Colombo Kitchen has been named Sri Lankan Restaurant of the Year at the Nation’s Curry Awards 2026 and Alison realised that Sri Lankan was one Asian cuisine that she’d never tried.
Selected from a shortlist of eight Sri Lankan restaurants from across the UK, the award celebrates excellence across the country’s curry, recognising culinary talent and business achievement in restaurants, takeaways and service operations.
In the absence of any planned trip to Sri Lanka, we decided to visit Colombo Kitchen’s Putney site (the restaurant has another one in Worcester Park) – and boy, am I glad we did.
A short walk from Putney station, the restaurant did in fact look rather dark – and possibly closed – on arrival. Please don’t be put off by this, as once inside, you can see that it is split level, with the lower dining level adjoining a courtyard. It’s a cafe style vibe, with tables well spaced out and comfy velvet covered chairs. Even the paper napkins were extra thick and top quality.
The menu has been designed by chef proprietor Sylvia Perera, who grew up in the coastal area of Negombo. She trained as a chef in Australia, brought up her four children, and then yielded to pressure from friends and family to open a restaurant. Now multi award winning, Sylvia is justifiably proud of the fact that she only founded the restaurant in her mid fifties, showcasing recipes that have been cherished in her family for generations.
Kanisha, the bar manager, was looking after us and as we were total Sri Lankan food novices, he took us through the menu options and gave us some recommendations. My husband started with a zero alcohol beer, but I was tempted by the refreshing Colombo gin and tonic.
A new addition to the menu is a crispy curry puff, and we started with a portion of our choice of chicken puffs that were piping hot and rather like a more exotic mini Cornish pasty – and very tasty. I’d heard that hoppers were a key feature on the menu, and the restaurant has a live hopper and kottu bar, so we chose a milk hopper, which was served with a selection of sambals.
The hopper was a large, very light pastry ‘shell’ filled with a warm, thick, richly coconut sauce. It was served with three chutneys: onion, a coconut and spicy chilli. The spice level was cleverly balanced – the spices didn’t hit straight away, but the level gradually crept up in the mouth. The hopper shell was incredibly light and delicate and the perfect conduit for the sambals.
Next we had the Negombo Black Pork Curry, a traditional curry made with Negombo dark roast curry powder and pandan leaves. It was very different from any other curry I’d tasted – it was dry-ish, and the meat had absorbed the rich flavours of the sauce. While quite spicy, it wasn’t overpowering.
The Negombo King Prawn Curry – a chef’s special – was a great partner dish: lots of prawns, half shelled for easy eating and in a beautifully delicate coconut sauce. A portion of Pineapple, Cucumber and Tomato Salad and a portion of Stir-Fry Beans (mildly spiced crunchy fresh beans tossed with onions) as accompaniments were ideal to balance these two main courses. The salad offset the spices really well and the beans were sweet, savoury and deliciously crunchy.
Kanisha strongly suggested we try the Vegetarian Fried Rice. Now, I’m not a great fan of fried rice, but this took the whole idea of fried rice to a different stratosphere. It had the tiniest grains of rice we’ve ever encountered (broken Basmati or broken samba we were told) with chives, carrot and shredded lettuce. Reader, it really was sublime and nothing like any fried rice we’d had before.
Have you heard of Watalapan? No, neither had I, but I couldn’t resist trying this set pudding, made from coconut milk and jaggery. It was served with vanilla ice cream and scattered with raw cashews. It was sweet, light, luscious and the perfect ending to a fabulous meal. My husband opted for the Chocolate Biscuit Pudding (Layers of lightly soaked Marie biscuit in between layers of chocolate mousse icing). He said it was delicious, but I’m convinced I had the better pudding.
Wines are reasonably priced – I had a glass of Provencal rose (a whole bottle is £22) and there are plenty at around the £20 mark.
We thoroughly enjoyed our introduction to Sri Lankan food and I’d definitely recommend the trip to Putney or Worcester Park to check out Colombo Kitchen for yourself.
240 Upper Richmond Rd, London SW15 6TG