Top 15 MUST TRY street food in Colombo Sri Lanka

what is up guys and welcome back to my channel in this video I am taking you to explore the street food of my hometown Columbo good morning guys we are leaving our hotel to go out for a full day of street food Explorations here in Columbo starting off with breakfast let's go [Music] so first up on our list of street food to try for the day is the infamous Sri Lankan drink the kander so the kakanda is a herbal porridge that Sri Lankans have been drinking specifically for breakfast for a very very long time it's a combination of very very nutritious greens that have been cooked in coconut milk and Blended to form the this amazing porridge it has a little bit of rice in it you can try this at most Hotel breakfast but the thing is you can't try all the varieties of it when you come to a place like this like this truck here on Marine Drive which I've had my eye on for quite a long time they have three different types of green Cola candle each with a very obscure sounding green ingredient as the main ingredient which is obviously very very nutritious and good for you so it's a very good breakfast they also have the garlic kakanda which is one of my favorite it's a white color porage and with these places if you're feeling adventurous you can ask them to mix a few different types in so right now I'm having the valy panda as well as the garlic um candada together and it is so good another thing I really love about this little truck another thing that I really like about this little truck here is that it is a One-Stop shop for all your SRI lanan breakfast needs they've got a lot of traditional breakfast a few more we're going to explore as well they've got string hoppers all packed up you can take it and go and it's also the kind of place as you can see all kinds of people stop here there's people who are walking by there's people on bikes there's people in vehicles it goes to show that no matter what type of person you are in society as a Sri Lankan we love our traditional breakfast and this is an amazing spot to come and grab it from the sea is right here you have the experience of seeing the train go by in the morning with people going to work we have another one coming you see the traffic of all the other people going to work as well so you really get a feel for what life in Columbo for people here are like another Super nutritious and traditional Sri Lankan breakfast is the Manuka with lunamis which is like a a spicy sambol as well as some freshly grated coconut this is something that we've had since we were kids and it's a breakfast you can find everywhere on the island it is something that's easily grown the manoch a type of yam and is considered very nutritious in Sri Lanka be warn that the lunamis is really spicy so the coconut is a very good addition because it's sweet and it balances off that flavor and the manoch itself is soft and boiled to Perfection so all of it just Blends in and melts in your mouth to create a very wholesome and delicious breakfast m so good it's it's one of my favorite breakfast ever the um the Luna also has a little bit of a lime in it and it just like brings everything together it's so great this breakfast is also from the same place that we had our colander from and they have this very nice area for you to sit and enjoy your meal I highly recommend you check out this breakfast pot and try a couple of these dishes as well [Music] we are currently at the most busiest place on the island Peta Market this is one of the first markets I would say the oldest markets in the country it is the place where everything comes straight out of the harbor a lot of wholesale businesses this is like the pulse of the city and I think if something was really wrong with Sri Lanka that would be the only time that the Peta Market ever closes thanks to designer from Minority test I learned that Peta Market has only closed twice in the history of its existence uh once during the pandemic and once during the arag that shows you just what a powerful marker of the health of this island Peta Market is so for many many years you've had Traders from different countries coming in to Peta selling and of course sharing their culture here so this is a great place to pick up on a little bit of the culture that's left behind from those days as well so there's a lot of food here that U is coming from the merchants who have been in and out of this areaone in true Sri Lankan style we have to put spice Cally on everything Chu is a really popular Sri Lankan snack whereby you take any kind of fruit now this is a seasonal Sri Lankan fruit called jamboo or s Sweet Apple and um you take it and you cut it up and you put some salt you put some chili you put some lime and you mix it all up and let it let all the flavors ooze out and mix together and you have aaru now you can do aaru with anything with mango with Sri Lankan Olive which is like veru we've got Goa and pineapple the works now bew this is a little spicy but it is so good and it is such a Sri Lankan thing that you must try it and I think one of the best places to try it