Food

Foods in Sri Lanka

(This article will be very helpful for foreign tourists as a self guidance.)

In Sri Lanka, tourists can buy food and beverages from the following categories of restaurants and shops.

1. Local hotels

(small restaurants) This kind of small hotels can be seen at any town, any junction and in the main and sub main roads. In these hotels only local food is available. Foreign tourists can try local foods such as rice and curry, bread and other bakery products, hoppers, string hoppers, fried rice and kottu. In addition to that, south Indian foods such as wade, those, and paraata are available in most of the hotels. In these hotels most of the foods are very cheap. One person can buy enough food by paying 1 USD to 2 USD.

2. Pastry Shops

There are lots of pastry shops in Sri Lanka. From these shops tourists can buy lots of bakery products made by Wheat Flour such as breads, buns, rolls, pastries, cakes …… .etc. As well as it can be bought drinks such as coca cola, Pepsi, Nescafe, tea and coffee from these shops. Pastry shops can be seen in any main town and also in main roads (A grade and in some main B grade roads). But this kind of shops can’t be seen in rural areas. You can search and find through the google map very easily. Approximately the cost of one product is only about 0.3 USD. In lot of shops price is displayed. Therefore, any foreigner can buy for actual price without any bargaining. “Perera & Sons” is currently the most famous pastry shop in the country.

3. Internationally Recognized Restaurants

Internationally recognized restaurants such as KFC, PIZZA HUT and Mc Donalds can be found in main towns in Sri Lanka. But these shops are not available in sub urban or rural areas. The cost will be 02-04 USD per person approximately.

4. Restaurants

There are lots of restaurants in Sri Lanka by targeting foreign tourists and locals with higher income. In these kind of restaurants people can buy Fried Rice, Noodles, Pasta and Pizza as per their choices in various kind of ingredients such as vegetarian, seafood, fish, chicken, pork or beef. In some restaurants foreign foods are also available. These kinds of restaurants are available at main towns and all tourists ’attractions, but not in sub urban or rural areas. The cost per person is about 03- 05 USD as per their choices.

5. 03 star / 04 star / 05 star hotels

There are lot of 03 star, 04 star and 05 star hotels in Sri Lanka. But this kind of hotels are only available at the main towns and main tourists ’attractions. Tourists can buy and enjoy foods as per their choice. There are lots of foreign and local foods available in these hotels. The cost will be 10 - 25 USD per person.

6. Super Markets

There are lots of super markets in Sri Lanka. Super markets can be seen in any main town / sub towns and also in main roads (A grade and in some main B grade roads). But super markets can’t be seen in rural areas.

Tourists can buy biscuits, cakes, pre cooked foods, drinks, yogurt, ice cream …… etc from the super markets for reasonable price. The price of the all products are clearly displayed and tourists can buy foods and other needs as per their requirement and budget.

The most common supermarkets are "Cargills Food City", "Keels Super", "Laughs Super" and "Arpico Super Center".