Hoppers [London]

Hoppers was the big launch last week last week from the fine folks behind Trishna and Gymkhana based around Sri Lankan cuisine. I’ve long been looking for a good central based Sri Lankan restaurant which brings back the memories of delicious street food in Kandy and Colombo I had many moons ago and Hoppers makes a good fist of it.

The menu is decided into starters from which we had devilled prawns (unctuous, chilli laced pearls of deliciousness) some Cassava, Cashew and Plantain fry (a spicy deep-fried crisp like a very good bombay mix) mutton rolls (fancy meat filled croquettes) string hoppers (passable, but not as good as under warm sub continent air) duck roti (minced duck in a quesadilla like roti parcel - not as exciting as the others )

On to the mains and you pick a dosa or a hopper (with a fried egg if you like) so we had one of each served with various chutneys and sambals. On the side of that they recommend a portion of curry (or kari as it is on the menu) from which we had the lamb (great anisey complex slow cooked meat - the best thing we had) and the fish (creamy and good if not show stopping)

Overall a great addition to Soho (apparently it already has a queue - so points off for that) The closest point of reference I can think of is a slightly more complex polished Dishoom. A recommend.

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Thanks H. I do love an egg hopper. A lot of Sri Lankan places in London do string hoppers but not egg hoppers. It was one of my favourite breakfasts in Sri Lanka.

When I saw the title of the thread I thought I hope this is to do with Sri Lankan hoppers rather than an Easy Rider themed American place, I couldn’t see that you’d posted it on the front page otherwise I wouldn’t have worried.

Visited for lunch last Friday and really liked it. One of those menus where you want to order everything and then order some things twice to be sure. Sadly, being solo, there were limits to what I could reasonably over-order but what I had was all good.Special marks to the Devilled Shrimps which were an excellent pepper-fry type dish - sweet, bouncy king prawns and that addictive peppery-chili kick from the sauce. Among the chutneys, the coriander was pretty fabulous. Decent value too.

I will definitely be back…except, of course, I probably won’t. Because it doesn’t take reservations. There’s a bit of commenting on the on the Cheese and Biscuits review (inc from me), But, as is said there, what this means is that the restaurant is buy-and–large catering only to the 20-30 year old demographic. Excluding those of us who don’t have time or inclination to queue for an hour or so in the street, or my elderly parents who simply couldn’t.

I said this to the (excellent) team when I was there. But will anything change…? Who knows, Jason Atherton changed his policy at his wine and tapas place so maybe, if enough people keep commenting online and in person, maybe something will shift?

Very keen to go - I’ve read such good reviews. I don’t mind no booking in theory, but there’s now a whole load of places in Soho that I want to go to but can’t be bothered to queue for. Particularly if there’s more than two of you, where you risk waiting ages.

I had lunch at Hoppers and really enjoyed it. There were people waiting outside the restaurant at lunchtime on a Saturday outside (they are no reservations as mentioned upthread), but I was by myself so was able to snag a seat at the bar. I believe that if there’s a wait you can give them your phone number so that they can text you when your table is ready.

I’m new to Sri Lankan cuisine and this was my first hopper. I had it with an egg (£4.50), which had a beautiful orange yolk. It tasted to me like the shell of a dosa, with the same slight fermented tanginess and the same texture, although it was thicker and spongier on the bottom and got thinner and crispier up to the edges. Added the pol sambol, seeni sambol and coriander chutney for an extra £1.50. The pol sambol was like a shredded coconut.

I also had the fish kari (£7) which I thought was also really good, spicy and a little creamy with some tomato(?). Not too large a portion, but the right amount for dipping one hopper into I guess.

Service was a little disjointed though, they forgot part of my order and I had to flag someone down for the bill.



Looks like they’re opening a second location soon (that will take reservations):

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