Sri Lanka is set to launch a six-month pilot program on October 1, offering free 30-day tourist visas on arrival to citizens from 35 countries, including the U.S., UK, Russia, India and China. The initiative, which temporarily waives the typical $50 visa fee, aligns with the island nation’s peak travel season, lasting from December to mid-April. This move is part of a broader strategy to revitalize tourism, a sector crucial to Sri Lanka’s economy.
What to eat and drink in Sri Lanka
14.08.2024 - 08:26 / lonelyplanet.com
Aug 13, 2024 • 12 min read
A fusion of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Arabic flavors as well as colonial influences, Sri Lankan cooking is a feast for the senses, drawing on incredibly fresh herbs and spices and the bounty of the land and sea.
Eating out in Sri Lanka is a delight, whether you tuck into authentic rice and curry at a roadside cafe, dive into a plate of kotthu (chopped roti flatbread with vegetables and meat) at a downtown hole-in-the-wall or sample surf-fresh seafood at a swish oceanfront restaurant. Go where the locals eat to enjoy Sri Lankan food at its most fiery and full-flavored.
Here are the best things to eat and drink in Sri Lanka.
Made with a fermented batter of rice flour and coconut milk, hoppers – also known as appa or appam – are bowl-shaped pancakes with crispy edges and fluffy centers. Plain hoppers usually come with the chili and salt condiment lunu miris. Follow up with a savory egg hopper – chefs crack open an egg into a plain hopper and tip it off the skillet perfectly cooked. Hoppers also come with sweet milk or jaggery (palm sugar) and coconut milk, making quite the dessert.
Where to try it: Visit roadside hopper stalls for an inexpensive Sri Lankan meal. For a gourmet experience, reserve a table at the fine-dining Palmyrah Restaurant in the Renuka City Hotel.
Don’t let the name fool you – idi appa or idiyappam (string hoppers) are entirely different from ordinary hoppers. Often served for breakfast, these steamed rice flour noodles are hand-pressed into thin, delicate mats. No idi appa meal is complete without a side of pol sambol (grated coconut pounded with chili) and a creamy dal curry, cooked in thick coconut milk, scented and flavored with cinnamon and curry leaves.
Where to try it: Culture Colombo has a tasting basket that comes with hoppers, string hoppers, condiments and curry dishes. It's a perfect way for first-timers to get a taste of Sri Lankan breakfast and dinner items.
This everyday staple is an umbrella term for a broad family of complex, intricately-spiced vegetable (and often meat and fish) dishes, served with rice – a bit like an Indian thali. A meal might consist of half a dozen curries, with at least one based on meat, poultry, fish, seafood or egg, and one made from dal (lentils). On the side, pickles, chutneys and pol sambol add extra heat. There’s also mallung, a leafy salad made with green leaves, chopped green chili, onions, and grated coconut.
Most Lankan curries are based on coconut milk, with a blend of spices – including but not limited to chili, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, lemongrass, rampe (pandan leaves), curry leaves, mustard, and tamarind.
Dried Maldive fish – cured, dried tuna produced in the Maldives – is also frequently used
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