Top 8 dishes to try in Sri Lanka

Get ready to fall in love with rotis. A ‘roti’ is a type of Sri Lankan flatbread that comes in many different varieties and can be eaten at breakfast, lunch, dinner - and even dessert!

Pol rotis have a similar taste to naan bread. Served warm, they are made with wheat flour and scraped coconut. You will most likely be served rotis alongside various curry dishes, but they also make a great street food snack on their own. 

Hoppers can be a sweet or savoury dish. You’ll find egg hoppers a staple dish on any Sri Lankan breakfast menu. Made in a similar way to a pancake - a ladle of rice flour and coconut milk batter is fried in a small wok for a few minutes and finally garnished with sugar or with salt, onions and optional chillies. 

No trip to Sri Lanka is complete without trying a cup of Ceylon tea. The tea is usually served black with milk and kithul jaggery - a cube of brown refined sugar - perfect for those with a sweet tooth. We’d recommend trying your first sip without any extras to really enjoy the taste of the pure tea leaves. Our Highlights of Sri Lanka trip includes a tea tasting en route from Kandy to Unawatuna. 

‘Toddy’ is a sharp local alcoholic drink made in the first fermenting stages of the sap of palm trees. ‘Arrack’ is a further fermented and refined version of ‘Toddy.’ ‘Arrack’ could be one of the oldest distilled spirits in the world - it has been traced back to 5th century AD, and is the national spirit of Sri Lanka. It’s considered best mixed with local ginger ale to form a tasty, refreshing tipple. The process of collecting the sap is called ‘Toddy tapping’. The toddy tapper climbs the coconut trees and walks on weather-worn tightropes from tree to tree, collecting the coconut flowers when they’re ready for harvesting.