is here in Peta my mom always comes here and gets aaru from here so I have very fond memories of this [Music] cheers so I just finished my aaru which was a little on the spicy side and it is almost noon now so it's definitely getting hotter so it is time to hydrate with Sri Lanka's very own natural Electro electrolyte drink which is the king coconut now this is really different from the green color coconut you might have seen in India and some other countries like Thailand that is a kurumba this is very different by Nature the king coconut is much sweeter of course it does depend on the quality of each fruit as well but it is very hydrating and delicious and once you try it which you must try it once you are done with it make sure you ask them to cut the uh the king an open and you can scrape out the fleshy insides and eat it it's very tasty and uh it's almost like a jelly like consistency but I really want to encourage you guys to try this because I know a lot of people come here and they've tried Kumba already in Thailand and in some other Asian countries but they haven't tried this one this is very special it only grows here in Sri Lanka and maybe like one region in India so that's probably why you don't see it in India much as well so make sure you try this one out this is actually a street food but also very special to Sri Lanka and if you can have it at the hotels they have it a little bit more Posh where they have refrigerated it oh my God it's like being hit by a ice cold wave on a hot day it's [Music] amazing [Music] now momb sweets of course is a Indian inspired sweet but there are a few things in here that are very popular among the Sri Lankan Community starting off with gundi this is one of my favorites I'm pretty sure there must be something like this that's similar in India as well but it's a very sweet almost um Rose like flavored fried delicious thing I don't know how to explain it but it is very rich and very sweet and my favorite one is a red color one of this the next one is we have a assortment of what we call Mustard so mustard is a sweet meat that is usually used in Muslim festivals and celebrations I love mustard is one of my favorite Sri Lankan Festival Foods it's soft it's almost chewy but it bites through it has a coconut flavor each color has a slightly different variating flavor but it's very nice it's not too sweet that's the main thing that I love about it musket is a must drive in your hair but it is oily you have to know that and you have to be okay with that here is another Sri Lankan classic now these are a couple of shorts that we have here short it's are really popular in Sri Lanka this is a Roy that has vegetable in inside it these kind of triangle roties always are called Lalu Roes or vegetable roties so this is a dedicated vegetable shorty that we have here in Sri [Music] Lanka it's usually filled with potato leaks and some other vegetables really hearty very tasty very not too spicy so that's good can be found all around the country in any kind of um small Savory food shop bakeries have very very popular very well known among Sri Lankan Community now we have something that is of not of Sri Lankan origin but it's very popular in Sri Lanka again due to the Muslim community's influence on our food this is a samosa this one is chicken as most samosas are all the best samosas are meat e the chicken or mutton um sorry chicken or beef they rarely come in veg they're very hard to find so Shan is going to try this for us all right so we're trying the samusa nothing new for me I have this all the time when we breakfast uh it's like a pastry with like this flaky crust to it m so good it's crunchy on the outside and the inside is nice and warm with like this chicken and there's like this really nice like minc meat curry flavor to it perfect and here we have the pierc resistance as I like to call it the Sri Lankan paluda this is so rich so decadent it comes with ice cream and basil seeds which are kind of similar to chia seeds and is a rose flavored sherbet kind of drink that is inspired I think a Persian inspired drink again brought by the merchants and the Muslim communities to Sri Lanka and we are very grateful for [Music] [Applause] it it has a very um Rosy kind of flavor it has some noua in it I'm not sure yeah something like a soft in tender to buy there's some jelly in it sweet milky creamy Rosy almost a perfumed taste I don't like paluda usually cuz it's too sweet this one is really [Applause] good welcome to my grham store guys so this is an example of your average grham store here in Sri Lanka everything is sold by the gram you have tons of goodies to select from biscuits and fried dough U manoka chips which are like a type of manoch that is sliced you have bndi you have seeds and nuts and all sorts of things definitely worth a try especially the moku which is a type of fry and flavored dough it's a nice popular snack for people to have while they're having drinks or just something to munch on today I'm going to be trying the Sri Lankan classic which is the crispy fried Manuka chip this thing is so popular obviously Sri