Skip to content
SriGuide

Food & Eats

Sri Lankan food is built around rice and curry, shared plates, and with higher spicy levels in general. Expect coconut/coconut milk in nearly everything, meals eaten with your (right) hand, and a lot of dishes you won’t have seen on a “South Asian food” list before.

These lists contain only a handpicked selection of dishes, and there are many more food choices available in Sri Lanka.

If you’re interested in Sri Lankan dining customs, please refer Culture & Etiquette page for more details.

Staples

Section titled “Staples”

These are the main dishes that many Sri Lankans eat on a day-to-day basis. Rice and curry is the most common dish in Sri Lankan gastronomy. Apart from that, fried rice, kottu roti, kiribath, and pol roti are several other popular alternatives.

A Sri Lankan rice and curry plate with several small curries Must try

Rice & Curry

Rice with 3-5 small curries (vegetable, lentil, coconut sambol, sometimes fish or meat). Take a little of each curry and mix it with the rice.

A plate of kiribath, milk rice cut into diamond shapes 🌿

Kiribath (milk rice)

Rice cooked in coconut milk and cut into diamonds, usually served with spicy lunu miris (chilli relish).

Pol roti, a flatbread made with grated coconut 🌿

Pol Roti (coconut roti)

A flatbread made with flour and grated coconut, pan-fried and usually served with lunu miris or curry.

Steamed pittu, cylinders of rice flour layered with coconut 🌿

Pittu

Steamed cylinders of rice flour layered with grated coconut, served with curry or salted coconut milk.

Sri Lankan style fried rice with egg and vegetables

Fried Rice

Rice stir-fried with egg, vegetables, and a choice of meat or seafood.

A dish of Kottu Roti on a plate Must try

Kottu Roti

Chopped roti stir-fried with egg, vegetables and meat, chopped on a hot griddle with two metal blades.

A bowl-shaped hopper with a fried egg in the centre 🌿

Egg Hoppers

A bowl-shaped coconut-milk pancake with crisp edges and an egg cooked into the centre.

Steamed string hoppers, thin noodle-like rice discs 🌿

String Hoppers

Steamed discs of pressed rice noodles, mild on their own and eaten with curry.

Street Food

Section titled “Street Food”

These are quick snacks sold at bakeries, carts and stalls across the island. Short eats, vadai, and isso wade are some of the most common ones.

An assortment of Sri Lankan short eats snacks on a tray

Short Eats

Fried and baked snacks such as rolls and patties, buns, samosa sold at bakeries.

Ulundhu vadai, a fried lentil doughnut-shaped snack 🌿

Ulundhu Vadai / Vadai

A crisp, doughnut-shaped fritter. Usually served with a curry.

Isso wade, a lentil fritter topped with a whole prawn

Isso Wade

A lentil fritter topped with prawns, sold from beachside carts and sellers inside trains.

Fried fish cutlets, breaded and golden

Fish Cutlets

Breaded, deep-fried balls of spiced potato and flaked fish.

Achcharu, a spicy pickled fruit mix 🌿

Achcharu

Pickled fruit tossed in chilli and salt. Spicy, sweet, and tangy flavor.

Seafood & Coastal Dishes

Section titled “Seafood & Coastal Dishes”

Sri Lanka is an island, so seafood curries are common, especially along the coast. Ambul thiyal, crab curry, and deviled cuttlefish are popular choices.

Ambul thiyal, a dark sour fish curry Must try

Ambul Thiyal

A dry, sour fish curry made with Goraka instead of tamarind, from the south coast.

Crab curry in a rich, spiced red sauce

Crab Curry

Whole crab cooked in a fiery, roasted-spice curry sauce.

Deviled cuttlefish stir-fried with peppers and onions

Deviled Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish stir-fried with coconut milk, onion and a sticky chilli glaze.

Sweets

Section titled “Sweets”

These are traditional Sri Lankan sweets, often served with tea or during festivals like the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Watalappan, a coconut and jaggery custard Must try 🌿

Watalappan

A steamed coconut-milk and jaggery custard, spiced with cardamom.

Kokis, crisp fried rice-flour rosettes 🌿

Kokis

Crisp, deep-fried rosette-shaped snacks made from rice flour and coconut milk.

A clay pot of buffalo curd with kithul treacle poured over it 🌿

Curd & Treacle

Buffalo-milk curd served with kithul (palm) treacle drizzled on top.

Halapa, a steamed kurakkan flour sweet wrapped in a leaf 🌿

Halapa

A steamed kurakkan-flour and coconut sweet, wrapped and cooked in a leaf.

Lavariya, string hoppers stuffed with a coconut and jaggery filling 🌿

Lavariya

A string hopper dumpling stuffed with caramelised coconut and jaggery.

Drinks

Section titled “Drinks”

These are a few drinks worth trying when you are in Sri Lanka. No arrack or other alcoholic drinks listed here; please ask locally if that’s of interest.

An orange king coconut with a straw Must try 🌿

King Coconut (Thambili)

Natural king coconut water, served straight from the shell.

A glass of wood apple juice, pale brown and thick 🌿

Wood Apple Juice

A thick, tart juice made from wood apple pulp.

A cup of Ceylon black tea 🌿

Sri Lankan Tea

Ceylon black tea, often served milky and sweet, grown in the hill country.

A tall glass of faluda with rose syrup and jelly layers 🌿

Faluda

A layered rose-syrup drink with basil seeds, jelly and ice cream.

About Contact Privacy Terms

© 2026 SriGuide - Free & Open Source
Project by Camino Logo