence to the max!

Name: Uğur Usta Hamsiköy Sütlacı Ayasofya
Address: Fatih, Hacı Ziya Habiboğlu Caddesi no 37, 61100 Ortahisar/Trabzon, Turkey
what3words: ///fallen.declining.ranked
Price: 25TL

Watch our video below to check out this unique local specialty at the best place in Trabzon.

The post The Underrated Turkish Dessert, Hamsiköy Sütlaç: The Ultimate Turkish Rice Pudding appeared first on Hungry Two Travel.

The flaming testi kebab is a Turkish pottery kebab that originates from the Anatolia region of Turkey. It’s a very unique and special way of cooking kebab in a clay pot, that’s similar to a pressure-cooked stew. If you find yourself in Turkey, but aren’t able to make it into this central region of the country, there are a number of different restaurants in Istanbul that serve up this special dish just as good as the original.

Where to go for authentic testi kebab in Istanbul

Of all the restaurants that serve testi kebab in Istanbul, the best one is at the İstanbul Kebab Cafe & Restaurant in the old Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. Here, it’s served up with an amazing show and wonderful hospitality that’s incomparable.

The most unique part of this dish is the flaming testi kebab fire show that you get with your meal. As far as fire shows with the Turkish pottery kebab go, one of the best in the city is here at the İstanbul Kebab Cafe & Restaurant.

What to order

There’s one option on the menu for testi kebab, ‘individual’ sized pots that are portioned for two people. They’re the perfect amount to share and be pleasantly stuffed. So, make sure you bring an eating buddy with you or you’re extra hungry!

The pottery kebab is full of lovely fresh ingredients like beef, chicken, or both, with onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and green pepper, with lots of tasty herbs and spices. It’s made by putting all the ingredients together into a small clay pot and then sealing off the head with aluminum.

The pot, full of all this deliciousness, is placed into a tandoor oven to cook. This special cooking style creates a pressure cooker atmosphere inside the clay pot, which is the secret behind the taste and flavour of this unique kebab.

What to expect

The best part of this dish, minus how delicious it is of course, is the fire show that comes with it! There’s a reason they call it ‘flaming,’ and the fire show here is unparalleled. After the kebab has been cooked and stewed in its own juices, they set the pot aflame and serve it up, piping hot, ready to burn your mouth. Make sure you watch out for those first bites!

Dessert, anyone?

Honorable mention is the delicious, fresh baklava and apple tea that’s served to each customer for dessert. Nothing sits quite right at the end of a Turkish meal than a fresh, crispy, sweet piece of baklava to wash it all down.

Name: İstanbul Kebab Cafe & Restaurant
Address: Alemdar, Biçki Yurdu Sk. No 5, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul
what3words: ///teaches.audio.securing
Price: 230TL

Are you interested in seeing what this amazing fire show is all about? Then click below to see the best restaurant for authentic testi kebab in Istanbul.

The post Best Restaurant for Authentic Testi Kebab in Istanbul appeared first on Hungry Two Travel.