A popular restaurant serving Sri Lankan food in Merton has been named a winner of this year's Good Food Awards.
Colombo Kitchen – Hopper & Kottu Bar was named a Blue Ribbon winner in the Good Food Awards 2024.
The restaurant, based in Worcester Park in Merton, first opened its doors in 2019 on the cusp of the outbreak of Covid-19.
It serves authentic Sri Lankan cuisine and cocktails made by Chef Sylvia Perera, who trained as a chef in Australia.
The restaurant continued to trade and has become a successful business in the last four years, winning a number of awards including best Sri Lankan restaurant of the Year 2023 at the Asian Restaurant Awards, Top three restaurants in the Surry Life Chef of the Year Awards, and winner at the Good Food Awards 2023.
Chef Sylvia Perera said: “Family run independent restaurant with authentic food, amazing cocktails and incredible Sri Lankan hospitality.
“We opened in late 2019, just before the pandemic, and our success throughout the pandemic and beyond is a testament to the high quality of food incredible service we provide our guests.”
One of the restaurant’s most popular dishes is their Lamprais, a unique rice and curry dish served with banana leaf which Sylvia claims is a “dish that isn't served in any other restaurant in London.”
Sylvia also added that their seafood dishes are also some of their most popular meals, including their Negombo prawn curry and crab curry.
The restaurant previously received a lot of attraction after an influencer posted about them on Instagram which, according to Sylvia, had one visitor traveling from as far as Australia.
Sylvia explained: “Our restaurant went viral on Instagram following an influencer posting about us and since then we have had customers from as far as Australia coming to visit us to try our food.”
The restaurant is one of 11 businesses in south London to have been named as winners of the Good Food Awards this year.
According to the Good Food Awards website, these winners are awarded a Blue Ribbon based on food quality, service, and value.
The Good Food Awards first began in 2022 and aims to celebrate “culinary excellence” from food businesses across the UK, from cafés and restaurants to takeaways.
Chef Sylvia Perera said: "We are absolutely thrilled that Colombo Kitchen has been honoured with a prestigious blue ribbon award from the Good Food Awards.
“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our exceptional staff, whose unwavering dedication and hard work have been instrumental in propelling Colombo Kitchen to the heights of success we have achieved."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here