Lankans love manoka or Mano and have found many ways to cook it we had it earlier today boiled this is slightly unhealthy this is sliced and deep fried and dipped in some salt pepper and some chili M can you hear that crunch it is so crispy it is so good it's better than your average potato chip I promise you when you're in this area and you see one of these stores definitely try Mana chips out 100% a Sri Lankan snack that you cannot miss out [Music] on [Music] for this video we are going to be staying at a hotel that is considered the leading Grand Dame of South Asia the gface hotel with over 150 years of History culture and traditions woven into its very DNA this is a hotel like no other and has been the select choice of many noteworthy guests over its history such as the late Queen of England and Queen Elizabeth [Music] herself what really makes gace Hotel special is how it has managed to preserve its old world Splendor and history and combine it with Sri Lanka's modern independent present creating a Heritage Property that you just have to experience to feel how special it is good evening thank you for calling the GOL [Music] face [Music] Welcome to our beautiful room here at the goest hotel guys so this room is in the classic wing and they have two Wings the Regency wing and the classic wing and the classic Wing has been here since the Inception of the hotel in 1864 and one of the things that I love about this place is that everywhere you walk everywhere you look you feel like you have been transported to 200 odd years ago from the wooden floors that Creek the carpeted hallways the double ceiling everything the crown molding the furniture the elevators all of it makes you feel like you have been transported back in time so it's a really great way uh for you to explore the history of Sri Lanka as well by staying in a place like this so this room actually has its very own rather large balcony with an amazing view of the sea you're going to see a fantastic sunset from right here and another thing that I really find interesting is how the architecture of this hotel speaks about the era in which it was built in and behind the hotel you can now see the skyscrapers of modern Columbo starting to Peak and it gives a really wonderful juer position of the depth that Columbo has to offer it's a very new city in terms of modernity but in in terms of History culture and even in terms of historical architecture like this this is a city that has a lot to offer and that is why I encourage a lot of people to explore it as someone who was born and raised in Columbo the goest hotel is a place that I have been going to ever since I was a child and as I've grown I've noticed that the architecture and the aesthetic of the hotel never gets old it is timeless and that's something to be admired in today's day and age for the international traveler the goest hotel has always been an immersive experience into Columbus Colonial past a living breathing Monument that is still functional today in today's time and for Columbus Society it has always been a place that has provided memorable moments everyone celebrates all of their big moments here or even their small moments fun fact Shan and I even met here for the first time so right now we are at the goist hotel enjoying a spot of he te now you're probably wondering Chanel why are you at a hotel having he te you should be exploring the streets of Columbo and sharing the street food well hear me out I have a good reason for this addition and that is because HEI is actually a very popular activity for locals in Columbo and golfish hotel provides one of the best locations to watch Sunset grab some amazing food and some really nice cocktails and just relax in this Ambiance that is very special to golf face Hotel and it's also very centrally located to all the other places that we've been checking out for street food so if you have been eating out a lot and you're kind of fed up and you're in the mood to be whined and dined a little bit while watching Sunset and having a very almost romantic experience this is something that you should check out what has made Sri Lanka unique over its history has been its ability to preserve its unique culture while also absorbing the influences and traditions that have been left behind by a millennia of being a central Hub in ancient trade routs as well as centuries of colonization without jeopardizing her own authenticity and it's really this characteristic that makes Sri Lanka an experience like no other and a place that we are proud to call home so now it's time to check out what kind of street food we can find in the evening starting off with the goldface green which is actually the namesake of this hotel and is a very popular place to get some street food that you should not miss out when you are in Columbo [Music] this kind of food cart is really popular throughout the country you'll see them all over the place you keep an eye out for them selling all sorts of traditional Sri Lankan Street snacks ranging from the V the isova days and another really popular one you might find is boiled chickpea and they're