Sri Lankan and Tamil cooking in a narrow Soho room where the hopper — a bowl-shaped rice flour pancake, crisp at the edges and soft in the centre, served with sambols and curry — introduced a cuisine that most of London had never tasted. The Sethi family (who also created Gymkhana and Trishna) built Hoppers around the street food of Jaffna and Colombo, and the result is a restaurant that feels more like a Sri Lankan breakfast spot than a Soho dining room. The egg hopper is the essential order. The lamb kothu roti is violent with flavour.
Location
Soho, London
Insider Intel
The egg hopper — a bowl-shaped pancake with an egg steamed in its centre — with pol sambol and seeni sambol. The lamb kothu roti. A plain hopper to mop up everything. The dosa if you want the South Indian angle. The short eats (mutton rolls, dal vada) to start.
Walk-in only at Soho — arrive early for lunch or dinner to minimise the wait. The queue moves quickly because the food arrives fast. Weekday lunches are easiest.
No reservations at Soho — queue only. 49 Frith Street. Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square tubes. Dishes £6-14. Multiple locations (Soho, King's Cross, Marylebone). The original Soho room is the most atmospheric. Cash and cards.