South Asian food is often interchangeable and some dishes and meals are often shared between cuisines and it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the dish originates from. Now, of course each cuisine has its unique food and dishes and taste, but what I mean is by the untrained tongue, many aspects of it may be difficult to distinguish. What the difference between the Indian curry and the Pakistani curry and the Bengali curry is something the untrained and inexperienced foodie will find difficult to distinguish and pinpoint the difference. However, the Sri Lankan cuisine is different and noticeably different. If you are consuming Sri Lankan (or South Indian) food, you will know that you are consuming it. You will know it is something different to the normal curry house experience. And I’m not even talking about the unique dishes like dosa and hopper, I’m talking about the flavours! You will know the difference by the flavours. Anyway, let’s get into the post… Hoppers is supposedly one of the best Sri Lankan restaurants in London.
View their menu here.
Dosa
Our first dish was the masala dosa. A dosa is a thin savoury crepe made from a fermented batter (ground rice, lentil, and salt). It may include a filling such as lentils and it comes with sides to dip into like a curry. This is always a good idea when at a Sri Lankan or South Indian restaurant. The savoury/salty dosa compliments the curry really well and it is different end result to your typical rice or roti and curry.
Hopper
The second dish we got was the beautiful egg hopper. I mean we had to for the restaurant’s name sake. Hoppers (or Appam as they are known in Sri Lankan) are savoury bowl shaped pancakes that are made from coconut milk and rice or rice flour. You can get them plain or filled with a fried egg like the one below. Like the dosa, it acts as the utensil to scoop up the delicous accompanying curries. This was our first time trying this and we fell in love! It was really good. Our only regret is getting one to share between the two of us.
Getting there
Nearest station: Leicester Square
Nearest mosque: Muslim World League Goodge Street (10 minute walk)
Parking: Ossulston Street – free evenings and weekends – plenty of parking spaces on Sundays – about 20-30 min walk from Soho/Chinatown, but it is just outside congestion zone