usually on Wheels can be moved anywhere this has been the way it's been done this exact same kind of structure ever since we were little kids and I I remember coming here when I was much younger they have very fond memories in my childhood these really are very interesting quirky Sri Lankan thing all right since Chanel is a vegetarian and she can't eat ISO which is essentially prawn V what is v v is I'm not sure uh Dal or lentil FFA uh with fried CRS on top m m it's crispy it's got like lime in it so it's got this really Tangy flavor to it and then the veggies is like ideal with like a nice hurry also so the ffel like VES is a bit on the softer side sof on the inside crunch on the outside and then the the prawns are like super deep fried so they are really crispy usually people would say that you'd have a stomach a after eating this stuff we will find out at the end of this Vlog we are going to try something now which is like a bit of a traditional Sri Lankan thing a lot of workers used to have this kind of like chewing tobacco it does get you a little high I suppose you do feel a little bit of a buzz is a very strong flavor and it does make your mouth red and stuff so there's two varieties here one is one that just tastes good and this one is the special the special stuff that's going to give you a little bit of a kick so it's full of all sorts of um herbal things that are taste and smell good here it is and he told me I need to put the entire thing in my mouth so here it goes I this special thing called por which is a bit hard to bite but all of it together has a very strong flavor and if you can bite through the P you can actually swallow the whole thing cuz according to him it's very good and healthy for you when you're traveling around Sri Lanka and if you see like people spitting out something bright red color and you're wondering what it is it's this I don't know if this is a good idea but here goes oh my God M they like mint TOS I can't feel my teeth feeling feeling you that is a nice flavor to it but it is so strong woo that was really strong I'm not proud of that that's exactly what everyone does and I don't want to do as wor trying if you're in a new country all right so we're trying the crab buy which is like the prawn buy but with a deep fried crab yeah a bit interesting cuz I never really eaten this and i' never really eat it I'm only doing it cuz we're doing this YouTube video and it's a whole crab and I asked him when the caught the crab and he said it was today so here goes yeah it is like soft shell crab it's super deep fried so it just you can just bite it all crunchy Crispy Crunchy really tasty the sauce and this time there's onions on top as opposed to the veggies so it gives a nice flavor H I'm I'm quite enjoying this one huh I'm full I mean it's good okay I'll have another bitee this is not me the crab is good like just by itself M oh damn that's really good M I'm giving this a definite 10 better than the iso are so here's something new that has been popping up around Columbo there are these small night markets that are for Focus solely oh my God you almost lost your life there yeah something new that has been popping up around Columbo are small night markers that are focused solely on food there are a couple of these on duplication road which is about 2 km away from gace Green and uh if you just take a Tuk Tok and ride down this road keep an eye on the left and right side you're bound to see about four of these places and each place is like a mini food code one thing as always if you do want to come to these places make sure you come here a little bit early especially on weekdays they do tend to close at around 9:10 a lot of the street food places it's usually Friday Saturday Sunday that things are open till late so keep this in mind if you are traveling through Columbo on a [Music] weekday all right guys so we we are here at kyasa and we just happen to be here at the same time as a Founder which is very lucky for us cuz I've always wanted to know what finally inspired a Sri Lankan to start the night market scene here because I want to introduce Indian Street foods to Sri Lanka which brings us to this dish that you are making your friends try out basically this is a Kerala dish called fish po we tried a 1 kilo fish PO for the first time in Sri Lanka we can say it's a quite Big Fish where you can share it with four five people it's basically a fish barbecued with that Kerala thed gravy comes with porri and Chutney so do you see tourists coming here lot of foreigners come here they love to try the spicy things from Sri Lanka so we love when foreigners we love everyone coming but it's it's so special when we see they also love the product okay so we're not eating anything here cuz we're really full after everything we've been eating the whole day so instead we're going to try this which is something someone recommended there it's called the K kuluki Shar it's a really really sweet drink with a bit of mint it's nice you thought it was spicy it's not spicy it's really have a bite of the green chili mm I want to sh something really interesting