Sri Lankan food is one of the great undiscovered culinary traditions of Asia — the coconut milk-based curries, the fierce sambol relishes, the rice and curry spreads of 10+ dishes, and the unique street foods (hoppers, kottu, pol roti) are all extraordinary.
Pol roti (thick coconut milk flatbread, cooked on a dry griddle with grated coconut inside) with lunu miris (onion, chili and Maldive fish sambol) — the most satisfying Sri Lankan breakfast.
Sri Lanka is the world's finest cinnamon source (true cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, is softer and sweeter than cassia) — the Pettah spice market has it by the kilo along with cardamom, clove and pepper.
The full Sri Lankan rice and curry experience at a local restaurant — 8–12 small dishes served simultaneously with plain rice. The definitive Sri Lankan meal.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideString hoppers (idiyappam — steamed rice noodle rounds, pressed through a mould) with coconut milk curry and pol sambol from a Galle Face Green vendor.
Sri Lankan blue swimming crab, prepared in Chili, Pepper, Garlic or Jaffna spice — the most celebrated restaurant in Colombo since 2011. Chef Dharshan Munidasa's devotion to the Sri Lankan crab has made this one of Asia's most important restaurants.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe sonic and sensory finale — shredded roti chopped with egg, vegetable and curry on a griddle at midnight. The rhythmic chopping is audible from the street. LKR 300.
The rice and coconut milk bowl-shaped pancake with a fried egg in the centre, eaten with seeni sambol and coconut chutney. Sri Lanka's most loved morning food.
Isso wade (lentil fritters topped with a whole dried prawn, deep-fried) from a vendor on Galle Face Green at noon. The most iconic Colombo street snack.
The Dutch Hospital (VOC era hospital building in Colombo Fort, now a restaurant and shopping precinct) has several restaurants and coffee shops serving Sri Lankan and international food in a beautifully restored colonial setting.
Cashew curry, drumstick soup, snake gourd in coconut milk and the full rice-and-curry spread in village-style clay pots at the Cinnamon Grand's heritage restaurant.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideWatalappam (steamed coconut milk and jaggery pudding with cardamom — a Malay-origin dessert from Sri Lanka's Malay Muslim community) at a restaurant or bought packaged from a bakery.
The train to Kandy has vendors walking through selling vadai (lentil donuts), samosas, sweetmeats and Lion Lager. A moving Sri Lankan breakfast.
Buy lotus flowers and jasmine at the stalls around the Temple of the Tooth, then attend the puja at 9:30am — the offering of flowers to the Buddha relic is deeply moving even for non-Buddhists.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKandyan hill country food has its own specialties: kalu pol (dark coconut curry), white pumpkin curry, and the highland vegetables unavailable in Colombo. At a lakeside restaurant in Kandy.
The evening descent from the Kandyan hills back to Colombo.
Fish ambulthiyal (dried Goraka-sour curry, the most distinctive Sri Lankan fish dish) with rice, pol sambol and watalappam dessert. The perfect farewell feast.