Hoppers are a dish I just can’t walk past. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
As a food writer, I am often asked for restaurant recommendations, and Little Lanka is one of those little neighbourhood restaurants that I recommend all the time.
‘Little’ is right. It’s not big or fancy, but the food is phenomenal, and the family who run it are super lovely. And, unless you’re lucky enough to live nearby in Franklin, it’s the kind of place that can fly under the radar.
So I thought it was well past time to give them another shout-out and get them flying high and proud.
For a tiny island, Sri Lanka punches well above its weight when it comes to flavour. The judicious use of aromatic spices, coconut, chilli, and sambals makes the dishes addictively tasty.
Nelson Katale Gedara is the chef and owner of Little Lanka, which he runs with his family. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Tempted though we are by the short eats (snacks, often fried), we decide to jump straight into the main dishes.
The food writer in me always feels like I should order something new every time I visit a restaurant, but my heart belongs to hoppers. These bowl-shaped pancakes – also sometimes called appam – are made from a fermented coconut and rice flour batter and have a spongy texture in the centre, graduating to crispiness at the edges. They are time-consuming to make, so many Sri Lankan restaurants serve them only for special occasions, but Little Lanka has them on the regular dinner menu.
Atop the stack of hoppers is one topped with egg (my favourite), and these are served alongside a dish of onion chutney and your choice of curry. We choose the lentil chutney, and it is so good my friend orders a separate serve of lentils to take home with her. It’s that good, just trust me.
The texture is reminiscent of Ethiopian injera and, of course, the related dish dosa. Yes, it’s a vehicle to get the curry into your mouth. But even on their own, hoppers are delicious.
Lamprais is a Sri Lankan dish with a fascinating history. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
We also order lamprais, a dish that documents Sri Lanka’s colonial history. After Portuguese and Dutch colonisation of Sri Lanka, Burghers (people with mixed European and Sri Lankan ancestry) developed this dish. A mix of rice, curries, sambals and meat patties would be wrapped in banana leaves and baked to combine all the flavours.
At Little Lanka, the lamprais is filled with curried chicken, eggplant chutney, tempered potatoes and a crumbed fish croquette. The dish is also served with an egg that has been hard-boiled then fried, and crispy strips of pappadum and fried curry leaves.
Individually, each element of this dish is delicious. But baking it all together makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. There’s a warmth and comfort in every bite – with a hint of true cinnamon and black pepper – as the sticky chutney meets the spiced rice meets the moist chicken meets the crisp croquette meets the yielding creamy potatoes.
I’m waxing lyrical now, but I can’t help it! This is just what Little Lanka inspires in me.
Don’t let it fly under your radar any longer.
Little Lanka is located at 82/2 Manning Clark Cres, Franklin. They are open from 5 pm to 9 pm, Tuesday to Sunday, and from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm on weekends for lunch. Follow Little Lanka on Facebook or Instagram.
Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Region Canberra.