about this place uh is that most of the people here are young students guys who are studying during the day and running these operations at night this is something Shanel and I have always wondered why it doesn't happen here in Sri Lanka cuz if you look at Thailand if you look at Vietnam any of the other Asian countries you see a booming Night Market Sri Lanka didn't have that for all this time and now you're starting to see signs of itting Columbo which is very interesting and it only means that we're going to see more and more authentic homegrown dishes come out for everyone to be able to [Music] try all right guys so we are here at alut which is a place that is not new but has been trending recently amongst Travelers and amongst the young people in Sri Lanka as a place to come and grab some um street food now I'm very excited cuz this is my first time here but of course I can smell a lot of barbecue which tells me there's a lot of meat dishes here that I won't be able to tell you guys what it's like so I've got some hired help we've got Josh he is a local Sri Lankan as you can see actually German Australian a nice mix my emotional home is Sri Lanka he's a global Citizen and he's emotional home is in Sri Lanka I'm going to get him to try all of this street food and hopefully he makes it home today happy to be your guinea pig today let's talk yeah and also he lives here so I'm going to ask him later on in the video what it's like to live in Sri [Music] [Applause] Lanka all right so now we're trying a very highly recommended sandwich here in alut Kade recommended by someone who actually watches our videos who she's right over there there and um she told us to try this sandwich it's super tasty super light you won't even feel like you're eating bread very tall order very high recommendations so I'm going to get the boys to try it out all right starting off with presentation we have omelette sandwich spicy chicken and lots of some mayonnaise how you made it that was amazing on the grill pop the egg throw on the toast and now it's going to try it but it's like like sometimes it can look very good and that's when when you review for a living right you look at it but it must taste good as well that's actually pretty good The Omelette around the bread gives it like a nice feel it's good it has a good taste so it's not spicy at all if you if you're a foreigner you come to Sri Lanka and you struggle with spikes the way I do this is perfectly fine and I think they've got a good quantity of like chicken within a sandwich here 7.5 7.5 yeah you agree that I think yeah that's how you clean your hands paper paper and you're not used to that you might want to bring like some sort of hand sanitizer or something like that on to the next one come here come here come here come here yeah Chien do you have spicy chicken yeah spicy chicken and mton brain Mt brain yeah thank you very much thank you thank you you have to be careful about where you walk it's a small Road it's chaotic everyone's got to watch out for themselves but it's part of the charm what is it Sri Lanka is best drink look like bomb yeah it's like you drive awesome blueberry try can try can try all right okay fine I'll try 1 2 3 just so you guys know I don't like sweet things but this lovely gentleman has forced me to have one Cheers Cheers 2 three okay up up shut I just chugged a Sprite for no reason like that's really sweet you know it wasn't so sweet it was okay all right so we just walked to the end of the strip mhm what do you guys think about the wi here it's very different from uh most of Columbo depends really what food you want but if you want a bit more an authentic experience in Columbo that's the place to come in terms of food in terms of atmosphere in terms of the people this is kind of the place when you're in Columbo and you haven't been down south and you want to get a true schlank experience this is where you come to foodwise and people wise yeah I agree it's been very interesting people are super welcoming I like seeing this Innovative uh flare even the sandwich that's something fairly new we're not sandwich people here in Sri Lanka but uh the sandwich was a pretty interesting thing it seems to be very demonstrative as well there's a lot of things that have a flare to it and excite young people I think this gives you that authentic Columbo chaotic Vibe and it's a must to experience it that's what you want yeah you want exactly now let's get some spicy fruit yeah can you make it extra spicy yeah can oh so Shan's trying to convince them to make the barbecue chicken extra spicy and how are you Josh with spicy food uh very good very good all right doesn't make me sweat at all might do a second part tomorrow from the hospital okay what do we get um some spicy chicken that's all I all I pretty much I think you should try first since you're the local I'm I'm the local all right let's see how it it feels good right it's like the texture is already very nice tender the way you like it that's always the worst part when I do uh flight reviews the food part because I know nothing about food and uh so far