Sri Lanka street food guide. What to eat, where to find it and what to avoid.

Sri Lanka has one of the great street food cultures in South Asia and it is genuinely underrated internationally. Here is the complete guide.

The essential street foods:
Kottu roti: shredded flatbread chopped on a hot griddle with egg, vegetables, and your choice of chicken, beef, or seafood, seasoned with curry leaves and spices. The rhythmic chopping sound of the blades on the griddle is the sound of Sri Lankan street food culture. Available everywhere from small roadside stalls to dedicated kottu restaurants. The best versions are from shops where the griddle is visibly hot and busy, meaning fast turnover and fresh ingredients.
Hoppers: bowl-shaped fermented rice flour pancakes cooked in a round pan, crispy at the edges and soft in the middle. Egg hoppers have an egg broken into the centre. Eaten with coconut sambol and a thin curry. This is the definitive Sri Lankan breakfast food and available in the morning from hopper shops in every town.
String hoppers: steamed rice flour noodle discs, eaten with coconut milk gravy and dhal. Also a breakfast food, lighter than hoppers.
Isso wade: deep-fried lentil patties topped with a whole prawn, sold from baskets and trays at beaches and roadsides, especially popular at Galle Face Green in Colombo in the evenings.
Pol sambol: coconut relish mixed with chilli and lime, served alongside almost everything and addictive.

Where to find the best:
Colombo: the Malay Street corridor in Pettah for biryani and kottu. Galle Face Green at sunset for isso wade vendors. The Wellawatte neighbourhood for authentic local breakfast spots.
Kandy: the covered market area near the bus stand for fresh hoppers and string hoppers in the morning.
Jaffna: the town market area for vadai, fresh papadams, and the distinct north Sri Lankan breakfast foods.
South coast: fresh crab, prawns, and fish from the beach shacks near working fishing harbours in Beruwala, Negombo, and Tangalle.

Food safety: cooked-to-order food from busy stalls is generally safe throughout Sri Lanka. Avoid pre-made items sitting under glass at low-turnover shops. The hygiene standard of the country's food culture is reasonably high and traveller stomach issues in Sri Lanka are far less common than in some neighbouring countries.

Sweet and snack items:
Kiri pani: buffalo curd with treacle, the great Sri Lankan dessert. Available from small shops in clay pots throughout the country.
Kavum: traditional oil cake made from rice flour and treacle, sold at roadside stalls.
Pani pol: coconut pancake with sweet filling.
Woodapple: local fruit with a hard shell and sour-sweet interior that is an acquired taste but genuinely memorable.