Travelling around Sri Lanka is a true food adventure where you constantly will be surprised about the rich flavours and exciting combinations. Even though Sri Lanka is often connected to India the country has it very own food traditions that is reason enough to visit and explore this beautiful country.

Curry, curry and curry

Sri Lanka is known to make some of the best curries in the world. Personally Sri Lanka has presented me for the best curries I ever had. The locals often eat their curry for lunch, so many places -especially outside the big tourist areas – they don’t serve this traditional dish at night time. The curries take hours to prepare so at the small restaurants in non-touristic places you often have to order your curry in advance. But it is worth the wait!

The base of the this dish is of course rice as in all other Asian countries. With your steamed rice you will be served a number of different, exciting and tasteful side dishes from Dhal to steamed spinach, coconut sambal and eggplant roasted in exotic spices. The vegetarian option often has enough power to fill you up, but you can of course get curries with either chicken, beef, fish or prawns or whatever you fancy. One time I had 10 different side dishes – all different and all super tasty. You only need the rice to suck up all those amazing tastes and beautiful flavours.

Laura enjoying the many selections of curry!

Sri Lankan Breakfast to Wake You Up

If you are used to eat toast with butter and jam, the Sri Lankan Breakfast will definitely give you a bit of a wake-up-call in the morning. The local people love spicy food and curries – so why not eat that for breakfast as well? A traditional Sri Lankan breakfast consists of spring hoppers (a kind of rice noodle pancakes), a spicy curry often with fish, spicy dhal and coconut sambal. It is super tasty but a little bit too heavy for some to start the day with.

If it is too much spice for you in the morning you can choose the Sri Lankan omelette instead, which is a traditional omelette with different spices and vegetables. You can have it with or without chili. This kind of omelette has been my favourite breakfast while travelling around the country. Fills you up and is a bit more interesting than a normal portion of scrambled eggs.

A pic of what a Sri Lankan breakfast might look like.

Street food

If you want to eat as the locals do you can try the famous roti’s which consists of a thin pancake-kind-of-thing called godamba with different filling inside. You can choose everything from chicken/vegetable to banana/honey depending on your mood. You can find these in restaurants but on the street you can have it as a super cheap lunch freshly made in a little street stall. The roti’s are super handy if you are going on a day-trip or if you just need a quick snack or meal before you continue your adventures.

Another popular street food item is the kottu which is made from the same pancake godamba as the rotis. This is chopped up and fried with vegetables and spices and maybe chicken, beef, fish or eggs if you like.

Street food is my favorite and I think Sri Lanka might have some of the best.

Fresh Seafood Right on the Beach

Sri Lankan is known for some of the best beaches in the world and that of course also asks for some excellent seafood options. All around the coast the fishermen sells todays catch on the beach or the street so if you have a kitchen you can make a delicious meal with exactly the fish you like. If you as most tourists don’t have a kitchen you will find plenty of restaurants that would like to sell you a fresh fish and prepare it for you as you wish. You can also find huge lobsters and amazing king prawns among other amazing seafood that will make a true food enthusiast super excited!

This looks like the perfect place to kick back and enjoy Sri Lankan Seafood

This post was part of our food section. To see more delicious food and places around the world that serve some amazing dishes check out our full section on food here. This was also a guest post that was received. If you are interested in posting on our site please get in touch.