it's good it's actually good yeah nice flavors spicy spice hasn't kicked in yet I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to be just here it's not that great close this close this shop down oh here comes the other dish guys this is my favorite dish in the whole world another really popular Sri Lankan street food is it's a very simple think it's the egg Rooty but you ask for about two egg roties and you get some chicken curry as well as some raw onions on it and right here in alad they make their roties like really fresh it's hot to touch and they have a very nice peppery chicken curry the gravy is not too spicy how's my food reviewing skills I was just thinking about it that I should get you in one of my flights and then whenever the food comes yeah get and and then you come in and you talk about food all set and um it has like a nice buttery flavor to it so it's very tasty actually this is more spicy than the chicken m i want to uh lead back into the thing that I told you we're going to talk to Josh about which is that Josh has been living in Sri Lanka for quite some time so I want to ask you what's it like for somebody who's traveled a little bit around the world you know he's a little well traveled um what's it like to live in Sri Lanka and why did you choose Sri Lanka it is what do you make of it you know it's a it's all about the people mostly it's a nice place where you can have a great life a good balance when it comes to cost of living you know and I think this is why I eventually picked Columbo for my base and my dad used to live here back in the 70s he was one of those hippies that came on a bus from Amsterdam to Katmandu ended up in candy for 2 years so we ended up going on a holiday to S Lanka all the time and that's how I got familiar with the country with the culture with the people so you do have like a familiarization with this country that most people don't have exactly exactly it's like it's a nice mild version of India right so you don't get that hectic lifestyle here it's every everything is like rather rather organized it's such a small place you think of Columbo as a big city but everybody knows everybody it's very nice to make friends this is how we end up so it's it's a great place to to make connection I'm glad to be here now we just have to fix your National Airline Sri Lanka is most popularly known for its sonon tea but you won't have this tea which is like a milk tea that is made in a specific way in these shops like the roadside shops especially around Columbo and in the cers so wait I'm going to try one of those it's so good if you watched our cycling series you'd remember I was having this every day so it's normal tea mixed with condensed milk it is so good and then it's like poured in a yeah and it's poured in a certain way and it has this lovely flavor to it and frost probably not healthy though to have a lot of condensed milk but it's bloody tasty all right so our bellies are full and we're about to head home it is 12:00 in the night and this place is showing no signs of slowing down in fact it's just getting even more crowded and louder and chaotic and it's just getting more and more lively and it's only Tuesday imagine this place on a Friday if you out late night and you want a snack after hitting the clubs of Columbo that's a place to be and I will let you know if I have some food poisoning tomorrow [Music] right and we are back at the Go Fest Hotel you guys and as you can see behind me it is getting quite Lively and it does get quite Lively over the weekends because they have two really nice bars here the one we're at right now which is the king of the Mambo it is a Cuban inspired bar and on the other side they have fire Beach which is an outdoor bar which also has amazing food and drinks so definitely a place to check out if you are here in the evenings and the nights and if you are enjoying this experience at the gace hotel and if you would like to have it for yourself we do have an exclusive deal in the link in the description me the link in the description and you can have that for yourself as well and if you are enjoying the first video of our col Columbo series good news is we have a lot coming up we have the best cafes of Columbo we have the best restaurants as well as the best spots for nightlife and bars and maybe even the best spots for shopping if you interested so if you do like that if You' like the sound of any of those videos drop a comment down below and we'll get that out to you as fast as possible and with that we're at the end of this video thank you so much for watching and I will see you guys in the next one bye [Music]

Channel: Sheneller

Views: 220,625

Keywords: Sheneller, This is Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, Visit Sri Lanka, Colombo, Street food, Galle Face Hotel, Street food in Sri Lanka, Must try street food in Sri Lanka, kola kenda, Galle Face Green, Pettah market, aluthkade street food, Isso Wade, Things to do in Colombo, food tour of Colombo Sri Lanka

Id: 7TAjVSoFxhw

Length: 37min 37sec (2257 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 08 2023