Sri Lanka – the best breakfast on Earth?

… I appear to be the go-to when anyone needs a gourmet recommend – so it was no surprise to my colleagues that, on my trip to Sri Lanka last month, the majority of my communication with them was all about what was on the menu!

In the country so well-known for its astonishing natural beauty, varied wildlife and intricate history and culture, food is no doubt a centrepiece (and not just for me!). The feast starts in the morning, with your first meal, and I don’t mean coffee and a croissant or a slice of toast. This is a much more serious affair.

Forget your Full English, American-style pancakes drowning in maple syrup or even hundreds of variations of hipstery avocado toasts. The only way to breakfast is really the Sri Lankan way, and here’s why…!

Don’t be surprised, it’s a thing and with so many varieties available (I’ve enjoyed a mango and even a cashew curry), you might as well start early to have a tiny chance of trying at least a fraction of all these wonderful different flavours.

Breakfast is served as a real spread. You’ve got your carbs of choice, a curry or five, and plenty of condiments. Let’s first choose the base, shall we? Usually it would be one (or more) of the following:

String hoppers – steamed rice noodles “nests”

Roti – delicious flat bread made with flour and shredded coconut

Egg hoppers – coconut and rice flour dome-shaped pancakes with an egg inside

Pittu – red or white rice flour mixed with coconut and steamed in a special tube-shaped device

Coconut rice – rice cooked in coconut milk (sounds like pudding, but it’s so much more!)

The main star of the show is, you’ve guessed it, a curry. Any curry you can imagine. From warm, lightly spiced coconut fish curry to tangy saucy lamb. Veggies and vegans will be in for a treat too with pretty much anything being cooked into the most delicious thing you’ve evert tasted. Vegetables, fruit, nuts. Anything. Courgettes, peppers, potatoes, cauliflower, mango and cashew nuts are only some of the mouthwatering options you’ll come across. After a spoonful you won’t be able to stop (this is coming from someone who never has breakfast unless it’s a late brunch)!

They are a huge part of the whole experience, adding another dimension of flavour. No breakfast (or any meal really) is be served without the coconut sambol, a spicy coconut shred mixed with chillies and fried onions, served separately but meant to be mixed in with the rest. Its less spicy variation is usually added as a breakfast accompaniment, with the dinner version getting a lot more fiery. Seeni sambol, a lightly spiced and sweetened caramelised onion chutney, is another common breakfast addition, and one of my favourites. Then there’s dhal, your hearty lentil stew, which very often makes it onto a breakfast plate too. The more the merrier.

All this goodness is meant to be mixed together and eaten with hands. I’ve tried and I swear you’ve got to have some skills! But despite the struggle (and a few giggles from the locals watching me) I agree, getting stuck in and eating with my fingers from a water lilly “plate”, mixing fish curry with string hoppers and pittu, adding some spicy sambol on top (all before 9 am) was incredibly satisfying and gave me a wonderful sense of well being.

For dessert (yes, at breakfast!), especially in the southern provinces, you’ll be treated to the freshest curd with honey you could ever imagine. Made from buffalo milk (generally yesterday’s – to give it just enough fermentation time) it’s creamy as a tiramisu. I tried this on the farm where it was made, which you can visit on a morning tour from our amazing In Style lodge near Yala National Park, and had it served the traditional way, in the coconut bowls, which I swear made it even tastier.

… Mango, guava, pineapple, watermelon, you name it – whatever’s in season (and the season never ends on the emerald island). Freshly squeezed and full of colour and flavour this is your best alcohol-free tropical cocktail of vitamins and exotic goodness. What a way to start your day! And don’t forget a cup of Ceylon tea. Now that’s what I call living a dream!

No matter where you go in Sri Lanka, the food is simply incredible. Whether drinking a freshly brewed cuppa in the well-manicured gardens of a former planter’s bungalow tucked away in the hills over Kandy. Or dining al fresco at dawn to the sounds of nature in the middle of nowhere in Haputale. Or enjoying the brightest ever spread (I’m talking pink hoppers here) from the infinity pool overlooking the Indian ocean in Tangalle, you can’t go wrong with the breakfasts here.

Inspired to try the flavours of Sri Lanka too?