If you’re planning to visit Kandy, Sri Lanka’s cultural capital, good call! You’re going to have so much fun. Just make sure to try these Sri Lankan dishes while you’re there, too.

Rice and Curry

If you eat just one meal in Kandy, let it be rice and curry. It usually comes with fluffy rice, a rich curry – often chicken, fish, or vegetables – and several small side dishes like lentils, sambals, and pickles. It’s a whole meal packed with colour, fragrance, and flavour. Every place offers a different set of curries, but rice is a constant. There’s usually a big mound of rice, but you can, of course, ask to be served a smaller portion.

Seafood Curry

When you’re dining in Kandy, try a Sri Lankan seafood curry. When it’s done well, it’s rich, creamy, slightly spicy, and full of depth. Fresh fish or prawns simmer in coconut milk with spices, curry leaves, and that heat Sri Lankan cooking is known for. It’s comforting, fully local, and goes well with rice, bread, or roti. You may find well-prepared versions of this dish at places like Theva Residency Kandy, where local flavours are treated with a bit more care and detail.

Kottu Rotti

You hear it before you see it. The loud clanging of metal on the hotplate is hard to miss. The dish is chopped flatbread mixed with veggies, eggs, meat, spices, and gravy. It makes for a bit of a heavy meal, so go easy on it. Kottu is one of the most popular street foods in Sri Lanka, so you should definitely give it a try. If you’re not used to spicy food, ask the cook to reduce the spice level.

String Hoppers with Curry

String hoppers are light and fluffy and perfect for breakfast or dinner. They’re made from rice flour and pressed into thin noodle-like circles, then steamed. On their own, they taste delicate, but paired with a coconut milk curry or spicy gravy, they become something really enjoyable. Many people love eating them with coconut sambal too. It’s a comforting meal and doesn’t feel heavy. You might also come across string hopper kottu, which is a must-try as well.

Image via Theva Residency Kandy

Hoppers

These are different from string hoppers. Hoppers are thin, bowl-shaped pancakes with soft centres and crisp edges. You can get plain hoppers or egg hoppers with a perfectly cooked egg in the middle. You can savour them with curry, chutney, or sambal. Hoppers make for a simple meal, but try it once, and you’ll see why locals love them so much.

Sri Lankan Sweets

Kandy is also a great place to try traditional Sri Lankan sweets. Local desserts like aluwa and kavum are must-tries. Curd and kithul treacle is a nice pairing you’ll love. It’s both creamy and tangy and often comes with thick, caramel-like palm syrup.

Ambul Thiyal

It’s Sri Lanka’s sour fish curry. If you want to try something truly Sri Lankan, this is a must-try. It’s a dry-style fish curry with a tangy flavour that comes from goraka, a local fruit used for sourness. The fish is firm, well-seasoned, and almost caramelised in spice rather than floating in gravy. Ambul Thiyal goes well with fluffy white rice.